Bio

I was born in Tokyo, Japan, and studied architecture at Tokyo University of Fine Arts. My MFA degree (1977) is from Cornell University, in print-making. My earliest artists’ books were exhibited at the Center for Book Arts and the Metropolitan Museum in 1986. I had an apprenticeship at Dieu Donné Papermill in 1987, and developed my own technique to create works using kozo fiber with inclusions of printed paper, cloth, threads, and pigmented linen pulp. I received a fellowship at Bob Blackburn’s Printmaking Workshop in 1990. I have used intaglio printmaking as my personal tool for creating my own visual world. I have kept up with artists’ bookwork with equal obsessive passion. My recent artists’ bookworks include intaglio prints, letterpress, and structural inventions for bookbinding.

I have taught workshops on artists’ books at many institutions: The Center for the Book Arts in New York City, San Francisco Center for the Book, Women’s Studio Workshop, Rosendale, NY, Center for Contemporary Printmaking, Norwalk, CT, as well as at many colleges and universities.

My works are included in many public and private collections, nationally, and internationally, including the Library of Congress, New York Public Library, Victoria and Albert Museum, Tate Library, and Getty Center Research Library.

Statement

The visual experiences that move me, color, composition, and luminosity, are in nature around me. I feel that I am grounded in observation of it. I hope that the translation of what I observe turns into color, shapes, and brush strokes, and it is my wish to evoke the spiritual through the visual. I embrace, with gratitude, those artists who have given me gifts in the form of inspiration, influence, and permission. I have learned and keep learning from their art.