2008 Completed the Advanced Research Studies Program, Toyama Institute of Glass Art
2007 Exchange Student, Canberra School of Art, The Australian National University
2006 Completed the Glass Certification Studies Program, Toyama Institute of Glass Art
2002 B.F.A., with Best Honors, Craft and Industrial Design department, Musashino Art University
Working Experience
2019– Part-time Lecturer, Nagoya University of the Arts, Aichi, Japan
2002–04 designer and craftsman,Sugahara Glassworks Inc. ,Chiba
Solo Exhibitions
2021 Nihonbashi Takashimaya Art Craft Salon, Tokyo, Japan
2019 KOSOGAWA Runa Online Exhibition, Keiko Art International
2019 Hana asagi, Imperial Hotel Tokyo Praza, Tokyo, Japan
2018 Art Gallery, Nihonbashi Takashimaya, Tokyo, Japan
2017 tmh.&L’INTERIEUR, Tokyo, Japan
2016 Diary: Translating Flowers, Keiko Art International
2015 Gallery Ten, Ishikawa ('13, '10)
2013 KOSOGAWA RUNA Exhibition, Gallery ARTONE, Tokyo
KOSOGAWA RUNA Exhibition, Takashimaya Nihonbashi, Tokyo
2011 The Impression - that never leaves, KEIKO Gallery, Boston
2009 The impression that never leaves, Gallery 58, Ginza, Tokyo
Group Exhibitions
2022 Two-Person Exhibition: KOSOGAWA Runa and TAKUBO Kyoji/ Gallery Hana asagi/ Tokyo
Collect Art Fair, London
Collection Exhibition Glass Art: Flora Times Three, Toyama Glass Art Museum, Toyama, Japan
GO FOR KOGEI 2022, Shokoji Temple, Takaoka, Toyama, Japan
"BIWAKO Biennale–International Art Festival", Shiga, Japan ('20, '18)
"Tobi Art Fair", Tokyo Bijyutsu Club, Tokyo, Japan ('18)
2021 Ueno Artist Project 2021: Everyday Life I am Reborn", Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
Thirty Years of Toyama Institute of Glass Art Forms the Future, Toyama Glass Art Museum, Toyama, Japan
Contemporary Japanese Glass, ESH Gallery, Milan, Italy
ART FAIR TOKYO, Tokyo International Forum, Tokyo ('19, '15)
2020 Microcosmos, Toyama Glass Art Museum, Toyama, Japan
BIWAKO Biennale–International Art Festival, Shiga, Japan
Fujinoyama Biennale Art Festival, Shizuoka, Japan
ART FAIR PHILIPPINES('19), Manila, Philippines
2019 NEW ACQUISITIONS 2018, Glass Museum Lette, Germany
Toyama Art and Glass Exhibition in Singapore -The Spirit of TOYAMA Glass”,
Japan Creative Centre (JCC) Embassy of JAPAN, Singapore
Glass Art Toyama, Toyama Glass Art Museum Gallery, Toyama, Japan
2018 Japanisches Glas heute -kokoro-, Glass Museum Lette, Germany
Tobi Art Fair, Tokyo Art Club, Tokyo, Japan
Glass Botanical Garden, Notojima Glass Art Museum, Ishikawa, Japan
Abu Dhabi Exhibition, Emirates Palace Hotel, UAE, United Arab Emirates
International Art Festival BIWAKO BIENNALE 2018, Omihachiman, Shiga, Japan
Tobi Art Fair, Tokyo Art Club, Tokyo, Japan
2017 Kokoro – Japanisches Glas heute, Glasmuseum Frauenau, Germany
My Style, My Life vol.2, Shinjuku Takashimaya, Tokyo
The International Hokuriku Kogei Summit -World Kogei 100
Toyama Prefectural Museum of Art and Design (TAD), Toyama, Japan
2016 Toyama Glass Art Museum, Toyama
Gallery Kochukyo, Tokyo
2015 Kurobe City Art Museum, Toyama
2014 Aesthetic Premonition - Metamorphose, Takashimaya Gallery, Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Nagoya
2013 Duo Exhibition: KOSOGAWA Runa and KOJIRO Yoshiaki, Gallery Now, Toyama
2012 Japanese glass exhibition, Notojima Glass Museum, Daikanyama Gallery
＋PLUS THE ART FAIR、Tokyo ('11)
CONTEMPORARY ART FAIR, Korea,Taipei, Japan
2011 Hear Art ROME 2011, Museo Dei Fori Imperiali, Italy
Maison&Objet, Paris Nord Villepinte Exhibition Centre, Paris
Sinoda Toukoh and Glass artists, Rakusuitei Museum, Toyama
CONTEMPORARY ART FAIR Lineart, Belguim
2010 First International Triennale of KOGEI in Kanazawa, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Ishikawa
Light and Sculpture, Matsuzakaya Museum, Aichi
2009 Asago Art Village, Asago Biennale, Hyogo
Meets Kanazawa-2009, Dreams of Craft, Matsumoto Museum, Nagano
KOGANEZAKI, Contemporary Glass Art: Shape of the vessels, Koganezaki Crystal Park, Shizuoka
2008 Daiichi Museum Contemporary Glass Competition, Daiichi Museum, Aichi / Yamaki Bijutsu, Osaka
Contemporary Glass Triennial Toyama, City Plaza, Toyama Joint Exhibition by Glass Educational Network, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Tokyo
2007 International Competition 2007 in Kanazawa, Notojima Glass Museum, Ishikawa
2006 Contemporary Glass Exhibition in Sanyo Onoda, Yamaguchi
Toyama City Institute of Glass Art, graduation works exhibition, Toyama
Awards
2018 Second Prize, Art Fair Toyama 2018 Art Awards, Japan
2010 Grand Prize, Kanayamachi Rakuichi, Japan
Best of Category-Sculpture , 5th TAGBOAT AWARD, Tokyo, Japan
