2024 Kintsugi for Beginners (A Traditional Japanese Art Form in Which Gold is Used to Repair Broken Ceramics)NEW

Join us at the Japanese Culture Center for a special course on Kintsugi! No experience necessary. All levels welcome.

Kintsugi for Beginners
Kintsugi is a traditional Japanese art form in which gold is used to repair broken ceramics. The practice of Kintsugi highlights the break rather than erasing it and emphasizes that the break is what makes the ceramics more valuable and beautiful. In this beginner’s workshop, participants will learn the basic technique of Kintsugi on a small porcelain plate or a small ceramic plate to understand the fundamentals of this process.

All materials including adhesives in the workshop will be food-safe, and approved by the Japanese Government. We will also use an alternative Urushi (the natural resin collected from the lacquer tree) sap for this beginner’s class, which is safe to touch without allergy reactions. All tools, supplies, and practice plates are provided by the instructor.

Date
March 23, 2024

Time
3:30 pm - 5:00 pm

Costs
$120.00

About the instructor
Mami Takahashi is a Japanese multidisciplinary artist and a scholar working at multiple citiesincluding Portland, Chicago and Tokyo. She received her MFA in Contemporary Studio Practice from Portland State University in 2013 and earned a BFA in Japanese Painting from Joshibi University of Art and Design in Japan. For more details, visit https://mamitakahashi.art/

With ongoing artistic research, practice, and teaching, Takahashi explores different approaches to actualize Japanese aesthetics to enhance cultural perspectives to many U.S. communities. At JAF, she is expanding her creativity to incorporate more specific discourses around society, past and present via a lens of Japanese art. Takahashi also aims to connect between Japan and communities in Chicago by teaching traditional and modern art-making techniques.

What is Kintsugi?
Kintsugi is a traditional Japanese art form that involves repairing broken pottery or ceramics with lacquer mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum. The term "kintsugi" itself can be broken down into two parts: "kin" meaning gold and "tsugi" meaning joinery or repair.

Rather than disguising or hiding the cracks and breaks in the pottery, kintsugi emphasizes them, highlighting the beauty of the imperfections and the history of the object. This philosophy embodies the Japanese aesthetic of wabi-sabi, which finds beauty in impermanence, imperfection, and the passage of time. Kintsugi reflects the idea that flaws and scars should be embraced rather than hidden, and that something broken can be made even more beautiful through the process of repair.