FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 13, 2012
For More Information Contact:
Jason Springer, 978-371-0820
Emerson Umbrella Center for the Arts
40 Stow St
Concord MA 01742
Japanese Tea Ceramics Workshop
Emerson Umbrella Center for the Arts is proud to present a full day workshop with renowned Japanese tea ceramics artist Richard Milgrim on Saturday, July 14, 2012, from 9:30 am to 4:00 pm. Milgrim will demonstrate some of the primary forms used in the Japanese Tea Ceremony such as the tea bowl (chawan), water container (mizusashi), flower vase (hanaire), and tea caddy (chaire). Following the demonstrations, Milgrim will screen a documentary filmed one year ago in Japan entitled Forbidden Kyoto: An Encounter with Green Tea, which will then be followed with a tea ceremony demonstration by Richard’s wife Mari, one of the highest ranking tea teachers of the Urasenke Tradition of Tea. Participants will have the opportunity to taste her handmade traditional tea sweets as well as enjoy the powdered green tea known as “matcha.” If time allows, the tea will be followed by an open discussion.
Richard Milgrim has been accepted as an independent ceramic artist creating chotou (tea ceramics) in Japan for over 25 years and is the first Western potter whose works have been fully endorsed by Dr. Sen Genshitsu, the 15th Grand Master of the Urasenke Tradition of Tea.
Milgrim first visited Japan for a year in 1977 as a student researching Japanese ceramics. He began studying “Chado” (The Way of Tea) and ceramics there on his second trip in 1979 while on a Watson Fellowship. After spending five years apprenticing with master potters in the diverse traditional ceramic centers of Kyoto, Hagi, Bizen, and Mino, Milgrim established his own studio-kiln in 1984-85 in the hills northwest of Kyoto. The workshop received the distinctive honor of being named “Richado-Gama” by Dr. Sen Genshitsu, also known as Hounsai Daisosho, who continues to endorse Migrim’s works today.
Richard has presented over 50 solo exhibitions of his work throughout Japan and the United States, and has been selected 10 times in total for the Japan Bi-Annual National Ceramic Exhibition and the Tanko Biennale (Tea Arts for the 21st Century). Since 2000 he has divided his time between his homes in Kyoto, Japan and Concord, Massachusetts, where he established his U.S. studio, also named by Dr. Sen in 2004 (Konko-Gama) in the Emerson Umbrella Center for the Arts. Milgrim continues to create unique tea ceramics in both countries using traditional as well as contemporary techniques and materials while building bridges between the United States and Japan. During the past year he has held major exhibitions in Boston (Pucker Gallery), Chicago (Douglas Dawson Gallery) and most recently a major exhibition at the Portland (OR.) Japanese Garden.
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All day = $75 (includes the morning clay demo and the afternoon movie, tea ceremony, and discussion)
½ day Morning Clay Demo = $50
½ day Afternoon Tea Ceremony, Movie, Discussion = $50
Registration Deadline is July 9th at 5pm.
For more information about the Japanese Tea Ceramics workshop, please contact Jason Springer at 978-371-0820 or visit www.emersonumbrella.org.
