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GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — Some will remember artists Toru Sugita and Fumiyo Yoshikawa, a husband and wife who lived in Grand Junction from 2006-2009. Both taught at Mesa State College and showed their artwork locally. They now live in the Bay Area and will be in Grand Junction for an opening reception and gallery talk at the Art Center July 1.
Yoshikawa's “A Child's World” exhibit of paintings is inspired by her daughter, Madoka, and other children — their world and their dreams.
“Children can see strange, mysterious and subtle things that adults can't see or have forgotten how to see due to their past experiences and prejudices,” Yoshikawa wrote from her home in California. “I symbolically embody the world captured by children with subtle colors and simple, effective lines and empty spaces, which are part of traditional Japanese art.”
Since 1983, Yoshikawa has studied and practiced “nihonga” — a Japanese painting style using traditional Japanese methods and materials. Sumi (Japanese India ink) and iwae-nogu (Japanese dry pigments made from natural materials such as minerals) are bound together with nikawas (glue made from animal skin and bones) and applied to Japanese paper or cloth such as silk.
It's a painstaking process, requiring layers of different pigments to create the paintings' fine, deep tones.
“It is a meditative process,” Yoshikawa said. “I am almost in an unconscious state while I paint. I love this process so much that even though it has been 20 years since I first started working with the material for my art, I still find it fascinating.”
Yoshikawa's art has been shown throughout Japan at major art museums and galleries. Her artwork has also been shown at several San Francisco galleries.
Yoshikawa will introduce her art and talk about the nihonga technique at a gallery talk before the First Friday reception.
Her husband, Sugita, creates prints, paintings and video installations. His show, “A Continuous-Scape” is a reflection of the past five years of his work, Sugita wrote in an e-mail interview.
“Toru's regionalism work wanders between a Bay Area cityscape, a Grand Valley landscape, a Grand Junction townscape, and his native region of Japan,” he wrote, speaking about himself. “He is acutely aware that the one constant is change — the light, cityscapes, landscapes, townscapes — and most importantly himself.”
Sugita's prints are found in various Bay Area galleries including the Achenbach Foundation of Graphic Arts in the Fine Art Museum of San Francisco, as well as exhibitions in New York and Hawaii. Sugita is currently an assistant professor of art at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill where he is establishing a printmaking program.
Both Sugita and Yoshikawa will donate half of any art sales from The Art Center exhibition to the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California for relief funding for the Northern Japan earthquake victims.
Yoshikawa's “A Child's World” exhibit of paintings is inspired by her daughter, Madoka, and other children — their world and their dreams.
“Children can see strange, mysterious and subtle things that adults can't see or have forgotten how to see due to their past experiences and prejudices,” Yoshikawa wrote from her home in California. “I symbolically embody the world captured by children with subtle colors and simple, effective lines and empty spaces, which are part of traditional Japanese art.”
Since 1983, Yoshikawa has studied and practiced “nihonga” — a Japanese painting style using traditional Japanese methods and materials. Sumi (Japanese India ink) and iwae-nogu (Japanese dry pigments made from natural materials such as minerals) are bound together with nikawas (glue made from animal skin and bones) and applied to Japanese paper or cloth such as silk.
It's a painstaking process, requiring layers of different pigments to create the paintings' fine, deep tones.
“It is a meditative process,” Yoshikawa said. “I am almost in an unconscious state while I paint. I love this process so much that even though it has been 20 years since I first started working with the material for my art, I still find it fascinating.”
Yoshikawa's art has been shown throughout Japan at major art museums and galleries. Her artwork has also been shown at several San Francisco galleries.
Yoshikawa will introduce her art and talk about the nihonga technique at a gallery talk before the First Friday reception.
Her husband, Sugita, creates prints, paintings and video installations. His show, “A Continuous-Scape” is a reflection of the past five years of his work, Sugita wrote in an e-mail interview.
“Toru's regionalism work wanders between a Bay Area cityscape, a Grand Valley landscape, a Grand Junction townscape, and his native region of Japan,” he wrote, speaking about himself. “He is acutely aware that the one constant is change — the light, cityscapes, landscapes, townscapes — and most importantly himself.”
Sugita's prints are found in various Bay Area galleries including the Achenbach Foundation of Graphic Arts in the Fine Art Museum of San Francisco, as well as exhibitions in New York and Hawaii. Sugita is currently an assistant professor of art at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill where he is establishing a printmaking program.
Both Sugita and Yoshikawa will donate half of any art sales from The Art Center exhibition to the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California for relief funding for the Northern Japan earthquake victims.
GO&DO
What: First Friday - “A Child's World” exhibit by Fumiyo Yoshikawa and “A Continuous Scape” exhibit by Toru Sugita
When: Opening reception 7-9 p.m. Fri., July 1; exhibit talk 6 p.m. Where: The Art Center, 1803 N. Seventh St. Info: www.gjartcenter.org, 243-7337 |
