Tomiya Matsuda was born in Nara prefecture and studied ceramics at the Kyoto City College of Fine Arts. He was inspired by the dynamic ceramic circles of the time in Kyoto, notably Sodeisha (Crawling through Mud Association), the influential avant-garde ceramic group founded in 1949 by Kazuo Yagi (1918-1979), Osamu Suzuki (1926 - 2001) and Hikaru Yamada (1923-2001).

Matsuda shared the same views as the innovative Sodeisha members and created sculptural works rather than traditional utilitarian pieces. He was active internationally, exhibiting at various exhibitions and teaching at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) as a visiting professor in 1967 and 1968. His wife Yuriko Matsuda (b. 1943) is also a ceramic artist and, returning from Chicago, they moved to Oshino village in Yamanashi prefecture, at the base of Mt Fuji, where they continued to create unique works.

Group Exhibitions:

1963-1966 Modern Arts Association exhibitions

1967 Art Institute of Chicago exhibition with Earl Hooks & Marc Hansen

1967 Ravinia Festival art exhibition (invitational)

1986, 1987, 1988, 1989 Kazuo-Yagi-Award Contemporary Ceramic Exhibition

1987 Kofu Exhibition (Three Artists in Sculpture)

1988 Asahi Contemporary Arts and Crafts Exhibition (invitational)

2002 The European Coffee Cup Exhibition (Brussels, Belgium)

1989 Exhibition artists at the International Ceramic Art, Faenza, Italy

1992 Contemporary Ceramics in the UK and Japan (Vienna, Austria)

1997 It’s Horizontal and Vertical: A Vision of Eight Japanese and Korean Artists, Ilming Museum of Art (Seoul, Korea)

2000 The Sixth Golden Ceramics Awards (Yingko, Taiwan)

2001 Fuji-Seoul An Exhibition of Eight Leading Japanese and Korean Artists (Fujiyoshida, Yamanashi)

Solo Exhibitions:

1974, 1976, 1981, 1987, 1992, 1997 & 2002 Gallery Nippon, Tokyo

1985 Masuda Studio, Tokyo

1989, 1991, 1993, 1998, 2003 and 2008 Galleries Pousse, Tokyo

1998 & 2002 Gallery Innocent, Kofu, Yamanashi

1999 NaNo-rium, Fujiyoshida, Yamanashi

2000 Jyugenmon, Tokyo.