Exhibitions since the opening, visits to and from Gimhae, the unveiling of the memorial statue, and visitors to the gallery. Newest first.
To mark 60 years of diplomatic relations between Japan and Korea we held the Korea-Japan Baekpasun International Exchange Exhibition, bringing Baekpasun, a potter of Joseon Korea, together with the work of artists of today.
Mayor Hong Tae-yong of Gimhae, said to be Baekpasun’s hometown, visited the gallery with his delegation.
President Kim Gi-hwan of the Korea Foundation visited the gallery with his delegation.
Jang Gi-deok, third generation of the Cheongbong Kiln in Miryang, Korea, carries on the techniques of onggi and buncheong ware and makes mainly tea utensils for Korea and Japan. This was the first showing of Miryang ware in Arita.
Spring 2020 Noh Jinju, deputy director
Works shaped by the fine, supple sensibility and individual techniques of women artists, shown and sold.
Tapestries and placemats in hand-painted dyeing, plant dyeing and cross-stitch: work in cloth in which the cultures and makers of Japan and Korea come together.
For the third anniversary of the opening we held a memorial lecture on 10 March, the day of Baekpasun’s death. Lee Bong-su, a Baekpasun researcher from Gimhae, spoke on “The source of ceramics: Baekpasun’s home village of Daegam and its times”, followed by a performance on the Korean gayageum and the Japanese wagon. Many people came.
Ahead of the memorial lecture, Consul General Son Jong-sik of the Korean Consulate General in Fukuoka visited the gallery and paid his respects at the statue of Baekpasun. He then went on to Hōonji Temple, where her stone memorial stands, and offered incense in the rain. He is reported to have said that while Yi Sam-pyeong, the father of Arita ware, is well known, he wished to take an interest in future research and recognition of Baekpasun (from the Nishinippon Shimbun).
We took part in the Gimhae Buncheong Ceramic Festival. At the Baekpasun booth the gallery’s artists showed and sold their work, and two traditional craftsmen of Arita ware demonstrated painting. The director gave a lecture on Baekpasun.
Under clear autumn skies, dancers in their twenties to their eighties performed the Arita Chirorin-bushi and the Arita plate dance in memory of and gratitude to Baekpasun. After the festival we visited the birthplace of former president Roh Moo-hyun and the tomb of King Suro.
On the first day of the Arita Ceramics Fair, as the opening event, the memorial statue of Baekpasun was unveiled in front of the gallery by women artists active in Japan and Korea.
Works shaped by the fine, supple sensibility and individual techniques of women artists, shown and sold.
To mark the start of cultural exchange with Gimhae, said to be Baekpasun’s hometown, we held an exhibition of members of the Gimhae Ceramic Artists Association during the Arita Ceramics Fair. Members of the association were invited to the opening on the first day, and in fine weather the local plate dance was performed.
Throughout the fair six artists sold their work in person in front of the gallery. A companion project, “A Hundred Waves from Baekpasun”, ran at the same time.
Works shaped by the fine, supple sensibility and individual techniques of women artists, shown and sold.
The mayor of Gimhae, Korea, the place most widely held to be Baekpasun’s hometown, visited the gallery with his delegation. Her descendants Fukami Masaru of the 14th generation and Fukami Yasushi of the 15th also came, and the whole gallery staff received them.
After greetings and photographs a welcome lunch was held at the Japan-Korea Friendship Hall Baekpasun, followed by a symposium on Baekpasun and the history of Arita.
In weather hard to believe for February, many guests came to the opening. After the director’s greeting and the artists’ greetings came the ribbon cutting and a commemorative tree planting. In the afternoon Nakazato Norimoto gave the opening lecture, “Baekpasun and the women who sustained pottery making”.
Arita and the whole Hizen region grew with the deep involvement of many Korean potters. We will run this place so that it deepens the friendship between the two countries and becomes a foothold for a better relationship in the years ahead.
