Join us for a talk about the tradition of mingei with Kyoko Utsumi Mimura. Mimura teaches Japanese art history and aesthetics at Waseda University and at KCJS (Kyoto Consortium for Japanese Studies). She was long-time International Programs Director of the Japan Folk Crafts Museum, and specializes in Japanese traditional popular crafts and arts (mingei).

The word mingei, meaning art of the people, was coined by Japanese philosopher Yanagi Sōetsu in the early 1920s. His ideas started a movement in Japan that challenged society’s narrow definition of art by focusing on everyday objects created by average people. It can be seen as a response to Japan’s rapid industrialization as it elevated objects made by the hands of individual craftspeople, rather than produced in a factory.

This lecture is part of WAM's ongoing exhibition, The Persistence of Mingei: Influence through Four Generations of Ceramic Artists

A memorial service for Warren MacKenzie will be held on Monday, May 13 at the Ted Mann Concert Hall, University of Minnesota at 6:30 p.m. (doors open at 5:30 p.m.).