THE CONCEPTUAL ART OF AKEMI MAEGAWA

PLURALITY

Arts Program • University of Maryland University College

THE CONCEPTUAL ART OF AKEMI MAEGAWA

Arts ProgramUniversity of Maryland University CollegeSunday, January 17–Sunday, April 17, 2016

PLURALITY

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University of Maryland University College (UMUC) has a long history of offering a quality education to adults in the workforce and the military, in Maryland and around the world. Our Arts Program supports that mission, displaying works of art and hosting public exhibitions, free of charge, that serve to introduce new and estab-lished artists to a broader audience.

Given that frame of reference, it is indeed an honor to host Plurality: The Conceptual Art of Akemi Maegawa.

Akemi Maegawa is a conceptual artist whose works question the world in which we live. She was born in Japan but currently lives in Bethesda, Maryland, where she continues to produce works that make political, social, and economic statements. Her art is imbued with multiple levels of meaning, and every piece helps us examine our world from a uniquely creative and international perspective.

I firmly believe that art sharpens our vision, deepens our under-standing, enriches our experience of the world, and celebrates the creativity in each of us. That creativity, in turn, fires imagination, nurtures innovation, and drives us to learn and to grow.

I know I speak on behalf of all at UMUC when I say how proud we are to showcase the thought-provoking work of a truly unique talent in Plurality: The Conceptual Art of Akemi Maegawa.

Javier MiyaresPresidentUniversity of Maryland University College

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Welcome

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The Arts Program at UMUC prides itself on presenting visual art exhibi-tions that are creative, educational, and of the highest quality. For 35 years, the program has sought out artists who have spent significant time developing their talent and voice as artists. Although the length of an artist’s career is not the only criterion the Exhibition Committee looks at when considering an exhibi-

tion, it certainly helps the committee to trace the progression of the artist’s work. In this case, with the aid of curator Brian Young, we have been introduced to a young artist who has found her voice and communicates her message through her art. Akemi Maegawa does not have the exhibition résumé of artists who have been producing and exhibiting works for years, but she has created an important body of work well worth presenting in an exhibition.

Maegawa is a conceptual artist whose works question the world in which we live. She was born in Japan and currently lives in the Washington, D.C., area, where she produces works that make political, social, and economic statements. She creates simple works with dual meanings, such as Baby Bottles with Tank (p. 20). At first glance, the sculptural objects appear to be in the shape of baby bottles. But on closer inspection, the viewer realizes that Maegawa has incorporated sections of a military tank onto the ceramic bottles. Once the bottles are assembled together, it is clear that the depiction is a military tank—suggesting war and its effect on the young who grow up to fight in it or babies who

have died because of it. Many of Maegawa’s works transform the simple into something complex, often challenging the viewer to think pluralistically.

Another such piece is Taste (p. 7). This ceramic work represents the full-size human brain. However, Maegawa created the piece with a straw protruding from the brain. One can only imagine the message that the artist is conveying. Is the straw a symbol of something being sucked out or something being placed into the brain? If indeed it represents either, what is being placed into the brain and what could be coming out? Again, the answers to those questions, as Maegawa intends, are pluralistic and interpretive. Maegawa’s works take the viewer on a journey of imagination and exploration. More importantly, the works cause the viewer to react, ponder, think, and conclude. Regardless of the conclusion, Maegawa achieves her goal, which is to have her audience look at her work in more than a single way. Her works are what they can be rather than what they appear to be.

Maegawa received her BFA from the Corcoran College of Art and Design in 2005 and her MFA from the Cranbrook Academy of Art in 2007. She has received many artistic awards, including the Ceramics Genius Award at the Corcoran. Her biography in this catalog provides a glimpse into her artistic career.

The Arts Program at UMUC invites you to experience the multiple meanings in Plurality: The Conceptual Art of Akemi Maegawa.

Eric Key Director, Arts ProgramUniversity of Maryland University College

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Introduction

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Akemi Maegawa: DualitiesBY BRIAN YOUNG

I have known Akemi Maegawa and her work since 2006, when she was completing her MFA at Cranbrook Academy of Art in a suburb of Detroit, Michigan. At that time, I was the curator for the Cranbrook Art Museum and responsible for overseeing the MFA installation, in which every graduating student is required to exhibit. Even then, I gave Maegawa a coveted spot to showcase her work. Over subsequent years, I have learned a great deal more about Maegawa and her work, which continues to evolve. She harnesses an intellectual energy that resides in every work, no matter how whimsical it may first appear.

