Japanese works to be on display

Masaya Tomiyasu's <i>Seated Woman</i>, an oil on canvas, is among the Japanese works on loan to the Toledo Museum of Art.

Works by eight contemporary Japanese artists will share space at the Canaday Gallery with the Toledo Area Artists' Exhibition, beginning Friday.

The cultural exchange was inspired by Toledo Sister Cities International, and carried out by the Toledo Museum of Art, the Toledo Federation of Art Societies, and the Toyohashi City Museum.

The Toyohashi museum sent slides of art in their permanent collection, from which Toledoans selected 26 pieces they thought would be best-received.

After the Toledo show closes July 25, the Japanese works will be packed and shipped back to Toyohashi - along with 45 pieces by 12 Toledo-area artists.

More than 700 artists who had entered the Toledo Area Artists' Exhibition in the last five years were invited to submit slides of their work. A curator from the Cleveland Museum of Art chose pieces by 20 artists from the more than 100 who applied. The finalists' slides were forwarded to Japan and staff at the Toyohashi museum made the selection.

Cultural swaps don't come cheap. Custom crates, shipping, insuring, climate-controlled spaces, and expenses for a person to shepherd the art, will cost up to $25,000.

A tour to Japan is being planned to coincide with the opening of the exhibit there. Information: 202-244-1448.