Nagoya Zokei Works on Paper

Carnegie Mellon University and Nagoya Zokei University have an ongoing relationship of student exchange and faculty interaction that has existed for many years. In October of 1997, Nagoya Zokei University invited faculty members from Carnegie Mellon's School of Art to participate in a symposium entitled Living Together, and an exhibition, An Art message from Japan and The USA, which was held at the Aichi Prefectual Art Center in Nagoya.

To celebrate our friendly international ties, Carnegie Mellon's Regina Gouger Miller Gallery and School of Art invited the Nagoya Zokei faculty to participate in a works on paper exhibition.

Nagoya Zokei Works on Paper on Mino-Washi, Japanese Handmade paper features a broad range of works by twenty-two faculty members from the Nagoya Zokei University of Art and Design, as well as from the Nagoya Zokei Junior College of Art and Design.

The works in the exhibition use Mino-washi in surprisingly different ways and are not limited to works on the traditional handmade paper. There are wall, table, and floor pieces. There is an architectural model of a tea room, a mini-installation holding marbles, a travelogue adventure, a work wrapped in paper that refers to the Japanese cloth wrapping tradition, a kite, and an exquisite weaving using strands of Mino-Washi woven into burlap yarn. There are digital, silk-screened, Chinese ink, and painted images.

Although many Americans are familiar with the term "rice paper" the correct word for Japanese paper is "washi." The first paper in Japan was imported from China. The skill of paper-making was quickly adopted by the Japanese, and over the last 1300 years, Japan has produced paper in a variety and volume far greater than that of any other culture. Washi is traditionally made by hand using the finest quality fibers from plants indigenous to Japan, such as the inner bark of kozo (mulberry) paper. The long plant fibers are intertwined during the paper-making process to produce a durable and tough sheet that possesses a warm soft texture. "Mino" is the region in Japan widely known since ancient times for the finest quality washi.

Participating in the exhibition are the following faculty from the Nagoya Zokei University of Art and Design: Kiyotaka Fujita, Tamayo Hashimoto, Kaoru Hirabayashi, Takahiko limura, Shoji Ishiguro, Michiaki Miyata, Akihiko Murakoshi, Shozo Sibata, Makoto Shinagawa, Yoshiya Suzuki, Yukiya Takakita, Masahide Yamamoto, Michiko Yashiro, as well as the following faculty from the Nagoya Zokei Junior College of Art and Design: Rumi Hibino, Toyotsugu lto, Hiroshi Morita, Matsuo Kato, Shoji Kato, Nobuyuki Takahashi, Katsuhito Tsuboi, Naohiko Watanabe, Machiko Yamaguchi.