Maegawa was born in Tsu, the capital city of Mie prefecture, Japan, in 1968. In 1995 she moved to Hong Kong, where she worked in the financial field until 2000. But the following year, she enrolled at the Corcoran College of Art and Design, where she earned a BFA. Her education at Cranbrook followed. Maegawa now resides in Bethesda, Maryland, with her husband Ryszard Pluta, MD, PhD, who enjoyed a celebrated career as a neurosurgeon before becom-ing a medical researcher.

At Cranbrook, Maegawa studied with the highly esteemed ceramist Tony Hepburn, an artist I had known previously from my time at the Arkansas Arts Center. Because Cranbrook is so selective— accepting only 15 artists in each of 10 disciplines—my expectations were high for Maegawa and her colleagues. I later found out that she had received no fewer than three awards for ceramics while

at the Corcoran. And before she graduated from Cranbrook, she received acclaim in numerous exhibitions, such as those at the SculptureCenter in New York City; the PF Gallery near Detroit; the Irvine Contemporary in Washington, D.C.; and Area 405 in Baltimore, Maryland.

The Cranbrook Academy of Art prides itself on fluidly mixing dis-ciplines. A ceramist like Maegawa could fully expect to study and immerse herself in other media, despite her coveted place in the prestigious ceramics department. In fact, my strongest memories of my early encounters with her work did not focus on ceramics. Perhaps she first came to my attention when I “caught” her wrap-ping Carl Milles’s large-scale statue Europa and the Bull, which is permanently installed on the Cranbrook campus. Maegawa used a light-colored, soft fabric and tightly fitted it around the piece as she did with Wrapping Project–Studio (p. 7). To keep the fabric taut, she sewed all the seams by hand. As Maegawa later explained, it seemed that people had stopped noticing the imposing bronze work—despite the sculptor’s fame, the provocative subject, and its prominent location. However, by covering the work, ironically, Maegawa brought attention back to the piece. Visitors seemed to use the transformation as a jumping-off point to discuss the role of public sculpture as well as Maegawa’s work. Incidentally, Maegawa wrapped this enormous work during a cold Michigan winter. Some people initially thought she was providing a protective cover.

For her MFA requirement, Maegawa created a provocative concep-tual piece called Wrapping Project–Wish Balloon (p. 4). She asked some 50 to 100 people who had influenced her career to blow into a balloon as they made a wish. The balloons were then installed on a wall, where they slowly deflated as if the wishes themselves had dissipated into the surrounding ether. I bring up these two early works not to reminisce nostalgically about our budding friendship; rather, I want people to understand that even when Maegawa was studying with one of the most respected ceramists in the United

LEFT: Wrapping Project–Wish Balloon (inflated, detail), 2007–2015, balloon, fabric, thread, and Japanese handmade paper, size variable (approximate wall installation size 12 x 12 x 1½ feet)

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States, she chose to work in fiber, balloons, and above all else, with ideas. In this current exhibition, there is a good deal of work that reflects her mastery of ceramics. There is also an abundance of work in other media, including fiber. But taken as a whole, this body of work is really about the manifestation of ideas into concrete form. When approaching Maegawa’s work, I would encourage viewers first to consider the mes-sage and then to explore how that message came to be.

One of the principal messages in this exhibition is reflected in the exhibi-tion’s title, Plurality: The Conceptual Art of Akemi Maegawa. Cradle to Grave, 2014, is a perfect encapsula-tion of the exhibition. There are eight whimsical and colorful Volkswagen buses that have a reborn, hippie spirit about them. The obvious visual element in these objects is that Mae-gawa has taken a symbol of Ameri-can freedom and consumerism and paired it with another symbol, for example, the symbol representing the opposing forces of yin and yang on the sides of the two red vehicles. On one level, Maegawa is putting on display a reference to both the East and West as they collide. These Volkswagen buses might repre-sent the European and American taste for open roads and bright self-promotion, in contrast to the Eastern belief in cosmology, invisible forces, and an overall sense of balance. While this might be Maegawa’s intention, the viewer has to look a bit deeper. The cloth vehicle in each pair is in actuality a baby toy, while the ceramic one is an urn for one’s ashes. So this really is a work that lives up to its title. On another level, the piece is also personal, reflecting the artist’s interest in both fiber and ceramics and the duality of Maegawa’s background in two cultures. The playful nature of the piece might even be a tongue-in-cheek allusion to stereotypes.

These objects also reflect the artist’s focus on handmade objects. The hand-building and hand-stitching methods used in both are inten-tional. Maegawa does not use high technology, nor does she employ mass production.

