MIHARA KEN (b. 1958)

Mihara Ken's unique style is the culmination of a thoughtful dialogue between potter and clay. Using materials from his native Shimane prefecture, Mihara constructs each work through an organic creative process. His hand-formed works possess a strong linear quality while at the same time incorporating soft, delicate curves to create a unique combination of subtlety and solidity. Elegant shapes, often drawn from ancient forms or more currently inspired by the tradition of origami, are fully sculptural and successful from every vantage point. With repeated firings at high temperatures, the surfaces of these vessels radiate subtle and soft colors ranging from deep gray to peach to misty white and purple.

While younger than most of his equally prominent colleagues, Mihara is able to convey in his vessels a confident design sense, sophisticated style and brilliance of execution of a far more mature artist. This creative brilliance has been widely recognized by Japanese critics as evidenced by the awarding of numerous prestigious prizes and grants.

1958 Born in Shimane Prefecture 1981-82 Studied with Funaki Kenji 1999 Featured in NHK program, Yakimono tanbô [Visiting Pottery] (also 2009 2000 Public Commission, Ceramic Wall Installation at Sankei Building, (also 2002) 2003 Book Ceramic Art of MIHARA Ken in the Four Seasons of Izumo, published by Coherence, Inc.

Awards:

1985 Shimane Prefecture Craft Arts Association Prize 1986 Entry to San-in Craft Arts Exhibition 1988 Governor’s prize, Traditional Arts and Crafts Chûgoku division (also in 1993) Entry to Asahi Ceramic Art Exhibition 1989 Entry to Japan Ceramic Art Exhibition 1991 Entry to the Chôza Award Ceramic Exhibition Entry to the Exhibition of Unglazed Ceramic Competition 1992 Incentive Prize, Arts of the Tea Ceremony Exhibition, Tanabe Museum, Shimane (also in 1994, 2002, 2003, 2004) Entry to International Ceramics Festival Mino, Gifu 1995 Award of Excellence, Arts of the Tea Ceremony Exhibition, Tanabe Museum, Shimane (also in 2005, 2006) Award of Excellence, Vessels for Bonsai Exhibition 1996 Grand Prize, Hana-no-sumika Exhibition, Daimaru Museum, Tokyo Entry to the Tankō Biennale, Tea-ware Museum, Kyoto (also 1998) Entry to the Flower Vessel Biennale, The Sōgetsu Museum, Tokyo 2001 Grand Prize, Arts of the Tea Ceremony Exhibition, Tanabe Museum, Shimane (also in 2008) 2002 Energia Art Award 2005 Grant to study in Italy from Musée Tomo 2006 Award, Paramita Ceramics Competition, Paramita Museum, Japan Grand Prize, Contemporary Ceramics for the Tea Ceremony Exhibition, Musée Tomo, Tokyo

JOAN B MIRVISS LTD JAPANESE FINE ART 39 EAST 78TH STREET, 4TH FLOOR NEW YORK, NY 10075 Phone: 212-799-4021 Fax: 212-721-5148 www.mirviss.com 2008 Japan Ceramic Society Prize 2009 Cultural Encouragement Award, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan 2010 Encouragement Prize, Arts of the Tea Ceremony Exhibition, Tanabe Museum, Shimane

Solo Exhibitions:

1989 Gallerie Pousse, Ginza (also in 1990, 1992, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2004) 1993 Nanba Takashimaya Gallery, (also in1995, 1997, 2012) 1995 Mitsukoshi Nihonbashi Gallery, Tokyo 1997 Yufuku Gallery, Tokyo (thereafter biannually) 2001 Shukokan Museum, Shimane 2002 Aso Bijutsu, Tokyo (also in 2004, 2009, 2011) Ichibata Art Gallery, Matsue, Shimane (also in 2012) 2003 Takashimaya Art Gallery, Osaka Takashimaya Art Gallery, Yonago, Tottori Art Salon Kōgen, , Aichi Prefecture 2008 Joan B. Mirviss Ltd. at SOFA New York, New York 2010 Utsuwa Nanohana Gallery, Odawara, Kanagawa Galerie Besson, London 2011 Awakenings in Clay: The Sculptural Art of Mihara Ken, Joan B. Mirviss Ltd, NYC 2012 Ken Mihara: SEKKI, The Museum of Ceramic Art, Hyogo Takashimaya Art Gallery, Osaka

Group Exhibitions:

1986 San-in Craft Arts Exhibition (also in 1987, 1988) 1988 Japan Traditional Arts and Crafts Exhibition, Chûgoku division (also in 1993) Asahi Ceramic Art Exhibition (also in 1990, 1991, 1994) 1989 Japan Ceramic Art Exhibition (also in 1991, 1995) 1991 Chôza Award Ceramic Exhibition Unglazed Ceramic Competition (also in 1994, 1997) 1992 Arts of the Tea Ceremony, The Tanabe Museum of Art, Matsue, Shimane (also in 1994, 1995, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006) Entry to International Ceramics Festival Mino, Gifu 1993 Ceramics Biennale 1995 Vessels for Bonsai Exhibition 1996 Hana-no-sumika, Daimaru Museum, Tokyo Tankô Biennale, Tea-ware Museum, Kyoto (also in 1998) Flower Vessel Biennale, The Sōgetsu Museum, Tokyo 2000 Asahi Contemporary Crafts Exhibition The Japanese Art of Tea–– Modern Teaware from the Collection of the Tanabe Museum, Helsinki City Art Museum, Finland 2002 International Asia-Pacific Contemporary Ceramics, Taipei Yingko Ceramics Museum, Taiwan Tea, Zen, Ceramics-The International Living Pottery Art of Taiwan, Japan and Korea, Fo Kuang Yuan Art Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan The Legacy of Modern Ceramic Art, Museum of Modern Ceramic Art, Gifu 2004 Contemporary Ceramics of Sanyô and Sanin, Higashi-Hiroshima City Museum

