Naomi Kasumi »Socially Engaged Art Practice«

Naomi is a Seattle-based artist-scholar, professor, and graphic designer. She was born and raised in Kyoto, Japan where she earned a BA in Social Welfare from Bukkyo University. After graduating, Naomi became a professional cross-country ski racer.  Naomi emigrated from Japan in 1995 to study at the University of Oregon, where she received a BFA and a MFA in Visual Design. After moving to Seattle in 2003, she established the Digital Design Program in the Department of Fine Arts at Seattle University, where since 2009 she has also been an affiliated professor of the Asian Studies Program. Naomi’s research and creative work have been focused on a series of memorial rituals, and Tohoku Tsunami disaster relief projects, in a large-scale installation art form. She also works on variety of media such as: book art, video, printmaking, and graphic design. Naomi has held numerous international solo and group exhibitions at galleries, as well as public and educational institutions.

She has exhibited in: Vancouver, Canada; Brisbane, Australia; New Delhi, India; Budapest, Hungary; and numerous cities in Japan, including: Tokyo, Yokohama, Osaka, Kyoto, Nagano, and Fukushima. In 2015, she was invited as an artist-in-residence to create and install a large installation art work for the Great Memorial Ceremony, the 650th anniversary of Zen Master Gazan, the 2nd Patriarch in the lineage at the head temple of the Soto Zen: Soji-ji Temple in Yokohama. In the United States she has also exhibited her work widely, in cities such as: Rochester; Philadelphia; Gainesville; Denver; Chicago; Anchorage; Portland and Eugene. In Seattle her exhibits have been enjoyed at the: Wing Luke Asian Museum; Seattle Art Museum Olympic Sculpture Park; Seattle Center; University of Washington; and, Seattle University. This year, Naomi has also been selected to participate in the Artist-in-Residence Program at Bundanon in NSW at the end of August to September.