Baby Bottles with Tank (p. 20) and Baby Bottles with Gun (p. 21), both from 2006, portray a different colli-sion of ideas than Cradle to Grave does. There is the obvious, jarring employment of weaponry with items intended for babies. To my eyes, this pairing has the effect of opposing the presence of tanks and guns. There is also another duality here. In most Asian cultures, ceramics are used for utilitarian or ceremonial pur-poses, the most obvious being for eating and drinking. Here, Maegawa has used a craft object, instilling it with a political or social statement against the use of weapons and force. Such statements are rare in the world of contemporary craft. There is precedence, but the field of contemporary craft is typically more benign (Confrontational Clay being one exception). Beginning in the 1950s, Peter Voulkos, began to make clay objects that shed their

utilitarian purpose, and later Robert Arneson infused his ceramic pieces with humor and politics. Maegawa is part of that tradition, but her works do not venture into the realm of unsettling. Aestheti-cally, they remain bright and balanced.

Wrapping Project–Studio (p. 7) dates from 2008, and it shares sensibilities with the Cranbrook piece in which she wrapped Carl Milles’s Europa and the Bull. In fact, Maegawa said that wrapping the bull came after Wrapping Project–Studio, in part because after wrapping her studio contents, Maegawa no longer had access to them. The overall effect of this more personal work is that it seems

Cradle to Grave (detail), 2014, stoneware, silk thread, fabric, and beads, 4 editions, each ceramic piece 7 x 11 x 7 inches, each fabric piece 11 x 11 x 7 inches

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to elevate the status of artist. The artist’s tools become worthy of special protection and admiration. The idea of plurality is also demonstrated in a conceptual notion that the tools themselves can become works of art, or at least the soul of the art. The piece also indicates recognition of the work of Christo, but as Maegawa is quick to point out, there is a difference: Christo aims to obscure the underlying element; Maegawa reinforces it.

Taste, 2011, is another piece in the exhibition that is difficult to categorize. Clearly, there is a nod to her husband, a neurosurgeon. Yet I am more intrigued by—and admiring of—the idea that this work barely climbs into the realm of fine art. Without the straw, one might imagine that this piece would be awfully close to the anatomical brain models that are used in medical training. And isn’t it curious that the straw is a ready-made item of sorts? But it provides the springboard into making Taste a work of fine art. In the context of a gallery setting, however, the work plays with our senses and with our sensibilities.

Plurality: The Conceptual Art of Akemi Maegawa is an exhibi- tion that provides a rich glimpse into the art and mind of a gifted ceramist. Each piece leads the viewers into different realms simultaneously.

Baby Bottles with Gun, 2006, porcelain, size variable

TOP: Taste, 2011, stoneware, acrylic paint, and straw, 10 x 8 x 9½ inches BOTTOM: Wrapping Project–Studio, 2008, fabric and objects from studio, 62 x 47½ x 40 inches

Brian Young was the senior curator of the Arts Program at UMUC and was instrumental in developing this exhibition.

THE CONCEPTUAL ART OF AKEMI MAEGAWA

PLURALITY

RIGHT: ORGANIZING MEMORIES (detail)

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ORGANIZING MEMORIES

What is the most important thing in my life? This is a question I ask myself repeatedly whenever I reach a critical point in my life. I asked the same question before starting this project. I felt a strong need to somehow organize my memories, to find out the answer at that moment. What is a memory? Do I have enough clues to recall my lifetime of memories? No, I don’t. I am a traveler, and I don’t store old, used things. I don’t even have photographs of my childhood. Some periods in my life are completely blocked and I don’t remember what happened. But I believe that those memories exist. In other cases, I selectively remember good and bad experiences. Good or bad, I value them all. Having memory means that I have been alive and that I am still alive. I am growing as a human being, accumu-lating these memories whenever I experience new emotions or feelings. The feelings I experienced are the most important part of my life.

Making multiple book-like objects is suitable to creating a visual image related to collections, memories, and stories. These objects represent diaries. I decided to use two different media for the books to distinguish my memories. I selected 60 Japanese words related to feelings or emotions I am confident that I have experienced. I separated the memories into negative and positive categories. Each fabric-covered book contains one page of Japanese handmade paper. I wrote each Japanese word on the left side of the page with Sumi ink, and I printed out the direct English translation, from my computer dictionary, on the right. To supplement the English translation of each Japanese word, I made small figurative objects in porcelain with the exact facial expression I would use for the word.

