EVENT DETAILS:
Date Friday, June 19, 2026
Location San José Japantown, CA
Reserved for Circle Members (Join the Circle)*
Kristin Lindseth, Caught in Limbo
NUMU Circle Members will enjoy a fun-filled Friday! First, we will enjoy a tour of the Japanese American Museum of San Jose, and learn about their unique collection chronicling more than a century of Japanese American history. Then, we will walk over to Art Object Gallery, where we will hear from sculptor and owner, Ken Matsumoto, and enjoy mingling and refreshments.
This event is exclusive for our Circle Members, Benefactor Members*, and their guests. Thank you for your continued support!
This exclusive experience is offered to NUMU Circle Members and their guests—we hope you’ll join us for this art-filled adventure!
Join or renew today to take advantage of this new series, along with other circle benefits. For questions regarding membership in the Curator’s or Director's Circle email membership@numulosgatos.org. See you in the studios!
Current NUMU Circle Members will receive an email invitation with all event details and a RSVP link
Japanese American Museum of San Jose
The mission of the Japanese American Museum of San Jose is to collect, preserve, and share Japanese American history, culture, and art. The Japanese American Museum of San Jose showcases a unique collection of permanent and rotating exhibits chronicling more than a century of Japanese American history. Visitors will learn about early immigration of Japanese to America, their leadership in the agricultural community, their incarceration during World War II and the challenges they faced, while adapting and contributing to West Coast communities. jamsj.org
About Ken Matsumoto
I began working with stone while in art school. I had found a small fragment of marble slab with a fractured edge in a vacant lot. I held the piece up and saw in the fractured cleft a mountain ridge. I saw that its shape and form was determined by the same forces that govern all matter and that we are one of those forces. The stone was quarried, cut into slabs, polished and made its way to downtown San Jose where I found it laying in the rubble of a vacant lot. I pondered the story of this piece of marble and how I had become part of the story.
I make things that contrast the natural “found” condition of a stone with the areas that I grind and polish. The stone may have tumbled down a river and made smooth by water, sand and bouncing off other stone in the river. Or it was basalt ejected from a volcano eruption landing in a field where it lay for centuries and over the years became home to lichen and moss until being harvested and brought to stone yards.
This approach to making pieces that combine the finished vs natural grew out of a commission to create a series of three benches for Arizona State University. The stipulation was that the benches were to be functional and reflect the “deep geological nature of the area.” What I proposed and built were sandstone benches; two measuring 9’ diameter and one 10’ square. All were 15” high.
I began by placing three pieces of “random edged” stone together in such a way that created three “canyons” that converged at the center of the group of stone. I centered a machine I designed to cut a perfectly concentric basin 24” x 9” deep into the surface. When installed, soil from the site was placed into the “canyons” up to the lowest point of the basin grading down to the bottom of the outside edge thus creating the image of an alluvial fan.
This was a pivotal experience. I could build machines to realize the ideas that I would see every time I stepped into a stone yard, stream bed, or beach
I also realized that as humans we are an erosive force on nature and that our true nature is reflected in the result of our behavior.
About Art Object Gallery
592 N 5th St, San José
The Art Object Gallery has established a reputation for showing the works some of the best artists in the South Bay area. The gallery features contemporary paintings, prints, sculpture, and mixed media works. In the sixteen years since opening, the gallery has developed and maintained a significant presence in the visual arts community of the South Bay area. Located in the heart of Historic Japantown, the Art Object Gallery has become a vital part of the rich cultural experience that Japantown San José provides. artobjectgallery.com
*Information for Benefactor Members:
Benefactor Members may join us for one Circle Visit per year. Please join us at whichever most appeals to you! Can't pick just one? Join the Circle.
