Thursday, January 26
1:00–3:00 p.m. PT
Speaker: Meher McArthur, art historian
Virtual Event
Tanabe Chikuunsai IV has become renowned worldwide for his large-scale installations woven from thousands of strips of bamboo. Based in Sakai in the Kansai region, Chikuunsai is the fourth-generation bamboo basket maker of his family and continues their tradition of weaving artistic bamboo baskets and sculptures, both as an artistic practice and as a means of preserving Japan’s disappearing bamboo forests. As part of the curatorial team who recently worked with him on his current exhibition at JAPAN HOUSE Los Angeles, McArthur will discuss his evolution as an artist over the years and share some of his personal philosophy that informs many of his recent installations, including the current exhibition at JHLA.
Meher McArthur is an Asian art historian specializing in Japanese art, with degrees from Cambridge University and London University’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). She was Curator of East Asian Art at Pacific Asia Museum, Pasadena, CA (1998-2006) and for over a decade has curated traveling exhibitions for International Arts & Artists (IA&A), most recently Washi Transformed: New Expressions in Japanese Paper (2021-2024). She was Creative Director for the Storrier Stearns Japanese Garden, Pasadena (2014-2020), Academic Curator for Scripps College, Claremont (2018-2020), and Art and Cultural Director for JAPAN HOUSE Los Angeles (2020-2022). Her major publications include Gods and Goblins: Folk Paintings from Otsu (PAM, 1999), Reading Buddhist Art (Thames & Hudson, 2002), and The Arts of Asia (Thames & Hudson, 2005), Confucius (Pegasus Books, 2011), Folding Paper: The Infinite Possibilities of Origami (IA&A, 2012), New Expressions in Origami Art (Tuttle, 2017), Washi Transformed: New Expressions in Japanese Paper (IA&A, 2021), and An ABC of What Art Can Be (The Getty Museum, 2010).
Please note, this session will be conducted virtually via Zoom.
Please save your spot by clicking on this link. All participants will be sent the Zoom link via confirmation email with instructions once you secure your place. Space is limited.
Sponsored by the Asian Arts Council.
Featured: Photo of LIFE CYCLES | A Bamboo Exploration with Tanabe Chikuunsai IV at JAPAN HOUSE Los Angeles
