Image: Phoenix Art Museum
'Radical Clay: Contemporary Women Artists from Japan' remains on view at the Art of Asia Galleries at Phoenix Art Museum through September 13, 2026.
Organized by the Art Institute of Chicago and the Carol and Jeffrey Horvitz Collection, the exhibition brings together 40 avant-garde works by 36 women artists. Drawn from the Horvitz Collection, the presentation focuses on artists who have explored sculptural expression outside the traditionally male-dominated field of Japanese studio ceramics.
The works address motifs including flora, geology, human anatomy and fantastical abstract forms. Featured artists include Mishima Kimiyo, whose 2007 work 'Untitled (Crushed Asahi Beer Box)' is made of glazed and silkscreened stoneware; Hosono Hitomi, represented by the 2019 porcelain work 'Pine Tree Pool'; and Shingu Sayaka, whose 2021 'Erosion No. 4 Shokka (Eroding Flower)' combines glazed and unglazed stoneware.
Janice Katz, Roger L. Weston Curator of Japanese Art, curated the exhibition. Its Phoenix presentation is coordinated by Colin Pearson, Curator of Asian Art.
