Now:/ 9/28 – 2025/01/27: Portland Japanese Garden to present “Kintsugi: The Restorative Art of Naoko Fukumaru” from Sep. 28 through Jan. 27, 2025
Kintsugi: The Restorative Art of Naoko Fukumaru is displayed in the attraction’s Pavilion and Calvin and Mayho Tanabe Galleries
Kintsugi is an ancient method of mending damaged ceramics using urushi (natural lacquer) dusted with powdered gold. This timely exhibition will explore universally resonant themes of healing through the artwork of kintsugi artist and master conservator Naoko Fukumaru.
Fukumaru has over 20 years of experience as a professional ceramic and glass conservator at the Detroit Institute of Arts Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and other institutions in the U.S., Europe, Egypt, and Japan.
She was born in Kyoto, Japan to a four-generation antique auction house company, and grew up around artwork. Her work as a kintsugi artist is rooted in the belief that what is broken can be beautiful, and in the transformative power of healing spiritual wounds as well as ceramic artworks.
“I first visited Portland Japanese Garden in November 2022,” shares Fukumaru. “I realized that care and love are the main ingredients of this place. It was unmistakable that staff, volunteers, visitors, and all who were involved in this Garden, were giving so much love, care, passion, and pride here. This truly resonates with my kintsugi artwork. This method of mending is seen as enhancing the beauty and value of objects by celebrating their imperfection and impermanence. This approach is the opposite of traditional Western ceramic restoration, in which the damage to the work is sought to be hidden, which I studied and practiced for 25 years.”