Career Highlights

I have been lucky enough to have had a very varied career which apart from making and exhibiting my work has included my passion for education and preserving this wonderful art of urushi. My endeavors are briefly described below.

In 1990 I entered  Ishikawa Kenritsu Wajima Shitsugei Kenshujo (Wajima Institute of Lacquer Arts) on a scholarship awarded by the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation where I studied with master craftsmen for a total of nine years and which ended in 2008.  I studied for another year under the tutelage of living national treasure, Kunie Komori on a grant awarded by the Japanese Ministry of Culture. I was awarded another three-year grant in 2016 to enable me to further develop my work in urushi.

Since graduating I have had various solo shows in privately owned galleries as well as regular exhibitions at prestigious department stores such as Takashimaya, Mitsukoshi, Isetan and Hankyu. My work has also been regularly selected for show in public exhibitions including the Asahi Modern Craft Exhibition, the Ishikawa Contemporary Art Exhibition, the Kanazawa Castle Kenrokuen Daichakai Exhibition and the Ishikawa Traditional Craft (Dento Kogei) Exhibition. My work has been exhibited in Wajima Museum of Art, Nanao Art Museum, Ishikawa Prefectural Museum, the 21st Century Museum and the East West Gallery in Hawaii and the Hanoi Art Museum I have also had a solo show at the Ishikawa Craft Museum in Kanazawa. I currently run my own gallery where my work is on permanent display.

I have been commissioned to do work for Meiji Nyugyo Ltd, Yagiken Gendai Butsudan, Paruje and Win Awards Akitsu Industrial Co., Ltd.

My educational activities span from giving lectures to university students at Kanazawa and Fukui Prefectural Universities to public speeches on behalf of universities such as Toyama University and Kyoto Prefectural University. I have spoken at various institutions including the MET in NYC, the Japan Center in NYC, the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation in London, Durham University and given workshops and lectures at the Morikami Museum in Florida, the Honolulu Art Museum in Hawaii, and the Oriental Museum in Durham, UK. I have given speeches and held workshops for private corporations, ( Pasona Group Inc.) and various associations such as  the Kamakura-bori Ichiyo-kai, the Chubu Industrial Engineering Association and the Japan Urushi Association. I have also lectured on behalf of the Inuyama Education Committee and for NPO Urushi-no-yakata in Kyoto. I have taught primary school pupils from as young as nine years old both Japanese and non-Japanese.

Other activities include various television appearances whether as the subject of a documentary, a panelist or as a navigator introducing traditional crafts. I have also appeared in various magazines and given newspaper interviews as well as writing urushi articles. I published my own book in 2016 (in Japanese). 

I appear on panels which discuss the problems and future of the Japanese traditional arts. I also like to plant urushi trees as we don’t have enough of them in Japan!

I continue to travel to various urushi areas to network as it is my ambition to link all the different urushi areas in Japan together under one united umbrella which supports craftsmen and educates worldwide about urushi. It is also my ambition to make urushi more accessible to foreigners who wish to study it.