2007 Excellent Prize, Glass Craft Triennial, Japan
Merit Prize, Toyama City Art Exhibition, Japan
Third Prize , Ecchu Art Festival, Japan
2002 Grand Prize, Musashino Art University graduation works, Japan
Grant
2009-11 Udatsuyama Craft Workshop
Collections/ Public Art
ANA Suite Lounge, Haneda Airport International Terminal, Japan
The Australian National University, AUS
French Restaurant “Les Cailloux”, Tokyo, Japan
Glass Museum Lette, Germany
Hotel Royal Classic OSAKA, Japan
THE RITZ-CARLTON Nanjing, China
Kanazawa Utatsuyama Craft Workshop, Ishikawa
Ta-Ke Japanese Restaurant, Hong Kong
Toyama Glass Art Museum, Toyama
Press
2019 Gekkan Bijyutsu
2018 BIWAKO Biennale Official Catalog
Bijutsu no mado, Shin Bijustu Shinbun, Gekkan Bijutsutu
Art Collectors
2017 HOME REVIEW, Mala Bajal (India)
2016 Bijutsu no mado, CONFORT, Chunichi News Paper
2015 Art Collectors, Bijutsu no mado,
2014 GLASHAUS, Glasshouse (Germany)
2013 Cyunichi Newspaper – a cultural column
mami flower design school magazine, June -pick up Artist
2011 Gendai Design Dictionaly -by Jyunji Ito
Nikkei Design -about Maison & Objet
Art Correcter -pick up Artist
Gakuto -pick up Glass Artist
2009 Flowers for the flower artists, SODO Shuppan
2008 Mapple Kanazawa Introducing an Artist
2007 Newspaper of Glass Works, Canberra, Australia
Canberra Times, Canberra, Australia
My approach to my art comes from observing the small things and events that are normally obscured as we go about our busy daily lives. This evolved from my personal experiences when people very close to me became ill. While I took care of them as they faced death I realized how precious our ordinary days are as well as the small daily events that often pass unnoticed. That was when I began to keep notes from day to day about these little things I observed.
I began to feel that my thoughts seemed to match the language of flowers, and that is when I started to create pieces based on images of flowers. Glass gives me a sense of transience that can mirror or reflect the imagery of flowers and is the right material for me to reflect the themes of my work.
In Japan, our ancestors often painted flowers and tiny insects that expressed the ephemeral and transient nature of life. I feel that glass is a natural medium for expressing the images in my mind as a form of art.
As an artist I experienced an important change in 2012 when I moved to Hida-Takayama which is rich in natural beauty. Previously I had always lived in urban residential areas where I never felt emotional connections to place. As I started my new life in Takayama I began to understand for the first time the deep connection people have to the place where they live...the sense of belonging. I also began to understand the grief and pain people felt when they were forced to leave their land and when they were separated from loved ones. Since that time I have been focusing on the conflicts and contradictions in our societies and also on the importance of passing on the stories of war and environmental problems to future generations. That is why I am now working on a new theme--enquiring about the value of our lives--for which I am using black colored glass.
I am reminded of an event when I was a child. I did not know what color to use to draw the sun. In books I had seen the sun depicted in orange, but the sun did not really look orange to me. The way I think now has not changed since I was that little girl, because I often question so called ‘common knowledge’ wondering if what we think individually is really true or accurate?
I have chosen glass as the medium for my artistic expression because of its fragility and tendency to break; I do not see these cracks as a negative outcome, but instead I use these imperfections in my work as a serendipitous occurrence of form. Ceramic art is very different because irregularities, deformities, cracks and imperfections are often appreciated. I am trying to adopt this same ‘casual’ attitude of ceramics in my use of the hard material of glass, with all of its inherent characteristics. I now understand that it is possible to be free of “perfect beauty” when working with glass. I have a feeling this may derive from our Japanese concept of accepting nature as it is, and coexisting rather than confronting it.
When I encounter something beyond my imagination, I have the feeling that the needle on the compass of my mind disappears. I hope this leads me to something never before noticed, and therefore a step closer to the answer to my questions. This has led me to where I am today.
