WebinART: Transformation, Ceramics by Ken Matsuzaki
Virtual event hosted by Pucker Gallery
Ken Matsuzaki has continued to evolve and grow over the past 22 years that we have shown his art. The newest collection of work extends his personal artistic journey as he stretches the Mingei strictures to new and exciting sculptural forms. We will have an opportunity to hear from Ken and learn more about his intent and the results.
Transformation: Ceramics by Ken Matsuzaki will be on view at Pucker Gallery through September 4th, 2022.
Dr. Maske received his doctorate in Japanese Art History from Oxford University. He teaches courses concentrating on the art of East Asia (China, Korea, and Japan). As a curator of Japanese art between 1999 and 2005, he developed the exhibition Geisha: Beyond the Painted Smile and served as editor and primary author of the critically acclaimed volume by the same name. This exhibition explored Japanese geisha both as the subject of artwork and as performing artists themselves from the eighteenth century to the present day. Dr. Maske also played a major role in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 2003 catalogue, Turning Point: Oribe and the Arts of Sixteenth Century Japan, which examined the revolution in Japanese aesthetics that began in the late sixteenth century. He has published articles and reviews in Archaeometry, Journal of Japanese Studies, Orientations, and Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan.
During the seven years he lived in Japan, Dr. Maske studied numerous aspects of Japanese art and culture, practicing chanoyu (tea ceremony), Japanese dance, and music by way of the shamisen. In 2006-2007 he was awarded a Fulbright research fellowship to study the development of contemporary ceramics in China.
Ken Matsuzaki was born in Tokyo in 1950 and received a degree in Ceramic Art from Tamagawa University School of Fine Arts, Tokyo. He moved to Mashiko in 1972 to apprentice with Tatsuzo Shimaoka (whom himself had moved to Mashiko to study with Shoji Hamada). After a five-year apprenticeship, Matsuzaki established his own kiln, Yuushin Gama, down the road from Mr. Shimaoka. Matsuzaki's works have a strong grounding in the Mingei philosophy though his approach is very contemporary, introducing a focus on the Oribe style with yohen, shino, and oribe glazing.
Matsuzaki’s work has been exhibited all over the world and has been accepted into the permanent collections of the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, California, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio, Harn Museum of Art, Gainesville, Florida, Holderness School, Holderness, New Hampshire, Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Sackler Museum of Art, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art, Haifa, Israel, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England, and Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, Massachusetts.
Bernie Pucker is the director of Pucker Gallery, which he founded with his wife, Sue, on Newbury Street in Boston in 1967. Pucker Gallery represents over fifty artists from around the world, presenting approximately ten exhibitions annually, often paired with artist talks, virtual “WebinArts,” and other public events.
Bernie is currently a Board Member at the Japan Society, Boston, and the Jewish Publication Society. He also serves on the Leadership Council for Facing History and Ourselves, as well as the Artistic Advisory Board for the Terezin Music Foundation. Previously, he served as President of Solomon Schechter Day School; President of the Newbury Street League; and a Board Member for the Friends of Copley Square and The Unity Project, among others.
Bernie received his MA in Modern Jewish History from Brandeis University and his BA in History and English Literature from Columbia College.