To view full CV click here

Speeches, lectures and workshops

Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation, London UK

Durham University, UK

The Oriental Museum, Durham UK

East West Center Honolulu, USA

Morikami Museum Florida, USA

Honolulu Art Museum of Art, USA

International Center for Japanese Culture, Yokohama, Japan

The Japan Society, New York  USA

Kanazawa, Toyama, Kyoto Prefectural, Fukui Prefectural Universities, Japan

Pacific Japan Youth Exchange, Wajima Japan

Colorado Springs Youth Orchestra, Wajima Japan

Yokohama International School, Yokohama

Vietnam National Museum of Fine Art, Vietnam

Metropolitan Museum New York, USA

Takaoka, Tonami and Wajima Art Museums, Japan

Inuyama Education Committee, Nagoya Japan

NPO  Urushi-no-yakata, Kyoto Japan

Kamakura-bori Ichiyokai, Tokyo Japan

The Asiatic Society of Japan, Tokyo Japan

The Urushi Association, Tokyo Japan

Chubu Industrial Engineering Association, Nagoya Japan

Pasona Group Inc., Tokyo Japan

Kanazawa Udatsuyama Kogei Kobo, Kanazawa Japan

Hokkoku Shimbun, Kanazawa Japan

Commissions

Meiji Corporation

Yagiken Gendai Butsudan

Paruje Jewellery Ltd

Win Awards Akitsu Industrial Co., Ltd

Takashimaya Department Store

Shiawase-no-ie, Komatsu community centre

Solo exhibitions

Takashimaya Department Store, Yokohama, Nagoya, Kyoto and Namba branches

Mitsukoshi Department Store, Nihon-bashi and Ebizu  branches, Tokyo

Hankyu Department Store Umeda branch, Osaka

Isetan Department Store Shinjuku Branch, Tokyo

Asaka Gallery, Osaka

Bazare Gallery, Hiroshima

Jinai Machi, Osaka

Yamaboshi Gallery, Hakone

Tonelico Gallery, Kanazawa

Ishikawa Prefectural Traditional Craft Museum, Kanazawa

Kinpaku Ima gallery, Kanazawa

Selected public exhibitions

Competitive exhibitions where the artist is only allowed to enter one or two pieces before a selection committee for public exhibit in museums and galleries:

Asahi Modern Craft Exhibition, Osaka

Ishikawa Contemporary Art Exhibition, Kanazawa

Ishikawa Traditional Craft (Dento Kogei ) Exhibition, Kanazawa

Kanazawa Castle Kenrokuen Daichakai (tea ceremony) Exhibition, Kanazawa

Ishikawa Design Center- Selection, Tokyo & Kanazawa

The Ishikawa International Urushi Exhibition

Awards and Prizes

1990 Scholarship awarded by the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation

2008 Prize awarded for work selected for the 14th Kanazawa Castle Kenrokuen Daichakai (tea ceremony) Exhibition

2008 Awarded a research grant by the Japanese Ministry of Culture to conduct research on techniques associated with the export of urushi work and to extend my knowledge of the techniques of Wajima nuri under the recommendation and tutelage of the Living National Treasure Kunie Komori

2009 Awarded prize in the 15th Kanazawa Castle Kenrokuen Daichakai (tea ceremony) Exhibition 2009

2010 Awarded the Ishikawa Prefectural Governor's Prize in the 16th Kanazawa Castle Kenrokuen Daichakai (tea ceremony) Exhibition

2011 Prize awarded in the JTO Jewellery Design Contest, Tokyo

2014 Artist in Residence at the East West Center in Honolulu, Hawaii

2016 Awarded a three year business grant by ISICO, Ishikawa Prefecture to develop and promote my work 

2016 Prize awarded for work selected for the 22nd Kanazawa Castle Kenrokuen Daichakai (tea ceremony) exhibition

2019 Hokkoku prize for work selected for the 75th Ishikawa Contemporary Art Exhibition

In the Press

Spanning over three decades as an urushi artist, Suzanne is regularly featured in the media.

A list of publications and features can be viewed here.

AC Japan (Advertising Council of Japan)

July 2019

 Is Japan Cool?  by ANA (All Nippon Airways)

We are Tomodachi magazine by the Japanese Government

In spring 2019, Suzanne was featured in the ‘We are Tomodachi' magazine by the Japanese government. Read the article here.

NHK World

In 2010, the Japanese national broadcaster NHK World ran a documentary about Suzanne and her work.

Publications

In 2015 I wrote a book in Japanese which describes my journey to discover my passion for urushi, its beauty, origins and vulnerability in the modern age of technology. I go on to say why I feel the urgency to preserve this important traditional art for future generations, not only Japanese people but for humanity.

My book ‘Urushi ni Miserarete’ (Fascinated by urushi) was published in 2015. A copy can be ordered here.

Suzanne has also written various articles, the most recent of which was a feature on The Art of Traditional Japanese Maki-e for The Morikami Museum’s news magazine, Fall / Winter 2018 edition.