Toriawase: Creating a One and Only Encounter in Japanese Tea Ceremony
The Gardiner Museum brings together people of all ages and backgrounds through the shared values of creativity, wonder, and community that clay and ceramic traditions inspire.
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Toriawase: Creating a One and Only Encounter in Japanese Tea Ceremony
February 17, 2022 @ 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Macdonald Collection Lecture
Part of the Gardiner Signature Lecture Series
Speaker: Dr. Natsu Oyobe
Tickets are PWYC, starting at $5.
Developed in Japan in the 16th century, chanoyu (Japanese tea ceremony) is the practice of making and drinking tea in a carefully prescribed manner. One crucial element of chanoyu is toriawase, a selection and arrangement of tea utensils according to the season, location, guest, and occasion to create a special moment for the participants.
Dr. Natsu Oyobe will introduce the history and basic concepts of toriawase using historical and contemporary examples. Combining ceramics and other objects of diverse styles and origins from Japan, China, Korea, and elsewhere, a toriawase can be an important creative output for tea practitioners.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Natsu Oyobe, Ph.D., is Curator of Asian Art at the University of Michigan Museum of Art. Specializing in modern and contemporary Japanese art, she has curated numerous Japanese art exhibitions, including Wrapped in Silk and Gold: A Family Legacy of 20th-Century Japanese Kimono (2010), Mari Katayama (2019), and Clay as Soft Power: Shigaraki Ware in Postwar America and Japan (forthcoming in fall 2022). She is also involved in cross-cultural projects from a variety of historical periods, including Isamu Noguchi and Qi Baishi: Beijing 1930 (2013). Dr. Oyobe served as a consulting curator for the Detroit Institute of Arts’ new Japan Gallery (2016 – 2017) and the Denver Art Museum (2020). She is contributor and co-editor of Great Waves and Mountains: Collecting the Arts of Japan (University Press of Florida, forthcoming in 2023).
