NEWS
< 2003 Demonstration & Exhibtion >
A series of fortunate encounters led to the exhibition at JoseL Malhoa Museum.
In May 2002, Sandbox was invited by the Glass Art Society, an American based organization, to Amsterdam to give a sand casting demonstration and to organize an exhibition as a part of their annual conference.Mr. Jorge Barracha, owner of the Portuguese kiln manufacturing company,
Barracha Lda, saw us in Amsterdam. Straight away, he invited us to come to Nazare to give workshops and have exhibitions.
In Portugal there are many glass factories as well as fusing and stained glass studios, but sandcasting was an unexplored technique. We were received extremely enthusiastically, not only for our works but also for introducing this great technique which has such potential for artists.
One of the students at our workshop, Ferrier de Silva, introduced us to Matilde Tomaz do Couto, the director of Jose` Malhoa Museum and so, "KA Ta Ma
RI GLASS SANDBOX" in Portugal was realized.
We are grateful to be given the opportunity to revisit Portugal, the land
which introduced vidro -ebi do rof| one of the Japanese words for glass.
460 years ago, the Portuguese reintroduced vidro to Japan, and so began a new age of
glass in Japan which has continued to the present day.The opening reception was held on a sunny afternoon in May 15, with the director of the Instituto Portugue^s de Museus as the guest of honor. We received positive reactions and some were saying "KA Ta Ma RI GLASS SANDBOX" must be the first sculptural glass exhibition held in a museum in Portugal.
Sandbox members enjoyed the beautiful park where the museums is located, as well as the cheerful staff who helped us set up the exhibition and took us to delicious restaurants.
We would like to thank, Ferrier de Silva, for introducing us to Jose` Malhoa Museum and designing our invitation, catalogue and poster. The director of the museum, Matilde Tomaz do Couto. Jorge Barracha, theowner of Barracha Lda. for initially inviting us to Portugal in 2003 and helping us in various ways. Carlos Coutinho, The Kao Foundation For Arts and Scienc
e and numerous others, who helped us realize this exhibition.May 2003
Sandbox