Panel Discussion

The International Exhibition of Glass Kanazawa 2019

FUJIHARA (MC) ───── I would like to briefly explain the procedure of the exhibition. Please take a look at the results of the Final Assessment in the material we handed out to each of you.
We received 357 entries from 39 nations and regions. The Preliminary Assessment was held on April 16th 2019 by means of digital images.
The members of the Preliminary Assessment Panel included Atsushi Takeda, one of the jurors of the Final Assessment, and Kenji Kuze, pottery artist and former president of Kanazawa College of Art who has participated in today’s symposium among the audience. Together with another three members, they assessed 357 works and selected 61 works for the Final Assessment.
At the Final Assessment held yesterday, out of 61 selected works, 56 works, which arrived at the Executive committee within the deadline, were assessed. However, two works among 56 works arrived broken, which could not be assessed. Finally, the 54 intact works were assessed, and 17 prize winners were selected, including the Grand Prize winner and the Gold Prize winner.
The Grand Prize winner and the Gold Prize winner are displayed in the center of this room.
We hope you will have a chance to have a close look at them.
We would like to begin the Special Symposium. We would also like to ask Prof. Takeda, who participated in the Preliminary and the Final Assessments, and played the role of head juror of the Final Assessment, to be the moderator of the Symposium.

Special Symposium

TAKEDA ───── We would like to begin the Special Symposium, so please take a look at the material which has been handed out with information on all the prize winners. Today’s symposium panel consists of the five jurors of the Final Assessment. I would like each juror to make comments on each prize winner.
In front of you, the Grand Prize winner and the Gold Prize winner are displayed. I am afraid the Gold Prize winner cannot be seen very well from where you are sitting, so during the symposium please feel free to come up to the two works and have a closer look at them. The rest of the prize winners will be introduced on the screen. I would like to ask each juror to make comments on the works.
If we have time after the comments, we would like to accept some questions from the audience. Yan Zoritchak was born in Slovakia and has lived in France for a long time. He was awarded the Grand Prize at the Second World Glass Now Exhibition. Jay Musler is from the US. He owns a studio and gallery in San Francisco. His work, a very impressive red ball, was awarded the Second Prize at the First World Glass Now Exhibition held in 1982. Next, Bodil Busk Laursen from Denmark is a glass critic. She is also the Chairperson of the Hempel Glass Museum in Denmark. I am sure she knows what is going on in the world of glass art in Europe as well as in the US. If you have some interest in this subject, by all means, ask her about it.
First, I would like each juror to make a brief comment on the Final Assessment as well as the Grand Prize winner by Tsumori. Mr. Zoritchak, please go ahead.