Listening to Bamboo: An Unrivaled Japanese Art Form

Join us for an evening lecture with Robert T. Coffland who will trace the development of Japanese bamboo basketry into an art form. This evolution started in the early Meiji period and continues today. Through this presentation, Coffland would like the audience to consider seeing the artists’ creations as sculpture.

Robert T. Coffland is one of the world’s leading experts on Japanese bamboo.  He is the author of Contemporary Japanese Bamboo Arts, The Bamboo Basket Art of Higashi Takesonsai, and Hin: The Quiet Beauty of Japanese Bamboo Art. Coffland founded TAI Gallery which introduced contemporary Japanese art to the American public. Coffland and his late wife, Mary Hunt Kahlenberg, mounted two major exhibitions in Japan, Mother Earth/Father Sky: Two Views of Nature and Matisse’s Secret: Kuba Textiles from Zaire, which also traveled to museums in the US.

This hybrid program will be held in-person in our auditorium and streamed live via zoom from 6:00-7:00 p.m.