ORGANIZING MEMORIES | 2005, porcelain, fabric, Japanese handmade paper, and form, size variable

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I realized that in my emotional word collection, there are more negative than positive words (34 vs. 26). The nega-tive experiences were easier to recall. I decided to use fabric with colorful patterns to underline the fact that these memories are easier to reach or recall and emphasize that they are no less valuable than the positive experiences. I made two bags for my installation: one is for the fabric-covered books and the other is for the ceramic figures. These bags are used in transportation of the objects. The bags emphasize the importance of those memories that I will carry with me when I travel. At the same time, when I pack all of them in the bags, the “sharing moment” is over, and the bags become caskets for the memories. —Akemi Maegawa

ORGANIZING MEMORIES (detail)

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ICHIGO DARUMA | 2008, porcelain, 7 x 5 x 5 inches

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2008 DARUMA | 2008, porcelain, 8½ x 6½ x 4 inches

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BLUE SKY CAKE (U.S. AND JAPAN) | 2014, earthenware and porcelain, 6 x 9 x 9 inches

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BLUE SKY CAKE (U.S. AND JAPAN)

The cake is symbolic. It is not just a sweet desert; it is a symbol of sharing happiness when people eat it together on a special occasion in life. Wherever we live in the world, there is a similar ritual to celebrate meaningful occasions together by sharing food or a cake with family or friends. But such a simple celebration and sharing happiness can be a very difficult thing to do for some people because of economic, social, or family problems.

I never had a birthday cake or birthday party when I was a child. It was my husband who organized my first birthday party, and I celebrated my not-so-young birthday with our friends in the States. I remember well how happy I was having my first birthday cake. While enjoying the cake, I thought about my younger sister who lives in Japan and wished she could join me to eat my birthday cake, which we had never eaten together.

My cake sculptures titled Blue Sky Cake (U.S. and Japan) are made of ceramic. We cannot eat them, but we can look at them together and they last forever, like the sky we share. A small porcelain cloud sits comfortably on the cake, suggesting that like a free cloud in the sky, we can find our destination. Even though we cannot eat the birthday cake together, Blue Sky Cake reminds me that we can always celebrate together by just looking up in the same sky, despite being in Japan or in the States. —Akemi Maegawa

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YOUR SUNNY SIDE SHOULD BE UP CHAIR (installation)

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YOUR SUNNY SIDE SHOULD BE UP CHAIR | 2006, stoneware, fabric, and foam, 5 x 12 x 12 feet

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TASTE | 2011, stoneware, acrylic paint, and straw, 10 x 8 x 9½ inches

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NEW GENERATION | 2010, stoneware, artificial moss, wire, and Japanese handmade paper, 7 x 7 x 5 inches

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BABY BOTTLES

I believe that all mothers care equally for the healthy growth and happiness of their children. Every newborn baby all over the world is fed by the mother with breast milk or milk from a baby bottle. There is no religious, sexual, or cultural difference in feeding a baby.

When the war in the Middle East started, I could not stop thinking about the pain of mothers who lose their children in wars. Is there any mother in the world who wants her baby to become a killer or to be killed in a war? Why are there wars? Why are we killing our children? I ask those questions through the body of work titled Baby Bottles with Gun and Baby Bottles with Tank.

BABY BOTTLES WITH TANK | 2006, porcelain, size variable

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I made multiple baby bottles, and I hand painted part of an image of a gun or a tank on each baby bottle with an underglaze. The pieces are like puzzles. One has to put them together in a special order to show a clear image of a gun or a tank. Only when the bottles are assembled correctly and viewed from a special angle can one see the most disconnecting image about how we feed babies . . . and it keeps us questioning why. —Akemi Maegawa

BABY BOTTLES WITH GUN | 2006, porcelain, size variable

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DARUMA CHAIR | 2007, fabric and foam, 3 x 5 x 5 feet

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OPPOSITE ATTRACTION | 2004, steel, fabric, and fiberfill, 28 x 32 x 27 inches

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DOUBLE IMAGE DRAWING | 2010, vinyl, felt, and thread, 8 editions, 20 x 15 inches

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DOUBLE IMAGE DRAWING (edition 2 of 8)

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DOUBLE IMAGE DRAWING (edition 6 of 8)

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DARUMA COMMODITY SERIES

I make Daruma sculptures because I want to introduce here one of the most commonly used self-motivational objects in Japan. Daruma dolls were created based on the myth of a monk named Daruma who lost his legs and hands after long meditation to achieve enlightenment. His dedication and perseverance encourage people to work hard to achieve their own goals and remind them to never give up. A regular Daruma doll in Japan comes without pupils in the eyes—it looks like Daruma with his eyes closed. When you define your own goal, you draw in one pupil, leaving Daruma with the one eye opened while you work every day toward that goal. Only when you achieve your goal can you draw the other pupil. So, when both eyes are open, Daruma is a symbol of achievement. And it has very positive energy.

