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PROGRAM

PART 1. CHAWAN & TEA PROMOTION

September 10, 2005

The official Opening of the Chawan Exhibition took place in the 12th century St Benardus Abbey in Hemiksem (Belgium), at 20.00 pm. There was a delegation of Japanese ceramists and the Belgian ambassador of Japan. The governor of Antwerp opened the symposium and the exhibition.

The exhibition and the tea ceremonies took place in the St. Bernardus Abbey in Hemiksem (Belgium, near Antwerpen) and in an 18th-century tea house on the banks of the Schelde, behind the church of Hellegat in Niel. In this extraordinary place we uncovered the mysteries of the somewhat obscured contemporary tea culture.

September 11, 2005

Lectures and Discussion on Chawan related topics: St Benardus Abbey, Hemiksem.

Ms. Kaori Goyen-Chiba (The Netherlands) was the co-organizer of the JNT exhibition. She was responsible for selecting the chawan participants. She gave a lecture about the history of the chawan, the tea culture and the Japanese tea ceremony. The audience could enjoy many photo's of antique and modern Chinese, Korean and Japanese chawans. Her husband Walter Goyen (maker of this JNT website) assisted her with the slideshow.

Rev. Wako Ishikawa, a Zen monk from the Soto Zen temple in Hokkaido (Japan) gave an impressive live demonstration of the Japanese tea ceremony. Ms. Mai Kurimoto assisted her, serving the tea to the curious and enthousiastic visitors.

Mr. Asuta Mochizuki, a ceramic artist and chawan specialist from Saitama (Japan), gave a lecture about the modern chawan world. He demonstrated his technique of chawan making. Ms. Kaori Goyen-Chiba interpreted his lecture.

Ms. Mai Kurimoto, chawan participant from Osaka (Japan), gave an introduction on art education in Japan. She did a beautiful and impressive live demonstration of Ikebana (flower arrangement). For the presentation and translation she was kindly assisted by ms. Mei-Lan Hsiao and ms. Kaori Goyen-Chiba.

24 & 25 September 2005

The Chawan exhibition: St. Bernardus Abbey, Heriksem.

In the weekend of Saturday 24 & Sunday 25 September, 2005, between 13h and 18h, the Japanese tea ceremonies will be performed by the tea masters of the Urasenke school, the same school that perform the tea ceremonies of the National Japanese Tea Garden in Hasselt. The Chinese tea ceremonies will be performed by Mei Lan (Agnes) Hsiao, an experienced Chinese tea mistress with extensive knowledge on the subject. Both Chinese and Japanese tea ceremonies will alternate and will be performed on the hour from 14h through 17h. The ceremonies will take place in the 18th century tea house at the Schelde dijk, behind the church of Hellegat (Niel).

Additionally, Chawans will be baked in a number of charcoal ovens, made according to 16th century Japanese tradition. The stoke temperature for the traditional Japanese Raku lies between 1080 C and 1200 C. These unique and original stoke techniques of the eastern medieval Chawan makers are unknown in Europe.

PART 2. THE TRAVELLING EXHIBITION

After the symposium the exhibition at Abbey of Hemiksem in Belgium, it will go to numerous galleries for periods of three weeks. We are currently orchestrating a total exhibition span of approximately four months.

October 1 - 30, 2005

Kapel, Sasplein 19, Klein-Willebroek (Belgium).

Friday November 18 - Friday December 23, 2005

Koningin Fabiolazaal, Jezusstraat 28, 2000 Antwerpen (Belgium)

Open every day from 10.00 AM - 17.00 PM.
Closed at Mondays.

How to get there
Train: Antwerpen Centraal (5 min. walk)
Bus: 1-19-23 (Opera) - Local bus / streekbussen (F. Rooseveltplaats)
Tram: 10-11 (F. Rooseveltplaats) 2-3-15-25 (Opera)

January 14 - February 26, 2005

Galerij Rogianne Gaytant - Gouden Hoofdstraat 44 - 8630 Beauvoorde (Belgium)
Opening at January 14.

March 12 - April 2, 2006

Gallerie La Fabrik, Rue P.J. Antoine 79/1, 4040 Herstal (Belgium).
Website: La Fabrik

Please note that we are still working on the program, so it could undergo some changes.