Tea Pot with Eggplant, Matsuda Yuriko

Exhibition Label: "Japan Re-imagined/Post-war Art," Mar-2008, Kris Ercums Matsuda’s whimsical combination of imaginative addition-in this example, an eggplant-to classic forms-such as a teapot-blurs the line between old and new. Drawing on ancient porcelain techniques from Ming China and Imari and Kutani in Japan, she transforms domestic functional items into quirky, animated objects. Exhibition Label: "Contemporary Ceramics East and West," Feb-2002, Susan Earle, Mary M. Dusenbury Matsuda studied ceramics at Kyoto City University of Arts, working with Tomimoto Kenkichi and Kondo- Yo-zo-, both Living National Treasures. Using gas and electric kilns, Matsuda developed her own whimsical, brilliantly-colored works that refer obliquely to Japan’s textile heritage as well as to the rich polychrome porcelain traditions of Ming China and of kilns in Imari and Kutani in Japan. Her subject matter is domestic functional items transformed, and the human body. She lives and works in the country with a large garden and a view of Mt. Fuji. The eggplant handle on this teapot was molded over an eggplant from her garden. Archive Label 2003 (version 2): Matsuda studied ceramics at Kyoto City University of Arts, working with two Living National Treasures, Tomimoto Kenkichi and Kondo- Yozo-. She went on to develop her own whimsical, brightly colored works that refer obliquely to Japan’s textile heritage as well as to the rich polychrome porcelain traditions of Ming China and of Imari and Kutani kilns in Japan. Matsuda lives and works in the country and has a large garden with a view of Mt. Fuji. She has used her garden as a source for a series of vegetable teapots. The eggplant handle on this pot was molded over an eggplant from that garden.