is a leading

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

'' Kamakura-bori'' artist using a technique she calls ''Wagae-nuri''. She is the only Japanese female to have presented her collection at exhibitions of

National Gallery of Victoria The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and most visited art museum. The NGV houses an encyclopedic art collection across two ...

in Melbourne. Her works are held in the collection of the gallery.

Career

After graduating from

Joshibi University of Art and Design (abbreviated "") is a private women's art school in Suginami and Sagamihara in Japan. The mission and aims of Joshibi, developing creative minds, encourages students to contribute to local, national and international societies, female independe ...

, Michiko Suganuma studied Kamakura-bori, a traditional form of

lacquerware Lacquerware are objects decoratively covered with lacquer. Lacquerware includes small or large containers, tableware, a variety of small objects carried by people, and larger objects such as furniture and even coffins painted with lacquer. Befor ...

in her 20s. She opened her first studio in 1977. For 12 years from 1985 she was a visiting teacher at primary schools in

Zushi, Kanagawa is a city located in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. As of June 2012, the city has an estimated population of 58,087, and a population density of 3,350 per km². The total area is . Geography Zushi is located at the head of Miura Peninsula, facin ...

Selected exhibitions and collections

In 1984 Michiko Suganuma had an exhibition of her ''urushi-ware'' and ''Kamakura-bori'' work at the National Gallery of Victoria. The gallery purchased Michiko's ''urushi-ware'' called Cinnabar Red lacquer then. In 1998 the Minato Ward Office purchased Michiko’s ''Kamakura-bori'' which was exhibited at the National Gallery of Victoria in 1984 and was finally presented to the Australian Embassy of Tokyo. In 1984, Michiko Suganuma successfully held the first living artist’s exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia, where she showed five ''Kamakura-bori'' and five ''

urushi ''Toxicodendron vernicifluum'' (formerly ''Rhus verniciflua''), also known by the common name Chinese lacquer tree, is an Asian tree species of genus ''Toxicodendron'' native to China and the Indian subcontinent, and cultivated in regions of C ...

'' pieces. In 2004, her tea ceremony works were shown as part of the Gallery's "The Art of Zen" exhibition. She also participated in the Gallery's 2006 exhibition "Focus on Japanese Lacquer". Her work can be seen at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne and at the Australian Embassy of Tokyo.

Awards

In 1976 Michiko Suganuma was given a certificate for

coating by the Governor of

Kanagawa Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-densest at . Its geographic area of makes it fifth-smallest. Kana ...

. In 1978 at Tokyo Metropolitan Art Gallery, she obtained Freshman Prize for a transparent urushi piece. In the same year, the object was also selected by Kanagawa-prefecture. From 1979 to 1982, she obtained Encouragement Prize, Effort Prize, Industrial Arts Great Prize for transparent urushi pieces at Tokyo Metropolitan Art Gallery. Her urishi-ware won Japanese regional awards in 1992. The 40 cm across piece of work was officially fixed as the Minato Ward Office's specified lacquerware in 2012. The office would keep the lacquerware permanently and hire out the piece occasionally.

Style

She makes Cinnabar-red lacquerware using a coating method basing on Kamakura-bori technique which she calls . Another of her techniques combines the brilliance of ''Shin-nuri'' ( enamel) with the dullness of an unpolished oxidized silver.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Suganuma, Michiko 1940 births Living people 20th-century Japanese women artists 21st-century Japanese women artists Japanese contemporary artists Artists from Tokyo