The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art's new exhibit, Radical Clay: Contemporary Women Artists from Japan is now on view through May 11, 2025. The exhibition, organized by the Art Institute of Chicago, was curated by the Art Institute of Chicago’s Janice Katz, the Roger L. Weston Associate Curator of Japanese Art. Radical Clay features 40 works by 36 different artists from across Japan. 

“The artworks on display range from the beautiful to the grotesque,” says Rhiannon Paget, The Ringling's curator of Asian Art. “Some sculptures celebrate—or seem to defy—their physical properties and the processes that shaped them, while others deceive the eye. I am thrilled to be able to share this wondrous group of objects with our community in Sarasota.” 

While women have historically been under-recognized for their contributions to the ceramics field, this show brings both established and emerging women artists to the forefront and focuses on the explosion of innovative and technically ambitious compositions by such artists since 1970. 

“There are so many strong contemporary women artists from Japan who are pushing the limits in ceramics and clay beyond what we’ve ever seen traditionally,” says Janice Katz, Roger L. Weston associate curator of Japanese art at the Art Institute of Chicago. “This show brings together artists on the cutting edge of invention in terms of materials, glaze, and technique, and we are thrilled to recognize their contributions to the global ceramics field.” 

The creators featured in the show span several generations of women contemporary artists, and while they have been featured in other shows, this is the first major exhibition to position these artists together to highlight their collective achievements and impact.  

Tsuboi Asuka (born 1932), and Ogawa Machiko (born 1946) began their careers decades ago and continue to produce groundbreaking sculptures that drive the clay medium in a new direction. Mishima Kimiyo (1932–2024), internationally recognized for her hyper-realistic sculptures of trash, passed away between the Art Institute of Chicago and Ringling iterations of the exhibit. Konno Tomoko (born 1965), Aoki Katsuyo (born 1972), and Oishi Sayaka (born 1979) are part of younger generations of artists and are represented by pieces featuring bodily distortion to fantastical decoration. These women have routinely confronted expectations about their practice and often refuse gender-imposed constraints in their work, approaching subjects in unconventional ways.