Koike Shoko 小池 頌子 (b. 1943), Covered shell-shaped container with white glaze (detail), 1992, with signed wood box, stoneware, 11 1/8 × 10 1/8 in. (28.2 × 25.6 cm)

Shaping Clay: Women Artists in Contemporary Japanese Ceramics
May 21 – June 4, 2026
18 East 64th Street, Suite 1F, NYC

Dai Ichi Arts, Ltd  is pleased to present Shaping Clay: Women Artists in Contemporary Japanese Ceramics, a new group exhibition featuring contemporary women artists working in the ceramic medium, presenting new works by prominent and established artists alongside new rising voices in the landscape of Japanese ceramic art.

Since the postwar period, women ceramic artists in Japan have played a transformative role in redefining the medium. Long excluded from many areas of ceramic production due to gendered social norms, generations of artists began challenging tradition through sculptural, abstract, and experimental approaches to clay during the postwar period. This vanguard generation of women helped shape the future of contemporary ceramics today. Since then, an exciting flourishing of expression among women ceramic artists has continued to thrive across Japan’s contemporary ceramic landscape.

Building upon the current presentations of Radical Clay—a traveling U.S. exhibition highlighting Japanese women artists working in ceramics from the celebrated Carol and Jeffrey Horvitz Collection of contemporary Japanese ceramics—this presentation extends that conversation. Alongside works by artists featured in Radical Clay, it brings together established, emerging, and innovative voices shaping the future of contemporary Japanese ceramics.

To view these extraordinary works and their digital catalog, click here.