April 20 - May 21, 2004
MACHIKO AGANO / MASAKO TAKAHASHI

The School of Art and Design is delighted to present a premiere showing of two textile artists whose innovative works in unconventional materials reference both an intimate and a transcultural blending of concept and form. A major sculptural installation by Japanese artist Machiko Agano and elegant bas-relief panels by Japanese-American artist Masako Takahashi will open at the Natalie and James Thompson Gallery on Tuesday evening, April 20, continuing on display at San Jose State University thru May 21.

Machiko Agano will install a knit work created from stainless wire, fishing gut, and kozo paper. This ethereal work expresses Agano’s respect for the eternal yet ephemeral shapes created by nature, those mysterious designs made by winds on desert sands, or clouds shaped by global currents.

Masako Takahashi was born in Utah’s Topaz Relocation Center while her parents were interned there during World War II. She combines needlework —typically viewed as domestic “women’s work”—with the fundamental basics of language and communication, thereby creating a personal set of hieroglyphics that are both enigmatic and evocativ

March 9 - April 9, 2004
MISCH KOHN: A Life in Prints

Misch Kohn, internationally-known printmaker who was recognized for “breaking the shackles of conventionality” in the modern era, passed away last year, leaving behind an illustrious six decades of innovative and evocative work. This exhibition, scheduled to celebrate what would have been his 88th birthday, will include a variety of media, and is drawn primarily from the estate of the artist. Included in
the Thompson Gallery exhibition will be the startlingly evocative wood engravings of the 1940s and ‘50s, the technical innovations with etchings and lithography in the 1960s, and brilliant multi-media works on hand-made paper from the 1970s, ‘80s, and ‘90s



For additional information concerning the gallery program and visiting artist lecture series, contact:

Jo Farb Hernandez, Director
Natalie and James Thompson Galleries
San Jose State University
School of Art and Design,
ART 129A
San Jose, CA 95192-0089
telephone: (408) 924 - 4328
fax: (408) 924 - 4326