WebinART: The Beauty of Use: Work by Yoshinori Hagiwara
Virtual event hosted by Pucker Gallery.
Join us June 13th at 2:30PM for a conversation with Pucker Gallery artist Tomoo Hamada, Professor of Museum Studies at Wayne State University and Director of the Gordon L. Grosscup Museum, Andrew Maske, Gallery Associate and Harvard Ceramics Instructor, Caroline Staller, and Gallery Director Bernie Pucker with the aid of friend and translator Mugi Hanao. This event will be an opportunity to explore the timeless and unique works of pottery by three generations of the Hamada family. The exhibition "Everyday Beauty" will be on view at Pucker Gallery from 10 June through 9 July 2023.
Tomoo Hamada was born in 1967 in Mashiko, Japan, as the second son of Shinsaku Hamada and a grandson of Shoji Hamada. In 1989 and 1991, Hamada received undergraduate and graduate degrees in sculpture from Tama Art University in Tokyo. Hamada has exhibited, lectured, and given workshops internationally and was integral in helping the pottery community of Mashiko rebuild from the devastating Tohoku earthquake of 2011. His ceramic works are included in the permanent collections of numerous museums including the Tochigi Prefectural Museum of Fine Arts, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, and the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco. Hamada currently lives in Mashiko, Japan on the original compound his grandfather built, and works alongside his father. In 2012, he became Director of the Shoji Hamada Memorial Mashiko Sankokan Museum.
Dr. Andrew Maske received his doctorate in Japanese Art History from Oxford University and a post-doctoral fellowship from Harvard University. As a curator of Japanese art at the Peabody Essex Museum 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.
Caroline Staller is a ceramic sculptor and artist educator, as well as an Associate of Pucker Gallery. She completed her bachelor’s degrees in fine art as well as Biology with a minor in Biochemistry from New Mexico State University in 2015 and received her Master of Fine Art in Ceramics from the University of Missouri – Columbia in 2021. Currently she is an instructor at Harvard Ceramics where she focuses on expression in color, texture, and form in sculpture. She is also an ardent appreciator and lover of the Mingei tradition and has been largely influenced by the philosophy of Yanagi Sōetsu in his writings, The Unknown Craftsman. Her artwork consists of small-scale tableaus and carvings of horses which are considered peaceful and reflective.
Bernie Pucker is the director of Pucker Gallery, which he founded with his wife, Sue, on Boston's historic Newbury Street 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 Gallery receptions. 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 has served as President of Solomon Schechter Day School, President of the Newbury Street League, and 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.