Walk through the gallery with Miwa Neishi as she reflects on her current exhibition with Toshiko Takaezu, Toki-No-Wa; Harmony of Time.
Neishi’s connection to Takaezu is both personal and pedagogical. While studying at Kent State, Neishi was taught by ceramicist Kirk Mangus and Eva Kwong, who had themselves studied under Takaezu in Cleveland, Ohio. “I have a strong memory of hearing about her story in his classes,” Neishi recalls. “This was where I first encountered Toshiko’s works. Back in that time there were not many Japanese female ceramic artists active as professionals. I felt very lucky to be able to learn from the depth of her artworks.” Neishi also works part time at The Noguchi Museum in New York, where Takaezu’s first touring retrospective in twenty years Worlds Within opened in March 2024. Neishi’s engagement with Takaezu’s legacy through both study and proximity forms an invisible but resonant thread throughout the exhibition.
Opposite Takaezu’s historical works, Neishi presents a new body of ceramic vessels rooted in memories of repeatedly writing Japanese and Chinese characters—a disciplined, meditative process of repetition, rhythm, and cultural memory. Organic apertures and arches create porous, architectural bodies that resemble the elegant pictograms of ancient Japanese written characters. This calligraphic foundation informs both her approach to form and her use of glaze as an expressive material. New York City, where culture is ever evolving, places Neishi in constant negotiation. Her work grows from this search for balance—between home and the foreign, tradition and change.
