CULTURAL TIPS FROM MICHIGAN A JAPANESE LIVING NATIONAL TREASURE WILL BE represented at UM’s Museum of Art in ” Trio: Masterpieces of Contemporary Japanese Ceramic Art,” in the West Gallery, Feb. 17-April 14. Thirty porcelain masterworks by Imaemon Imaizumi the 13th, Kakiemon Sakaida the 14th, and Yasokichi Tokuda the 3rd will be displayed. Imaizumi has been designated a National Treasure by the Japanese government. This is the highest honor possible for a living artist in Japan. The exhibit, free to the public, is sponsored by the Japan Foundation.

THAT MALE ANIMAL is about to make his appearance on the U-M campus. James Thurber’s play about a former football great, academic controversy and a ” maybe” love triangle is a natural for director Hal Cooper whose list of accomplishments includes TV’s ” The Dick Van Dyke Show,” ” I Dream of Jeannie,” ” Gilligan’s Island,” ” Sanford and Son,” ” The Brady Bunch,” and more and more and more. A U-M grad, Cooper will be returning to Ann Arbor to direct this Thurber classic, at U-M’s Mendelssohn Theatre Feb. 2225. To schedule an interview or photo opportunity with Cooper or other members of the production staff or cast, contact Tom Loewe at (313) 936-3301.

DOES CREATIVITY DIMINISH AS AGE INCREASES? That question will be addressed in ” Bold Strokes: The Inventiveness of Rembrandt’s Late Prints,” an exhibition focusing on Rembrandt’s restatements late in life of themes he had treated earlier” Abraham, Tobit and Tobias, Christ Preaching, the Presentation of Christ to the People, the Crucifixion, the Descent from the Cross, and Saint Jerome. Organized in conjunction with U-M’s Institute of Gerontology and its symposium investigating the larger phenomenon of artistic productivity in old age, the exhibit juxtaposes a late work with earlier prints on the same or similar theme, demonstrating Rembrandt’s innovative alterations of subjects he had treated before. ” Bold Strokes,” opens Feb. 24 and continues through April 28 at U-M’s Museum of Art. Admission is free. The Museum is open Tuesday-Saturday 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Thursday 10 a.m.-9 p.m. and Sunday noon-5 p.m.

KEYNOTE SPEAKER FOR GERONTOLOGY SYMPOSIUM will be Clifford Ackley, noted Rembrandt authority. Ackley will speak Feb. 23 at 8 p.m. Auditorium B of Angell Hall. In ” Later and Greater: The Mature Rembrandt as Etcher,” Ackley will discuss the artist’s reverence for the picturesque qualities of venerable age as well as explore Rembrandt’s mature etching style of the 1650s and 1660s. Admission is free.

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