Jeff Shapiro

2010-11-04T06:18:00.000-07:00

Blog Update Jan 9, 2011

*** I have returned from Japan after a successful exhibition near Bizen at Tenmaya Department Store Art Gallery in Okayama. The exhibition was with Living National Treasure Isezaki Jun, Kakurezaki Ryuichi (desciple of Isezaki Jun), Isezaki Koichiro( son of Isezaki Jun and my apprentice for 2 years) and Tim Rowan who apprenticed with Kakurezaki san for 2 years.

***In July I had a 2 person exhibition at the Kleinart Gallery in Woodstock, NY with master calligrapher Noriko Maeda.

***Last month I had a solo exhibition at Lacoste Gallery in Concord, MA

Nov 12

*** 30 X 5 Exhibition at Akar Gallery, Iowa City IO

***I have work that has entered the permanent collection of the new Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento CA

And I had 2 of the best firings to date this summer

2011

This year promises to be as intense and exciting

Feb 20, 2011

*** 2 person exhibition with Isezaki Jun at Gallery Heller in Heidelberg with a lecture at museums in Frankfurt and Heidelberg

Feb 21

***Presentation at the Heidelberg Museum with Isezaki Jun and writer/critic Todate san

March ( dates to be announced)

*** Yunomi tea cup group exhibition at Akar Gallery, Iowa City, IO

Online exhibition with 200 ceramicists presenting 5 cups each

March 2-10

*** Studio work with French ceramic artist Claude Champy

March 12

*** Opening reception of tea bowl exhibition at Lacoste Gallery

WWW.LACOSTEGALLERY.COM

March 13

*** Symposium at the Massachusetts Fine Arts Museum in Boston with 2 Japanese artists: Suzuki Goro and Tsujimura Shiro and a special key note speaker Junichi Takeuchi

WWW.MFA.ORG for information and registration

March 14

***Demonstrations and presentations at Harvard Ceramics Departmentwith Suzuki Goro, Tsujimura Shiro and Richard Milgram

WWW.OFA.FAS.HARVARD.EDU/CERAMICS

March 15-19

***Two person Master class with Claude Champy, a friend and well known French ceramicist, at Centre Ceramique Bonsecours in Montreal.

Between 2011 -2012

*** 3 exhibitions with Claude Champy, Tsujimura Shiro and me in France, U.S., and Japan

April 15-18

***SOFA NY represented by Lacoste Gallery

April 15-June 3

***Solo exhibition at the Funke Fired Arts Gallery in Cincinatti, OH

April 15-16

*** Master class and gallery opening at Funke Fired Arts Gallery, Cincinatti, OH

*** I will be included in 100 Mid Atlantic Artists, published by Schiffer, due to be published in spring

May 6-18

***I will be leading a ceramic tour to Japan. This is already full, but there is a waiting list

May 18-20

*** I will meet my Friend Ralf Burger from Germany and assist his group in Japan

June

***Tunnel kiln firing ( Dates to be announced)

*** 2 Accord studio workshops

July

***Studio work and workshops in Italy. At the moment there are a few possibilities. I will update with details as soon as I know them.

Oct 10

***Solo exhibition at Kakiden Gallery, Shinjuku, Japan

*** 2 or 3 exhibitions with Tenmaya in Japan

...........................................................................................................................................................................

2012

January

***Workshop in Pondacheri, India with Ray Meeker

April 15-27( Tentative date)

***Ceramics trip to Australia. Check the blog for itinerary available shortly

*** There are also possibilities of doing workshops in Israel and Turkey. Details will be available as soon as I know them

***

Work is available for purchase on line. Correspondence at jeshapi@gmail.com : for pricing, dimensions, descriptions, and more images of particular pieces

*

NEW WORK AVAILABLE

Sculptural Vessels

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4a

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6a

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Tea Bowls

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17a

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19a

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20a

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21a

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24a

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29a

30

Sake Bottles

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32b

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2010-04-20T10:43:00.000-07:00

JAPANESE CERAMIC TOUR

May 6-18, 2011

For price and details please contact: Leigh Taylor Mickelson Program Director Clay Art Center 914-937-2047 x222
Or contact Brian Maitland at Custom Tours brian@customtours.org for more information. We will ask for a deposit once the costs have been determined, and there will most likely be a short waiting list.

DAY 0 Depart for Japan

DAY 1

Arrive Narita and take the shuttle bus to our hotel. If you have checked in a day early, we will meet at the hotel lobby in the evening for an initial dinner to get acquainted.