JOAN B MIRVISS LTD JAPANESE FINE ART 39 EAST 78TH STREET, 4TH FLOOR NEW YORK, NY 10075 Phone: 212-799-4021 Fax: 212-721-5148 www.mirviss.com 2005 Wege zur Japanischen Keramik: Tradition in der Gegenwart, Museum für Ostasiatische Kunst zu Berlin 2006 Ceramic Art Grand Prize Exhibition, Paramita Museum Contemporary Ceramics for the Tea Ceremony: Free Creativity and Atypical Usage, Musée Tomo, Tokyo Asian Ceramic Delta-Japan, Korean and Taiwan 2007 Invitation to the World of Contemporary Ceramic, Museum of Ceramic Art, Hyogo 2008-14 Collect: the International Art Fair for Contemporary Objects, Victoria and Albert Museum, and Saatchi Gallery, London 2009 Breaking from Tradition Japanese Ceramics Today, Harvey/Meadows Gallery, Aspen in conjunction with Joan B. Mirviss, LTD., New York Mirai no takaramono (The Future's Treasures), Takashimaya Art Gallery, Nihonbashi, Osaka, Shinjuku, Kyoto 2010 The 21st Century Exhibition of Japanese Art, Tokyo Bijutsu Club (traveled to Kyoto, Kanazawa, Toyama and Osaka) Third Musée Tomo Prize, Contemporary Ceramics for the Tea Ceremony: Free Creativity, Musée Tomo, Tokyo Collect Art Fair, Saatchi Gallery, London (also in 2011) 2011 Pioneers of Contemporary Ceramics: From Tomimoto Kenichi to Yagi Kazuo, Museum of Ceramic Art, Hyogo Gold Award Winners from Japan Ceramic Society, Wako Hall, Tokyo 2012 Feel Ceramics – Life & Art, Higashi-Hiroshima Municipal Museum of Art, Hiroshima 2012 Japanese Ceramics from the William Bayer Collection, Robert F. Agrella Art Gallery at Santa Rosa Junior College, CA 2013 Fired Earth, Woven Bamboo: Contemporary Japanese Ceramics and Bamboo Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 2014 The Betsy and Robert Feinberg Collection: Japanese Ceramics for the Twenty-first Century, The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore

Selected Public Collections:

Chazen Museum of Art, WI Cornell University, Ithaca, NY East Hiroshima City Museum of Art Gotoh Museum, Tokyo Los Angeles County Museum of Art Metropolitan Museum of Art Museum of Ceramic Art, Hyogo Museum of Modern Ceramics, Tajimi, Gifu Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo New Orleans Museum of Art Peabody Essex Museum Philadelphia Museum of Art Sankei Building, Tokyo Takagi Bonsai Art Museum, Tokyo Tanabe Art Museum, Shimane Victoria & Albert Museum, London

JOAN B MIRVISS LTD JAPANESE FINE ART 39 EAST 78TH STREET, 4TH FLOOR NEW YORK, NY 10075 Phone: 212-799-4021 Fax: 212-721-5148 www.mirviss.com Yale University Art Gallery Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, MD

References:

Exhibition Catalogue: Nihon Tōgei-ten (Japan Ceramic Art Exhibition 2007), Tokyo: Mainichi Shimbun, 2007: p. 45.

Enomoto, Toru, Aoyama, T. et.al. Izumo fū doki (Ceramic Art of Mihara Ken in the Four Seasons in Izumo), Coherence, Co., 2003.

Feel Ceramics – Life & Art, Higashi-Hiroshima Municipal Museum of Art, Hiroshima, 2012, pp.58- 59.

“50 persons representing Japanese ceramic art,” Honoho Geijutsu No. 112, Winter 2012 (Tokyo: Abe shuppan, 2012), pp. 56.

Hantover, Jeffrey, “Mihara Ken: The Power of Chance,” Ceramics Art and Perception, vol. 73, 2008

Morse, Anne, et. al. Fired Earth, Woven Bamboo: Contemporary Japanese Ceramics and Bamboo Art (MFA Publications: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 2013). Exhibition Catalogue.

Mintz, Robert and Joan Mirviss with Betsy Feinberg. The Betsey and Robert Feinberg Collection: Japanese Ceramics for the Twenty-first Century. Exhibition Catalogue. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, 2014.

Nihon Tōgei-ten (Japan Ceramic Art Exhibition 2009), Tokyo: Mainichi Shimbun, 2009, p. 49

Wege zur Japanischen Keramik: Tradition in der Gegenwart, Museum für Ostasiatische Kunst zu Berlin, 2005

JOAN B MIRVISS LTD JAPANESE FINE ART 39 EAST 78TH STREET, 4TH FLOOR NEW YORK, NY 10075 Phone: 212-799-4021 Fax: 212-721-5148 www.mirviss.com