TEA CULTURE 2026 | Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) Hosts Tea Program of Japan Foundation Los Angeles (JFLA) at Geffen Galleries | August 16
Posted on August 27, 2026 by Cultural News
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) hosted a lecture, demonstration, and matcha tasting program of the Japan Foundation Los Angeles (JFLA) at the David Geffen Galleries on Sunday, August 16, 2026, from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
More than 100 people participated in Japanese Tea Ceremony: Introduction and Tasting at LACMA, and Curator Walkthrough at JFLA Tea House and Ceramics Exhibition led by Kaoru Kuribayashi, Arts and Culture Program Coordinator at JFLA.
After lecture and tea experiences at the Geffen Galleries of LACMA, participants took a five-minute walk to the Japan Foundation Los Anges to continue a curator walkthrough of the ongoing tea house installation and Japanese ceramics exhibition from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Drawing inspirations from ceramic collections at the Geffen Galleries as well as Japan Foundation’s KINETIC STILLNESS: Sculptural Ceramics (June 18-Sept. 19) and Tea Ceremony with Pacific Plastics (June 18-Sept. 19), the program was intended to experience the spirit of Chanou not only by looking at artworks but also engaging with it through the shared ritual of preparing and enjoying tea.
This program was a part of Third Weekend at LACMA event.
For the tea ceremony demonstration at LACMA, Bizen ware tea bowl by Kazuya Ishida was used as the main tea bowl, followed by a tea bowl by Takashi Horisaki. For the matcha tasting, oyster inspired tea bowls by Jonathan Yamakami were used for serving.
JFLA’s Kaoru Kuribayashi holds master’s degrees from Goldsmiths, University of London (2020), and UCLA (2024), where her research explored how Japanese traditional culture articulates mindfulness, ritual, and transcendental experience.
Rooted in her training in Chanoyu (Japanese tea ceremony), which Kuribayashi began at the age of ten, her interdisciplinary art practice focuses on micro-gestures and sensory precision, approaching traditional arts as a porous system open to reinterpretation and quiet intervention.