Mingei International Museum San Diego

Mingei was founded in 1978 and presents works of folk art, craft, and design. The Museum has a rich history and commitment to furthering the understanding of art of the people (mingei) from all eras and cultures. Objects in our Collection reflect a joy in making, by hand, useful objects of timeless beauty that are satisfying to the human spirit.

Established in 1978, Mingei International Museum collects, conserves, and exhibits arts of daily use – by anonymous craftsmen of ancient times, from traditional cultures of past and present and by historical and contemporary designers.

The Museum’s Founder, Martha Longenecker, was a professor of art at San Diego State University who studied the art of pottery-making in Japan. As an artist-craftsman, she became acquainted with and learned from the founders and leaders of the Mingei Association of Japan, who inspired her to carry the vision of mingei to the U.S.A.

Inaugural Exhibition
Mingei’s inaugural exhibition was DOLLS AND FOLK TOYS OF THE WORLD. Since then, Mingei has shared over 183 exhibitions covering a diverse range of cultures, themes, and media. These exhibitions have featured both unknown craftspeople and renowned artists, and everything from the tiniest pre-Columbian bead to large-scale sculptures by Niki de Saint Phalle. In August 1996, Mingei International Museum relocated to a 41,000-square-foot facility on the Plaza de Panama in Balboa Park.

The Meaning of “Mingei”
The word mingei, meaning art of the people, was coined by a revered Japanese philosopher named Sōetsu Yanagi. As a young man living in Korea in the early 1920s, he was taken with the timeless beauty of Yi dynasty (1392-1910) pottery—a simple, rustic type made in numberless quantities over the centuries. Used for everything from tea cups to kimchi jars, the pottery was everywhere and taken for granted.

Yanagi, however, saw Yi dynasty pottery with fresh eyes, and he considered it among the most beautiful of manmade objects—equal to renowned scroll paintings of the East and paintings and sculptures of the West. His writings, lectures, and conversations opened the eyes of Koreans to their long-dismissed and anonymous artistic legacy. In 1921, Yanagi opened a folk museum in a small building in the old palace in Seoul, filled with Korean pots and other crafts. It was the first museum of mingei in the world.

Returning to his homeland, Yanagi began to collect Japanese crafts, believing that his own people, too, needed to discover and preserve anonymous objects of truth and beauty that they had lived with and used over the ages. In 1936, with potters Kanjiro Kawai and Shoji Hamada, he opened the first Japan Folk Craft Museum (Nihon Mingei-kan). It stands for arts of the people returned to the people. Yanagi explains the concept of mingei in his seminal work, The Unknown Craftsman:

“It is my belief that while the high level of culture of any country can be found in its fine arts, it is also vital that we should be able to examine and enjoy the proofs of the culture of the great mass of the people, which we call folk art. The former are made by a few for the few, but the latter, made by the many for many, are a truer test. The quality of the life of the people of that country as a whole can best be judged by the folkcrafts.”

Our Mission
Mingei International Museum is dedicated to furthering the understanding of art of the people (mingei) from all eras and cultures of the world. This art shares a direct simplicity and reflects joy in making, by hand, useful objects of timeless beauty that are satisfying to the human spirit. The Museum collects, conserves, and exhibits these arts of daily life – by unknown craftspeople of ancient times, from traditional cultures of past and present and by historical and contemporary designers.

Our Vision
We envision a world where people find joy, beauty, and inspiration in our shared human creativity.

Our Values
The core values of the Museum are the basis of our institutional culture by which we set the Museum’s direction and carry out its operations. These values guide the decisions and actions of the trustees, director, and staff in relationship to one another and the public.

Excellence
We strive continually to learn, improve and incorporate the best practices of the museum field into our work.

Creativity
We present the highest expressions of creativity from all cultures, to inspire our audiences to realize their own innate creativity. We celebrate the contributions of unknown individuals; find the extraordinary in the ordinary; and value humble objects and the imperfection of the handmade.

Collaboration
We foster engagement and dialogue with the Museum’s internal and external communities, developing partnerships with individuals, other museums and community organizations.

Accessibility
We provide a welcoming, hospitable, and stimulating atmosphere for staff, volunteers, and visitors.

Transparency
We believe in sharing critical data and information about the Museum with our staff, volunteers, and audiences and in working to maintain an open dialogue with our public.

Integrity
We expect dependability, accuracy, responsibility, flexibility, and respect of one another in the delivery of the Museum’s mission to all its stakeholders.

Mingei aims to inspire people to celebrate human creativity, as well as recognize, embrace, and cultivate their own creativity, in ways big or small through an inviting, fresh, sometimes surprising and always engaging look at a diverse range of thoughtfully designed, carefully crafted and passionately made objects from around the world, often created by unknown artists and craftspeople for everyday use.