Visual Arts

Setsuko Onishi Moulton

Setsuko Onishi Moulton is a Calgary-based printmaker. Born in Japan, she studied French literature in Kobe before immigrating to Canada in 1983. She studied printmaking at the Alberta College of Art and Design, and her work has appeared in a number of solo and group exhibitions in Canada, Japan, and Hong Kong. Her work can […]

Hiroko Okata

Hiroko Okata was a shodo artist and founder of the Montreal School of Japanese Calligraphy. Born in Yamaguchi prefecture in Japan, Okata studied calligraphy as a child, but became serious about the art only after she graduated from university with a psychology degree, and the death of her mother. She studied at the school run […]

Junko Nishinoiri

Junko Nishinoiri is a Japanese- and Canadian-trained printmaker who was active in Toronto in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Born in Japan, she studied printmaking at Tama Art College in Tokyo, and then at Ontario College of Art in Toronto, in the 1980s. She won awards for lithography in Ontario, including a scholarship from […]

Grace Murao

Grace Murao is a printmaker who was actively exhibiting work in the 1980s and early 1990s. Born in British Columbia, she received her BFA from the University of British Columbia in 1984, and her MFA at the University of Calgary in 1986. Later moving to Toronto, she showed her work in solo and group shows […]

Kaneko Johkoh

Kaneko Johkoh is a painter. Born in Ehime prefecture, Japan, she started oil painting in 1961, and became active in artists’ associations in Japan. In 1983, she started doing bokusho abstract sumi-e (ink brush) drawings, a style which she exhibited in Japan, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Mexico, and eventually brought with her to Canada. She […]

Yoshimaru Abe

Yoshimaru Abe was an entertainer, artist, haiku poet, garden designer. Born in 1914 in Fukuoka, Japan, Abe immigrated to Canada in 1927 to join his parents in Port Hammond, BC. There he worked for the local lumber mill while also working on the family strawberry farm. With other Japanese community members, he engaged in shibai […]

Yukari Ochiai

Yukari Ochiai is a Montreal-based painter and graphic artist who exhibits extensively around the world. Born in Yokohama, Japan, she attended a School of Fine Arts, ‘Joshi Bijutsu’, in Tokyo, receiving her diploma in 1960. After exhibiting as an artist in Tokyo and teaching fine arts at a girls’ high school, Ochiai travelled to Russia […]

Brian Sano

Brian Sano is a Toronto-based commercial photographer who photographs merchandise, food, and cosmetics. His clients have included Holt Renfrew, Aritzia, Birks, Harry Rosen, Kraft, Procter & Gamble, and Winners.

Sue Obata

Sue Obata is a Toronto-based glass artist whose work can be found in government buildings, university campuses, private homes, and churches from Trinidad to Germany, and within Canada in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia. After studying Creative Art at Sheridan College, Obata spent eight years apprenticing with European masters in […]

Junichi Hashimoto

Junichi Hashimoto is a retired architect and active watercolor painter. He graduated from the school of architecture in Kyoto in 1962 and came to Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1966 through the Japan Architects Association’s Young Architect Exchange Program with Canadian architects. He worked as project architect for GBR Associates on various projects such as the hospital […]

Noriko Imai

Noriko Imai is a painter who was born in Tokyo and raised in Yokohama. She is a member of La Société canadienne de l’aquarelle (THE CANADIAN WATERCOLOR SOCIETY). From a young age, Imai was inspired to paint from the influence of her father and older sisters. After graduating from high school, Imai worked for her […]

Akemi Nishidera

Akemi Nishidera is a Toronto-based printmaker. After studying printmaking at the Ontario College of Art, and showing her work in a number of exhibits in Ontario, Nishidera continued learning her craft in Japan: first, she attended the International Paper Symposium in Kyoto in 1995, and then moved to Japan in 1998 to apprentice with Richard […]

Takako Masumoto

Takako Masumoto was a traditional Japanese textile artist, trained in the Ryukyu Bingata style of katazome. Based in the Montreal area, she exhibited her work in a solo exhibition at the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre of Montreal (1993), as well as a number of group exhibitions celebrating traditional Japanese culture. After mastering the original Ryukyu […]

Ruby Truly

Ruby Truly is a Hawaii-born Nikkei actor and filmmaker. Born in Maui, she grew up dancing the hula, which she credits as a lifelong artistic influence. She studied theatre at the University of Hawaii, and immigrated to Canada in the 1960s. As a performer, she has numerous film, television, and theatre credits, including The War […]

Roy Onami

Roy Onami is a retired graphic designer and painter. Born in Vancouver, Onami, his mother, and siblings were forcibly removed from the coast in 1942 and sent to live in Sandon internment camp. Their family resettled in Montreal after the war, where Onami graduated from high school and got a job with Trans Canada Airlines […]