Arthur Okamura (February 24, 1932 - July 10, 2009) was an American artist, working in

screen printing Screen printing is a printing technique where a mesh is used to transfer ink (or dye) onto a substrate, except in areas made impermeable to the ink by a blocking stencil. A blade or squeegee is moved across the screen in a "flood stroke ...

, drawing and painting. He lived in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

, and was Professor Emeritus at the California College of the Arts in

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. His work is in the permanent collections at the

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in Washington, D.C., the Whitney Museum in New York, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. He is associated with the San Francisco Renaissance. He illustrated numerous works of literature and poetry, published a book on games and toys for children, and created illustrations for the TV movie '' The People''.

Early life

Okamura was born in

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

, on February 24, 1932. Okamura was an American of Japanese descent. During World War II, as a child, Okamura and his family were relocated to the Granada War Relocation Center in southeast

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

. As a result of Executive Order 9066, the United States government forced the relocation of many American residents of Japanese ancestry to a Japanese American internment camp.

Education

Okamura attended the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park. Its collection, stewa ...

from 1950 to 1954, Yale School of Art in 1954, and the

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in 1951, 1953 and 1957. He moved to California after his university studies, living in San Francisco, then the

artist colony Art colonies are organic congregations of artists in towns, villages and rural areas, who are often drawn to areas of natural beauty, the prior existence of other artists, Art school, art schools there, or a lower cost of living. They are typica ...

of Bolinas.

Career

He taught at the California College of the Arts for over 30 years, retiring in 1997. He died July 10, 2009, in Bolinas.

Exhibitions

His first solo exhibition was in 1953, at the Frank Ryan Gallery, in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. He has had exhibits at the Oakland Museum of Art (1959), the California Palace of the Legion of Honor (1962), and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (1968). In addition to being in the aforementioned permanent collections, his work is in the collections of the Legion of Honor, the Oakland Museum, the

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

Collection, and the California College of the Arts. He had numerous solo and group or joint exhibits over the last 50 years. Catalogs of his exhibits have been published. He is represented by the Braunstein/Quay Gallery, San Francisco.

Bibliography

*''1234567890'', by Arthur Okamura and Robert Creeley. Shambhala Publications, 1971 biographical information on Okamura/Creeley
/ref> *''Calm and Clear'', by Lama Nipham, translated by Tarthang Tulku, cover and illustrations by Arthur Okamura. Berkeley, Dharma Publishing, 1973 *''Just Space: Poems, 1979-1989'', by Joanne Kyger, illustrated by Arthur Okamura. David R. Godine, 1991 *''Ten Poems by Issa'', Robert Bly, translator. illustrated by Arthur Okamura. Floating Island Publications, 1992 *''The Paper Propeller, The Spinning Quarter, The Jumping Frog +38 Other Amazing Tricks You Can Do with Stuff Lying Around the House'', written and illustrated by Arthur Okamura. Bolinas, CA; Shelter Publications. *''The Healing Spirit of Haiku'', David H. Rosen and Joel Weishaus, Illustrated by Arthur Okamura. New York:

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/ North Atlantic Books (2004)

Awards

*1951 Neysa McMein Purchase Award, Whitney Museum of Art *1957 Marin Cahn Award, Art Institute of Chicago *1960 Schwagacher-Frey Award, San Francisco Museum of Art *1976 Purchase Prize, San Francisco Arts Commission

References

External links

pictures of Okamura in his studio, 2006Commonweal Newsletter, December 2007Haikuworld.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Okamura, Arthur 1932 births 2009 deaths American artists of Japanese descent Japanese-American internees American printmakers 20th-century American illustrators Writers who illustrated their own writing Writers from the San Francisco Bay Area School of the Art Institute of Chicago alumni Yale School of Art alumni University of Chicago alumni People from Bolinas, California Artists from Marin County, California Artists from Long Beach, California