Asian American Arts Alliance
"Miwa Neishi and Toshiko Takaezu's Ceramics Trace History in 'Harmony of Time'"
Fred Voon
February 26, 2026
Miwa Neishi has practiced Japanese calligraphy since she was ten, and it remains a steady influence on her clay creations. Her pieces convey unbroken lines and sweeping brushstrokes. They embody balance, harmony, and follow-through. “Everything intertwines,” she said.
Some works are inspired by specific characters, their shapes allowed to mutate and evolve. Uma 馬 (Horse) (2025), which marks the current Lunar New Year (and happens to be Neishi’s Chinese zodiac sign), roughly follows the contours of the original kanji. Meanwhile, Tei 定 (Fate) (2025)—a squarish enclosure joined to two loops in opposite corners—is a more abstract form with no strict correspondence. Over the years, Neishi has returned to this particular shape again and again, here in its largest scale yet.
Originally from Tokyo, Neishi has lived in the US for the past 13 years. Here, she points out, it is rare to come across her native language. “This is what being homesick made me make,” she said. “I didn’t realize how attached I was to Japanese letters.”
In “Toki-no-Wa (Harmony of Time)” at Uffner & Liu on the Lower East Side, 15 of Neishi’s works are presented alongside four pieces by Toshiko Takaezu, the Japanese American artist who died in 2011. Curated by Lucy Liu, who became a partner at the gallery in 2025, the show brings together the two female ceramicists, born nearly seven decades apart, who share origins in Japan, a love for bulbous forms, and a curious connection to Ohio.
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