Contemporary Japanese Ceramics

Halsey and Alice North are private collectors of contemporary Japanese ceramics. They have produced and coordinated four ceramic tours to Japan since 1989 on behalf of the Japan Society in New York City. They have lectured on contemporary Japanese ceramics at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and at New York University. They also collect American ceramics with a focus on potters who have been influenced by the Japanese aesthetic. The Norths have been privileged to visit, talk with, and learn from many Japanese and American ceramic artists producing a variety of work.

Halsey and Alice first traveled together to Japan in 1986 to celebrate their 15th wedding anniversary. Previously, Alice had attended Miyagi Gakuin in Sendai as an American Field Service exchange student and Waseda University in Tokyo as part of a junior year abroad program.

Professionally, Halsey and Alice are Chairman and President, respectively, of The North Group Inc. They work together, assisting not-for-profit performing arts centers and theaters across the United States with raising capital and operating funds, strengthening their boards of directors, and doing long-range planning. Halsey and Alice are both MBAs and, between them, have received the Distinguished Service Award from the North Carolina Association of Arts Councils, the Chairman's Award from Americans for The Arts and the Fan Taylor Award for outstanding service, creative thinking, leadership and significant impact on the profession of presenting the performing arts from the Association of Performing Arts Presenters.

As exhibited in
CONTEMPORARY CLAY:
Japanese Ceramics for the New Century
Museum of Fine Arts Boston
October 7, 2005 to July 9, 2006
and
Japan Society Gallery, Japan Society
New York City
September 29, 2006 – January 21, 2007

The exhibition featured 103 ceramic works "which range from painstakingly crafted porcelains inspired by Chinese prototypes, through rough-hewn vessels that revel in the happy accidents of wood-fired kilns, to ironic objets that mimic newspapers, discarded trash and body parts. Largely drawn from the collection of New Yorkers Halsey and Alice North, the selection reflects their informed taste in its bias toward works made by artists based in Kyoto who challenge the traditional supremacy of utilitarian forms in respectful yet innovative, creative, and iconoclastic ways."
Joe Earle, Curator and Matsutaro Shoriki Chair, Art of Asia, Oceania, & Africa, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Catalogue for the Museum of Fine Arts Boston exhibit written by Joe Earle with Halsey and Alice North:
101-page catalogue with 70 illustrations available through MFA Publications, phone 617-369-3438, fax 617-369-3459.

Ceramics by (top to bottom, left to right): Otani Shiro, Hamanaka Gesson, Jeff Oestreich, Randy Johnston, Warren MacKenzie, Shimaoka Tatsuzo Hamada Shoji, and Munakata Ryoichi VII. Mezzotint by: Hamaguchi Yozo