DARUMA COMMODITY SERIES (front) | 2005, stoneware and fabric, 13 x 15 x 15 inches

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As a Japanese-born artist living in the States, I think about my identity very often. The United States is a multi-racial, multicultural, and multireligious country, while Japan is a homogenous country. However, I think prejudice, based on how a person looks or where he or she belongs, exists in the States as well as in Japan. With consumer culture expanding globally, the image of the brand, especially a luxury brand, is becoming part of many people’s identity. I think luxury brands create another layer of the (superficial) identity—not only in the States but also all over the world.

I created the Daruma Commodity Series simply thinking what Daruma would feel wearing an outfit with a luxury brand logo on it. And I ask whether he would be valued based on the brand logo as a commodity instead of Daruma himself. Is this what we have achieved—exchanging the pursuit of the harmony of enlightenment for a world where we hide differences behind luxurious brands? —Akemi Maegawa

DARUMA COMMODITY SERIES (back)

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HOUSE | 2015, stoneware, 5 editions, 9 x 8½ x 7½ inches

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HOUSE (editions 2 and 4 of 5, detail)

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WRAPPING PROJECT–STUDIO | 2008, fabric and objects from studio, 62 x 47½ x 40 inches

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HYBRID | 2004, stoneware, leather, wire, and beads, 9 x 12 x 9 inches

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CLOUD SERIES 1 | 2010–12, fabric and stoneware, 9 x 6 x 3 feet

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CLOUD SERIES 2 | 2013, fabric and stoneware, 9 x 6 x 3 feet

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WRAPPING PROJECT–WISH BALLOON

Wrapping Project–Wish Balloon is my ongoing investigation of the objects of care and the act of caring. I worked on Wrapping Project–Europa, Carl Milles’s Europa and the Bull (a large-scale bronze sculpture in the garden of the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan), Wrapping Project–Studio (tools and objects in my studio), and Wrapping Project–Wish Balloon (people’s wishes in balloons) while studying at Cranbrook. At that time, I wanted to find out the outcome of carefully and tightly covering a well-known object. Sometimes it was a painstaking pro-cess, like covering the Europa sculpture in the middle of Michigan’s unforgiving winter.

I hand stitched felt over each object so that the form of the object underneath would still be identifiable after wrap-ping. The fabric layer that I created can be viewed as a protection or an external skin (like a cocoon). It hides the object and makes it visually inaccessible, but the covering also makes us more aware of the form of the object or the existence of the object by itself. By creating such an external skin and presenting the covered object, I ques-tion the meaning of the object and the role of protection and care.

WRAPPING PROJECT–WISH BALLOON (deflated, detail)

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For Wrapping Project–Wish Balloon, I asked people around me to make a wish while blowing up a balloon. Then I carefully covered each of the wish balloons with felt by hand stitching. Unlike wrapping a solid object, wrapping a wish balloon demanded extra caution. I did not want to pop or break anybody’s wish existing in the balloon. I had no idea what kind of wishes people had made in the balloons, but I felt a huge responsibility each time I held a balloon. While I was sewing and wrapping the balloon, I thought about the person the entire time.

The original Wrapping Project–Wish Balloon was tightly wrapped (stitched) over the real balloon, and each wrapped balloon was hung on the wall like a piece of fruit. Those people’s “wishes,” the air in the balloon, completely van-ished with time. However, the external skin I created for each balloon remains as a memory of the wish as each dropped to the floor like dried fruit. This Wrapping Project–Wish Balloon (deflated) raises questions about time and memory. And I find it very poetic and beautiful to visualize something important being dispersed with time—so we all are breathing those people’s dreams together. —Akemi Maegawa

WRAPPING PROJECT–WISH BALLOON (deflated) | 2007–2015, balloon, fabric, thread, and Japanese handmade paper, size variable (approximate floor installation size 5 x 5 feet)

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FORTUNE COOKIE | 2009, stoneware, fabric, and zipper, 5 x 6½ x 6½ inches

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ARTIST’S URN IS A COLLECTOR’S COOKIE JAR | 2011, porcelain, earthenware, fabric, silk thread, and fiberfill, 8½ x 6½ x 6½ inches

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CRADLE TO GRAVE (edition 4 of 4, detail)

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CRADLE TO GRAVE

I made Cradle to Grave thinking about life and death, yin and yang, beginning and end. Cradle to Grave consists of four pairs of iconic Volkswagen buses, a symbol of the hippie era when I was born. Each pair consists of a fabric sculpture and a ceramic sculpture. The soft fabric Volkswagen is made like a baby’s toy for a newborn; the ceramic Volkswagen sculpture is an actual urn for keeping the ashes of a dead person.

