On Friday, April 19, the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library at UCLA will be hosting the conference “Edo Outsiders: Ainu and Ryūkyūan Art.” This is the third of three conferences at UCLA this year on the theme of Edo-period art. The conference is free and open to the public.

If interested in attending, please do register, as space is limited in the Clark Library (also, note that the Clark is housed in a villa in West Adams, some ten miles east of the main UCLA campus in Westwood). The conference is free and open to the public. Parking is free, and lunch is provided.

To register, follow this link: https://www.1718.ucla.edu/events/open-edo3/
There is no livestream or recording, but an edited volume should follow.

Program Schedule:

9:30 a.m.
Morning Coffee and Registration

10:00 a.m.
Director’s Welcome
Bronwen Wilson, University of California, Los Angeles

Opening Remarks
Kristopher W. Kersey, University of California, Los Angeles

10:15 a.m.
Panel 1: Ainu Material and Visual Cultures: History, Materiality, and Practice
Moderator: Julia H. Clark, University of California, Los Angeles

Christina M. Spiker, St. Olaf College
“Carving Identity: Early Ainu Woodcarving, Cultural Revitalization, and the Patchwork of History”

10:45 a.m.
Fuyubi Nakamura, The University of British Columbia
“Art and Sinuye with Ainu Artist Mayunkiki”

11:15 a.m.
Katsuya Hirano, University of California, Los Angeles
“The Eye of Kelp: Ainu-Japanese Trade and the Formation of a Culinary Culture in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries”

11:45 a.m.: Discussion

12:15 p.m.: Lunch
Display of Clark Library materials in the North Book Room

1:15 p.m.
Panel 2: The Circulation and Dynamism of Ryūkyūan Textiles and Lacquerware
Moderator: Kristopher W. Kersey, University of California, Los Angeles

Setsuko Nitta, Okinawa Prefectural University of Arts
“The Dyeing in Ryūkyū: The Relationship with Overseas”

1:45 p.m.
Monika Bincsik, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
“Lacquer Art at the Crossroads: Ryūkyū Ware”

2:15 p.m.: Discussion

2:45 p.m.: Coffee break

3:15 p.m.
Panel 3: Ryūkyūan Painting: Heritage, Afterlives, and Restorations
Moderator: Rika Hiro, Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Eriko Tomizawa-Kay, University of East Anglia and University of Michigan
“Tracing the Artistic Heritage: The Development of Ryūkyūan Painting from the Seventeenth to the Early Eighteenth Century”

3:45 p.m.
Heeyeun Kang, University of California, Los Angeles
“Ryūkyū Royal Portraits: Restoring and Contextualizing Lost Ryūkyū Art”

4:15 p.m.: Discussion

4:45 p.m.: Break

5:00 p.m.: Plenary Discussion (all speakers and moderators)

5:30 p.m.: Reception