Mie Kongo grew up on the outskirts of Tokyo, Japan, and now resides in Evanston, IL, where she works. She creates multidisciplinary works that have been exhibited nationally and internationally. This includes two solo exhibitions at 65Grand in Chicago, IL, an Exposure booth represented by 65Grand at EXPO Chicago, and a recent two-person show at The Landing Gallery in Los Angeles, CA. Her other recent two-person and group exhibitions were held at Secrist Beach in Chicago, IL, Left Field Gallery in Los Osos, CA, and Tri-star Arts in Knoxville, TN. Mie has completed residencies at notable institutions such as the Shigaraki Ceramics Cultural Park in Shiga, Japan, and the European Keramic Work Center in 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, among others. She earned a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and an MFA in Ceramics from Cranbrook Academy of Art. Currently, Mie serves as a Full Professor, Adjunct, in the Ceramics Department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and was awarded the inaugural Joan Mitchell Fellowship in 2021.

Statement:

I investigate the subtlety of things in the world. My work is driven by a sense of curiosity, discovery, realization, and learning through everyday life and ongoing studio practice.

Systems and order, randomness and chance are my base lines of inquiry. I like to employ opposite attitudes—logical thinking and spontaneity, reasoning, and intuition—to create work that offers multiple interpretations and meanings. Thus, my process employs rules of precision, careful design, and craft while also striving to generate an atmosphere of casualness, unexpectedness and playfulness.

At this stage of my practice, I have developed new perspectives on nature and materials, specifically through experiencing rural life and learning glaze chemistry. I now understand the many materials that I use—porcelain, wood, metal, wool felt, glass, cotton, linen—as all interconnected to one another and to us as human beings. We are all part of the organism; we are made of comparable constituents.

I believe that the allure of material lies in its tangible and experiential nature. Understanding it requires a physical engagement. My artistic practice hinges on this interaction and intra-action with materials; my dialogue with them creates new forms. For this reason, I like to explore diverse materials and attempt to coax them into poetic occurrences created by their interwoven forces.

While investigating sculptural relationships of form, volume, surface, balance, and tension, I concurrently contemplate the philosophical notions of natural equilibrium, the synthesis of opposing elements, and the interconnectedness of all things. For me, coincidences and “bumps” among the elements create meaningful impacts or relations, and I wait for the moment when the work appears to have become a self-contained unit of meaning that opens into multiple interpretations.