I think Western culture over-encourages staying young or looking young and not appreciating natural aging. People are too afraid of getting old and dying, and they even avoid thinking or talking about death. However, life and death coexist, and I believe that getting old is a very natural thing and that we all should embrace it as a positive thing.

I wanted to use the playful image of a Volkswagen bus to celebrate two stages of life—both at the beginning and the end—with joy. It must be nice to rest in an urn, and it reminds me how my life started. Nevertheless, before getting there, I hope to find many more paths and interesting things in life while naturally and gracefully getting old. —Akemi Maegawa

CRADLE TO GRAVE | 2014, stoneware, silk thread, fabric, and beads, 4 editions, each ceramic piece 7 x 11 x 7 inches, each fabric piece 11 x 11 x 7 inches

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SIZE MATTERS (edition 1 of 5, detail) | 2006, porcelain and C-print, 40 x 60 inches

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SIZE MATTERS (editions 2–5 of 5, details)

AKEMI MAEGAWA

BORN 1968

TSU, MIE PREFECTURE, JAPAN

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Artist’s BiographyEDUCATION

2007 MFA, Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan

2005 BFA, Corcoran College of Art and Design, Washington, D.C.

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

2015 Thank You Artist Friends on Facebook Project, Nano Gallery, District of Columbia Arts Center, Washington, D.C.

2014–15 Insight: The Path of Bodhidharma, USC Pacific Asia Museum, Pasadena, California

2014 Shrink It, Pink It, Cathouse FUNeral, Brooklyn, New York

2013 Raising Dust, Carroll Square Gallery, Washington, D.C.

2013 Ephemera Show, Workhouse Arts Center, Lorton, Virginia

2012 Seven Years Itch Group Show, Anaba Project, Bethesda, Maryland

2011 Artist Tribute 2, Irvine Contemporary, Washington, D.C.

2011 New Work by Gallery Artists, Irvine Contemporary, Washington, D.C.

2010 New Art Dealers Alliance (NADA) Art Fair, Miami Beach, Florida

2010 Solo Show, Academy Art Museum, Easton, Maryland

2009 Washington Project for the Arts Show, Katzen Arts Center, American University, Washington, D.C.

2008 Aspect:Ratio 2, Irvine Contemporary, Washington, D.C.

2008 Invisible, Inc. Solo Show, Irvine Contemporary, Washington, D.C.

2008 Reunion Show, Irvine Contemporary, Washington, D.C.

2007 Anton Art Center, Mount Clemens, Michigan

2007 The First Annual Alumni Juried Exhibition, Corcoran College of Art and Design, Washington, D.C.

2007 Forum Gallery, Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan

2006 DaimlerChrysler Financial Services Office, Detroit, Michigan

2006 Lucky Draw 2006, SculptureCenter, New York, New York

2006 Chair Spray, PF Gallery, Clawson, Michigan

2005 Area 405/Triad Galleries, Baltimore, Maryland

2003 Washington Square Sculpture Show, Washington, D.C.

PUBLICATIONS

Bmoreart.com. “Akemi Maegawa at Irvine Contemporary.” February 20, 2008. http://bmoreart.com/2008/02/akemi- maegawa-at-irvine-contemporary.html

Capps, Kriston. “Wrapper’s Delight: Akemi Maegawa’s Latest Works Showcase Her Fancy for Felt.” Washington City Paper, August 17, 2007. www.washingtoncitypaper.com/articles/2347/wrappers-delight

Judkis, Maura. “Invisible, Inc.” Washington City Paper, March 7, 2008. www.washingtoncitypaper.com/articles/ 34697/34invisible-inc34

Washington Life Magazine. “Paint the Town: Corcoran Ready for Art Basel.” December 3, 2009. www.washingtonlife.com/2009/12/03/paint-the-town-corcoran-ready-for-art-basel

Jenkins, Mark. “In the Galleries: Justin D. Strom and Akemi Maegawa.” Washington Post. June 5, 2015. www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/museums/in-the-galleries-photographs-from-the-jim-crow-era-south/2015/06/04/faf1c74c-086a-11e5-9e39- 0db921c47b93_story.html

