Kato Mami 加藤真美 b. 1963

We are pleased to present our inaugural pop-up exhibition in the United Kingdom! The culture of tea, or chanoyu (茶の湯), developed over six centuries ago, shaped by elite Samurai life during the Edo Period. At its core is the tea bowl or Chawan, the point of direct physical and multi-sensory contact. It is held, turned, and contemplated in the hands, its weight, texture, surface, and warmth is felt even before the first sip. Each chawan expresses a different moment of encounter in every aspect of its form: from the Mikomi (見込み, interior) to the Shomen (正面, face), each component showcases a new, magical element designed to move the beholder deeply. 

Today, contemporary makers from Japan, spanning tea practitioners to contemporary artists and ceramicists, find wonderful and exciting ways to express new energy, ideas and beauty through the tea bowl form. This summer exhibition showcases works that emphasizes that captivating and interpretative mode. 

Dai Ichi Arts is pleased to present an exciting summer exhibition of women artists from Japan working in the ceramic medium. This exhibition brings together some of the most important figures of the past century alongside a new generation of contemporary ceramic artists, whose practices reflect a rich diversity of styles and dynamic approaches to clay.

Building on Radical Clay—a traveling U.S. exhibition currently on view at the Phoenix Art Museum, featuring women artists from Japan from the renowned collection of Carol and Jeffrey Horvitz—this exhibition expands the dialogue by highlighting both established and emerging voices in contemporary Japanese ceramics.

Dai Ichi Arts, LTD. is honored to present the first New York solo exhibition of Tokoname-based ceramic artist Kato Mami (b. 1963). Renowned for her innovative glazes, titled “Frost Glaze,” over porcelain vessel forms, Kato’s work invites audiences to contemplate the inner life of vessels, where interior and exterior converge as sites of presence, imagination, and human connection.

Working primarily with porcelain slabs, Kato constructs sculptural vessels that recall glacial terrains, oceanic tides, and distant celestial landscapes. Her meticulous hand-building process—layering, folding, and draping porcelain clay—imbues each work with a delicate balance between fragility and strength. The exhibition includes a selection of Kato’s celebrated chawan (tea bowls), the forms for which she became the first woman in history to win the Shoroku Chawan Competition in 2015, and the Koie Ryoji prize in the Chouzou Tougei Exhibition, These intimate works translate vast imagined landscapes into vessels that rest in the palm of the hand, their interiors embodying what Kato describes as a “soul-like presence.”

Kato’s achievements have been recognized across Japan, with the Grand Prize at the Mino Ceramics Exhibition (2019) and the Japan Ceramic Art Exhibition (2021) among her honors. Beyond accolades, her practice is deeply rooted in an exploration of time, memory, and universality. “I seek forms that transcend time,” she reflects, “silent presences that radiate a sense of universal beauty.”