Megumi Naitoh
Professor of Art

Megumi Naitoh teaches in ceramics as well as 3D foundation courses. Megumi is actively engaged in the professional field exhibiting nationally and internationally. Her work has been in the collection of Ceramic Research Center, Arizona State University, Tempe, Ariz., and Gauldagergaard, International Ceramic Research Center as well as private collectors in the US. Megumi has developed and created the ECAR (Emmanuel College Artist in Residence) program in 2010. She is currently the director of the program. This program offers educational opportunities to students, enriches the culture on campus, as well as supporting professional artists. She partnered with Mass. College of Art to develop Study Abroad program in Japanese ceramics to offer International experience to students. This program was offered in Spring 2012, and will be offered again in 2015.
Orime ware (2011-present)
Orime ware is a play on the words Oribe ware and Origami. In Japanese, Orime means folded lines. These functional pieces were developed using both 3D modeling software and paper constructions like Origami.
Oribe ware was named after the tea master Furuta Oribe and was a ground-breaking style of ceramics developed in 16th century Japan. It was created and produced in an environment where the ceramics industry was going through a technical revolution specifically in kiln technology and glaze formulations in the Mino and Seto areas. Its bold and playful forms and motifs on the surfaces were often abstract and geometric. This was the result of incorporating a variety of influences from the West with the latest trends in Japan such as Tsujigahara (Japanese textile design).
I see connections between my functional ware and Oribe ware. There is a similarity in the geometric visual elements that both explore. Both were also developed in an environment where technical advancements were undertaken. Combining technology and labor-intensive handmade processes has been a major consideration in my studio practice. Orime ware was developed with this relationship in mind.
LOGIN COMMUNITY, virtual life, real life (2009-2011)
Since 2001, I have been interested in Roman mosaics and their narrative depiction of daily life. I am intrigued by how the mosaics consisted of small pixel like squares that were structured in a non-grid, free form manner. I responded to the Roman mosaics by creating portraits with visible pixels. The tightly configured grid structure of the digital pixilated portraits is contrasted against the more free-formed Roman mosaic aesthetic. The portraits are abstracted and made indefinite by pixilation and present anonymity. The landscape format, size, and frames reference smart phones or computer monitors and suggest Internet communication and online activities.
My work references mosaics and tile murals. My main interest in online activities continues to manifest in this series, exploring the relationship between technology and our lives. In 2007, I became concerned with Second Life, a 3D virtual world/login community. Second Life is created by its residents and inhabited by millions of users from around the globe who create many communities for entertainment, friendship, education, businesses, etc. Although users can express their identities by creating custom avatars, the environment is established to keep the residents' anonymity. Anonymous blogs, forums, and social sites are a new way of social interaction. They are quite unique to our contemporary lives. By creating two vantage points and presenting images from both the real and virtual worlds in one piece, the work expresses the integration of real life and virtual life, and how we quickly weave through these two worlds on a daily basis.
What I Love About Emmanuel:
Small community, located in the heart of Boston.