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Exhibition List2008 Daruma 2008, porcelain, 8½ x 6½ x 4 inches

Artist’s Urn Is a Collector’s Cookie Jar 2011, porcelain, earthenware, fabric, silk thread, and fiberfill, 8½ x 6½ x 6½ inches

Baby Bottles with Gun 2006, porcelain, size variable

Baby Bottles with Tank 2006, porcelain, size variable

Blue Sky Cake (U.S. and Japan) 2014, earthenware and porcelain, 6 x 9 x 9 inches

Cloud Series 1 2010–12, fabric and stoneware, 9 x 6 x 3 feet

Cloud Series 2 2013, fabric and stoneware, 9 x 6 x 3 feet

Cradle to Grave 2014, stoneware, silk thread, fabric, and beads, 4 editions, each ceramic piece 7 x 11 x 7 inches, each fabric piece 11 x 11 x 7 inches

Daruma Chair 2007, fabric and foam, 3 x 5 x 5 feet

Daruma Commodity Series 2005, stoneware and fabric, 13 x 15 x 15 inches

Double Image Drawing 2010, vinyl, felt, and thread, 8 editions, 20 x 15 inches

Fortune Cookie 2009, stoneware, fabric, and zipper, 5 x 6½ x 6½ inches

House 2015, stoneware, 5 editions, 9 x 8½ x 7½ inches

Hybrid 2004, stoneware, leather, wire, and beads, 9 x 12 x 9 inches

Ichigo Daruma 2008, porcelain, 7 x 5 x 5 inches

New Generation 2010, stoneware, artificial moss, wire, and Japanese handmade paper, 7 x 7 x 5 inches

Opposite Attraction 2004, steel, fabric, and fiberfill, 28 x 32 x 27 inches

Organizing Memories 2005, porcelain, fabric, Japanese handmade paper, and form, size variable

Size Matters 2006, porcelain and C-print, 5 editions, 40 x 60 inches

Taste 2011, stoneware, acrylic paint, and straw, 10 x 8 x 9½ inches

Wrapping Project–Studio 2008, fabric and objects from studio, 62 x 47½ x 40 inches

Wrapping Project–Wish Balloon (deflated) 2007–2015, balloon, fabric, thread, and Japanese handmade paper, size variable (approximate floor installation size 5 x 5 feet)

Your Sunny Side Should Be Up Chair 2006, stoneware, fabric, and foam, 5 x 12 x 12 feet

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About UMUCSERVING BUSY PROFESSIONALS WORLDWIDE

University of Maryland University College (UMUC) specializes in high-quality academic programs that are convenient for busy professionals. Our programs are specifically tailored to fit into the demanding lives of those who wish to pursue a respected degree that can advance them personally and grow their careers. UMUC has earned a worldwide reputation for excellence as a comprehensive virtual university and, through a combination of classroom and distance-learning formats, provides educational opportunities to more than 80,000 students. The university is proud to offer highly acclaimed faculty and world-class student services to educate students online, throughout Maryland, across the United States, and in 20 countries and territories around the world. UMUC serves its students through undergraduate and graduate programs, noncredit leadership development, and customized programs. For more information regarding UMUC and its programs, visit www.umuc.edu.

About the Arts Program at UMUCSince 1978, UMUC has proudly shown works from a large collec-tion of international and Maryland artists at its headquarters in Adelphi, Maryland, a few miles from the nation’s capital. Through its Arts Program, the university provides a prestigious and wide- ranging forum for emerging and established artists and brings art to the community through special exhibitions and its own collec-tions, which have grown to include more than 2,800 pieces of art.

UMUC’s collections focus on both art by Maryland artists and art from around the world. They include the Maryland Artist Collection, the Doris Patz Collection of Maryland Artists, the Asian Collections, the Education Collection, and the International Collection. The university’s collection of Maryland art includes approximately 2,000 works and provides a comprehensive survey of 20th- and 21st-century Maryland art. The university’s Asian Collections consist of nearly 420 pieces of Chinese art, Japa-nese prints, and Balinese folk art, dating from the Tang dynasty (618–907 AD) through the 19th century—a historical reach of 13 centuries. The UMUC collection of Japanese prints includes more than 120 prints by 35 artists.

Artworks are on display throughout the College Park Marriott Hotel & Conference Center at UMUC and the Administration Building in Adelphi as well as at the UMUC Academic Center at Largo. The main, lower-level gallery in Adelphi is open to the public from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. seven days a week, and the Leroy Merritt Center for the Art of Joseph Sheppard is open to the public from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. seven days a week. More than 75,000 students, scholars, and visitors come to the Adelphi facilities each year. Exhibitions at the UMUC Academic Center at Largo are open to visitors from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.

