Aug, 11, 2025
Exhibitions and Special InstallationsAsian ArtSpecial Engagement ExhibitionsMedia Alerts
Phoenix Art Museum presents major exhibition this fall featuring avant-garde clay sculptures by nearly 40 under-recognized Japanese women artists
Opening September 2025, Radical Clay: Contemporary Women Artists from Japan highlights innovative and technically ambitious ceramic compositions created after World War II
PHOENIX (August 4, 2025) – This fall, Phoenix Art Museum (PhxArt) presents Radical Clay: Contemporary Women Artists from Japan, organized by the Art Institute of Chicago and the Carol and Jeffrey Horvitz Collection. The exhibition provides a unique opportunity to discover the technical achievements and creativity of leading women ceramicists from post-war Japan, highlighting their discovery of new possibilities for clay and its potential as a radical medium. Radical Clay: Contemporary Women Artists from Japan will be on view at PhxArt from September 24, 2025 – August 9, 2026.
“It is a privilege for Phoenix Art Museum to present Radical Clay: Contemporary Women Artists from Japan,” said Jeremy Mikolajczak, the Museum’s Sybil Harrington Director and CEO. “Selected from the private collection of Carol and Jeffrey Horvitz, long-time supporters of Phoenix Art Museum, this exhibition highlights an incredible selection of innovative artists who have expanded the creative boundaries of ceramics as a medium. This is a rare opportunity to experience the technical advancement and innovation in contemporary Japanese art and complements the Museum’s historical works in the institution’s Asian Art Collection.”
Radical Clay celebrates the originality and virtuosity of 36 women artists from Japan who have explored sculptural expression outside the traditional field of Japanese studio ceramics since the 1970s. The exhibition’s 40 avant-garde works are drawn from the Horvitz Collection, considered one of the leading collections of Japanese contemporary ceramics outside of Japan, and explore wide-ranging content and motifs, including the human body, geology, flora, and fantastical abstract forms. Through the evocative display, visitors discover an often-overlooked history of Japanese women artists who have made significant contributions to the traditionally male-dominated field of ceramics since World War II. Featured works demonstrate these artists’ bold approaches to form, color, and surface texture, as well as the ways in which they have resisted gendered expectations by working in so-called “masculine” modes while depicting traditionally “feminine” subjects, including in large scale. An example of one of these captivating works includes Erosion No. 4 Shokka (Eroding Flower) (2021) by Shingu Sayaka, whose floral sculpture aims to capture both the fragility and strength of nature and the medium of ceramics. Thin needles of clay, each shaped by hand, are gathered into tufts evocative of the inside of a flower, with somber colors that suggest a sense of decay and the passage of time.
“Visitors will see a wide sweep of sculptures in Radical Clay: Contemporary Women Artists from Japan, from the innovative to the expressive to the mysterious,” said Colin Pearson, Curator of Asian Art at Phoenix Art Museum. “The exhibition is a powerful opportunity to discover the many ways technically accomplished ceramicists—many of whom have long been overlooked in their field—have pushed the physical limits of the medium, stepping outside the conventional nature of working with clay despite societal and cultural expectations.”
The exhibition is accompanied by an illustrated catalogue published by the Art Institute of Chicago. It features contributions by Hollis Goodall, former Curator of Japanese Art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and Janice Katz, Roger L. Weston Associate Curator of Japanese Art.
To request interviews and high resolution photography, contact the Communications Office of Phoenix Art Museum at samantha.andreacchi@phxart.org or kaylee.weyrauch@phxart.org.
About the Exhibition
Radical Clay: Contemporary Women Artists from Japan is organized by the Art Institute of Chicago and the Carol and Jeffrey Horvitz Collection and curated by Janice Katz, Roger L. Weston Curator of Japanese Art. Its presentation at Phoenix Art Museum is coordinated by Colin Pearson, Curator of Asian Art.
The exhibition is presented by Katharine and Nicholas J. Feduska, M.D. and E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation.
All contemporary art exhibitions and projects are made possible in part by the Rob Walton, Jordan Rose, and Rose Law Group Fund for Contemporary Art.
All exhibitions at Phoenix Art Museum are underwritten by the Phoenix Art Museum Exhibition Excellence Fund, founded by The Opatrny Family Foundation, with additional major support provided by Joan Cremin.
Admission is free for Museum Members; youth aged 5 and younger; and Maricopa County Community Colleges students. Entrance into the exhibition is included in general admission for the public. Visitors may also enjoy reduced admission to the exhibition during voluntary-donation times on Wednesdays from 3 – 8 pm, made possible by SRP and City of Phoenix, and First Fridays from 5 – 8 pm, made possible by APS and Lexus, with additional support from Arizona Community Foundation. For a full breakdown of general admission prices and hours, see phxart.org/visit/.
About Phoenix Art Museum
Since 1959, Phoenix Art Museum (PhxArt) has engaged millions of visitors with the art of our region and world. Located in Phoenix’s Central Corridor, PhxArt creates spaces of exchange and belonging for all audiences through dynamic exhibitions, collections, and experiences with art. Each year, 300,000 guests on average engage with critically acclaimed national and international exhibitions and the Museum’s collection of more than 21,000 works of American and Western American, Asian, European, Latin American, modern, and contemporary art and fashion design, along with vibrant photography exhibitions made possible through the Museum’s landmark partnership with the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona in Tucson. PhxArt also presents live performances, outstanding examples of global cinema, arts-education programs and workshops, a monthly live-music series, and more for the community. To learn more about Phoenix Art Museum, visit phxart.org, or call 602.257.1880.