M.F.A., Massachusetts College of Art; B.S., San Diego State University
- ART 2433 - 3D Form Study
- ART 2451 - Ceramics I
- ART 3451 - Ceramics II
- ART 4451 - Ceramics III
Publications
- "Earth and Alchemy", by Meredith Cutler, ARTSCOPE, New England art magazine, Nov.+Dec. issue,2012
- "Ceramics Art and Perception," Push Play, reinventing a wheel, A review by Judy Seckler, issue 88, p108-p111, Australia, August, 2012
- Ceramics Ireland. "Elastic Authenticity," Issue 27 2011, p. 18 - 21
- "Artists put a modern face on mosaics" by Bill Van Siclen, May 5, 2010, Providence Journal
- "Mosaics: a contemporary approach", The Studio Potter magazine, vol.36, number 2, summer 08, p78-79, 2009
- "Confrontational Clay: The Artist as Social Critic" A&C Black London publisher, written by Judy Schwartz, Ph.D., 2008
- "Pixilated Pictures, Barbara Rizza Mellin explains the techniques of Megumi Naitoh's ceramic mosaics" Ceramics Technical magazine, Nov. 2007-April 2008 issue, p32-35
- "The State of Clay" by Barbara Mellin, Ceramics Art and Perception magazine, September to November 2007
- "The Ghost in the Machine, Show at Firehouse highlights human-computer relationship" by Anne Galloway, The Times Argus, July 13th, 2007
- "Clay On Display The State of Clay Exhibition at LACS" by Barbara Mellin, Lexington Colonial Times Magazine, April - May, P50-51, 2007
- Upfront, "Megumi Naitoh", Ceramics Monthly magazine, March issue, P26, 2007
- "Megumi Naitoh: Bitmapped" by Kristen Pounds, Art New England magazine, August-September issue, 2006
- "Digital Ceramics" by Edward J. Sozanski, Philadelphia Inquirer, March 4th, 2005
- "Juried National of Low-Fire Ceramics", UpFront, Ceramics Monthly magazine, October, 2001'
- "Things that go bump in the DeCordova", Boston Globe, September 30th, 2001
- "Megumi Naitoh", Upfront, Ceramics Monthly magazine, December, 2000
Presentation
- Print Seminar 2012, International Ceramics Research Center, Denmark 2012
- Visiting Artist, Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, 2012
- Slide lecture, Guldageraard, Skælskør, Denmark, 2009
- Global Explorations, panel moderator, NCECA conference, Tempe, AZ, 2009
- Emerging artist award lecture, NCECA conference, Louisville, KY, 2007
- Slide lecture, Fuller Craft Museum, 2007
- Slide lecture, Art New England Workshop at Bennington College, VT, 2003
Exhibitions (selected)
Solo exhibitions
- 2012 - "Real life, Virtual Life", Bemidji State University, MN
- 2010 - "Login Community, real life/virtual life" Hallspace, Boston, MA
- 2007 - "Fractured View", Schlosberg Gallery, Montserrat School of Art, MA
- 2006 - "Bitmapped", Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, MA
- 2004 - "Solo Exhibition Award Series, work of Megumi Natioh", The Clay Studio, Philadelphia, PA
Group exhibitions (recent)
2013
- "Earth Moves: Shifts in Ceramic Art and Design" at the Arvada Center, CO (NCECA)
- "Clay Prints", Fort Wayne Museum of Art, IN
- "Mosaics", Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, MA
- "Clay & Print IV", Museum of Printing History, Huston, TX (NCECA)
2012
- "Winter White", Vessels Gallery, Boston, MA
- "Clay and Print", Ann Linnemann Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
- "Earth and Alchemy", Paine Gallery, Mass College of Art, MA
- "Push Play", NCECA 2012 Invitational, Bellevue Art Museum, Bellevue, WA
- "Clay and Prints III", AMACO/Brent Gallery, Indianapolis, IN
2011
- "Self-Schema", The Heights Waterfront (Trolly Barn), Tampa, FL (NCECA)
- "Elastic Authenticity", Morean Arts Center, St. Petersburg, FL (NCECA)
2010
- "Bodily Functions", Mazmanian Gallery, Framingham State University, Framingham, MA
- "Contemporary Mosaics, A Cutting Edge Invitational", Attleboro Arts Museum, Attleboro, MA
- "Clay and Print II", West Chester University Gallery, West Chester, PA (NCECA)
2009
- "LEAP award winner and finalists", The Society for Contemporary Craft, Pittsburgh, PA
- "FORWARD TRAVELLING Invitational", Norwegian University of Science and Technolgy, Todalen, Norway
- "Color and Form", Attleboro Arts Museum, Attleboro, MA
- "The State of Clay 09", Lexington Arts and Crafts Society, Lexington, MA
- "Synthesis", Hyatt, Phoenix, AZ (NCECA)
- 2009 LEAP award finalist, The Society for Contemporary Craft, Pittsburgh, PA
- 2008 International Residency Award, NCECA (National Council on Education for Ceramic Arts)
- 2007 Emerging Artist Award, NCECA
- 2005 Solo exhibition award, The Clay Studio, Philadelphia, PA
- 2003 Massachusetts Cultural Grant