UMUC Arts Program Mission StatementThe Arts Program at UMUC creates an environment in which its diverse constituents, including members of the university com-munity and the general public, can study and learn about art by directly experiencing it.

The Arts Program seeks to promote the university’s core values and to provide educational opportunities for lifelong learning. From the research and study of works of art to the teaching applications of each of our exhibitions, the Arts Program will play an increasing role in academic life at the university. With a regional and national focus, the Arts Program is dedicated to the acquisi-tion, preservation, study, exhibition, and interpretation of works of art of the highest quality in a variety of media that represent its constituents and to continuing its historic dedication to Maryland and Asian art.

ContributorsDIRECTOR, ARTS PROGRAM: Eric Key CURATORS: Eric Key, Brian YoungEDITORS: Sandy Bernstein, Beth Butler, Nancy Kochuk, Barbara ReedDIRECTOR, INSTITUTIONAL PROJECTS: Cynthia FriedmanDESIGNER: Jennifer NorrisPROJECT MANAGER: Laurie BushkoffPRODUCTION MANAGER: Scott EuryFINE ARTS TECHNICIAN: René A. SanjinesARTWORK PHOTOGRAPHY: pages 4, 42–43 by Akemi Maegawa; all others by John Woo

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UMUC Art Advisory BoardJavier Miyares President University of Maryland University College

Anne V. Maher, Esq., Chair Attorney at Law Kleinfeld, Kaplan & Becker, LLP

Eva J. Allen, Honorary Member Art Historian

Myrtis Bedolla, Vice Chair Owner and Founding Director Galerie Myrtis

Joan Bevelaqua Artist, Art Faculty University of Maryland University College

I-Ling Chow, Honorary Member Regional President and Managing Director, Ret. Asia Bank, N.A.

Nina C. Dwyer Artist, Adjunct Professor of Art Montgomery College

Karin Goldstein, Honorary Member Collector and Patron of the Arts

Juanita Boyd Hardy, Honorary Member Executive Director CulturalDC

Sharon Holston, Honorary Member Artist's Representative and Co-Owner, Holston Originals

Pamela Holt Consultant Public Affairs and Cultural Policy Administration

Eric Key Director, Arts Program University of Maryland University College

Thomas Li, Honorary Member Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Ret. Biotech Research Labs, Inc.

David Maril, Honorary Member Journalist President, Herman Maril Foundation

Barbara Stephanic, PhD, Honorary Member Professor of Art History, Ret. College of Southern Maryland

Dianne A. Whitfield-Locke, DDS Collector and Patron of the Arts Owner, Dianne Whitfield-Locke Dentistry

Sharon Wolpoff Artist and Owner Wolpoff Studios

UMUC Board of VisitorsMark J. Gerencser, Chair Chairman of the Board CyberSpa, LLC

Evelyn J. Bata, PhD Collegiate Professor University of Maryland University College

Richard F. Blewitt, Member Emeritus Managing Partner, R&B Associates and President, The Blewitt Foundation

Joseph V. Bowen Jr. Senior Vice President, Operations, and Managing Principal, Ret. McKissack & McKissack

David W. Bower Sr. Chief Executive Officer Data Computer Corporation of America

Karl R. Gumtow Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer CyberPoint International, LLC

Anne V. Maher, Esq. Attorney at Law Kleinfeld, Kaplan & Becker, LLP

Lt. Gen. Emmett Paige Jr., U.S. Army, Ret. Vice President of Operations, Ret. Department of Defense/ Intelligence Services Lockheed Martin Information Technology

Charles E. (Ted) Peck Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Ret. The Ryland Group, Inc.

Sharon R. Pinder President and Chief Executive Officer Capital Region Minority Supplier Development Council

Brig. Gen. Velma L. Richardson, U.S. Army, Ret. President, VLR Consulting

Gen. John (Jack) Vessey Jr., U.S. Army, Ret., Member Emeritus Former Chairman U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff

William T. (Bill) Wood, JD Founder Wood Law Offices, LLC

Joyce M. Wright Senior Consultant Fitzgerald Consulting

© 2015 University of Maryland University College. All rights reserved. Copyright credits and attribution for certain illustrations

are cited internally proximate to the illustrations.

ISBN 13:978-0-9842265-0-4ISBN-10: 0-98442265-0-8 15-ARTS-031 (11/15)