DAY 2

We will meet for a Japanese breakfast at the hotel. I will explain about Japanese food and ingredients. After a leisurely breakfast, we will depart for the Tomo museum and be met by the curator. From there we will visit the ceramic studio of my friend Higashida Shigemasa. He has a wonderful studio designed by him utilizing old wood, stone and glass. We will end the day at a beautiful restaurant outside of Tokyo with Higashida san as our guest

The studio and home of Higashida Shigemasa

DAY 3

On this day we will begin with breakfast at one of the hotel restaurants( Japanese or western) before departing for the Nezu Museum, a wonderful museum that was closed for renovation the past 3 years and has just recently been reopened. The afternoon will be free for you to wander or shop. We will meet for dinner at a special restaurant nestled amongst a bamboo forest with baskets of fire lighting the path between small thatched roof houses where we will dine.

DAY 4

Bags will be portaged ahead.

Group shot at the home and studio of Suzuki Goro

After breakfast, we begin using the rail pass and shinkansen express. We will go to Nagoya to visit workshops of Suzuki Goro and Toyoba Sieya in the vicinity of Seto. We will also visit the museum and kiln remains of Arakawa Toyozo. This evening we will stay at a lovely country hot springs inn and have dinner together there after a leisurely bath( rooms come with private baths as well)

DAY 5

After breakfast at the Inn, we will have time to rest before leaving for Okayama on the Bullet Express. We will stay at a lovely hotel adjacent to the main station. You will have time to wander the streets of Okayama before we meet for dinner.

DAY 6

Following breakfast, we will take local trains to the pottery town

of Bizen. This is my old stomping ground. This is where I found a strong connection with the work produced as well as the process of wood firing. Bizen or Imbe is a small town that boasts over 500 wood firing kins!! We will begin the walking tour by visiting Isezaki Jun Living National Treasure and a mentor of mine. We will also visit with Jun’s son Koichiro who apprenticed for 2 years at my studio in NY. Time permitting, we will have a local lunch together of okonomiyaki. We will then continue on to visit the workshop of Kakurezaki Ryuichi as well as 1 or 2 other workshops before returning to the hotel. The evening is free to explore.

DAY 7

On this day, baggage will be portaged to Kyoto. After breakfast we will leave by private bus to the island of Shikoku, first visiting Shikoku Mura, a reconstructed village of old Japanese architecture and then we will continue on to the nearby studio/museum of Isamu Noguchi. This is a wonderful opportunity to see work both complete and unfinished of Isamu Noguchi that can not be seen outside of this compound. We will meet with Izumi san who is an excellent sculptor and if he is there we will visit his stone home that is a work of art in itself. Following our visit to the Noguchi Studio, we will take the speed ferry to the island of Naoshima where we will be met by the hotel bus that will take us to the hotel. This has been a real highlight in past years. Through the auspices of a scholastic publishing family, structures on the island have been given to international artists to create installations within the structures. The hotel, built by Tadao Ando is within the contemporary art museum! If you wake in the middle of the night, feel free to wander the museum. We will arrive this day in late afternoon. Just enough time to walk through the museum , rest and meet for a complimentary drink on the veranda watching the sun set. The restaurant is alongside the Inland Sea and dinner is prepared with great care.

DAY 8

We have a leisurely breakfast in the museum and then continue on to the recently completed museum building that is a 5 minute bus ride from the original. It is also built by Tadao Ando and only houses 3 artist’s work: James Turell, Monet and Walter de Maria. There is an optional hot tub bath in the afternoon. We finish the day with another great dinner at the restaurant by the Inland Sea.

Day 9

After an early breakfast, we take the speed ferry to the mainland and catch the local train to the Bullet Express that will take us to Kyoto. We will check in to a lovely hotel on the east side of Kyoto. Once we have had a chance to rest, we will take taxis to the walking street of Terramachi where you will experience a busy open air market street as well as shops for art supplies, paper and tea, We will stop for lunch along the route. Late afternoon we will visit an indigo dying studio for material and clothes.

DAY 10

Another highlight day, we will depart after breakfast by private bus to the Miho Museum, a magnificent architectural artwork designed by I.M.Pei. We will meet with a curator and then have a simple lunch at the museum before continuing on to the pottery town of Shigaraki. We will visit 1 or 2 studios in Shigaraki to be announced. We will return to the hotel by 7:00

DAY 11

Following breakfast we will depart for either a studio in Nara or the studio of a master ceramicist/sculptor and his wife who is a ceramicist as well. This day will be a day of surprises

DAY 12

The last full day of the trip. You will have the day to do as you please. The day is open with suggestions for visiting important sites or shopping. We will meet at a fine French restaurant for a farewell dinner.

DAY 13

This is the final day and following breakfast, you will receive vouchers to the Kansai airports for your return flights.