Poster for the lecture by Naomi Kasumi on Socially Engaged Art Practice ©2017

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. 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, Tokyo, Yokohama, Osaka, Kyoto, Nagano, Fukushima, Rochester, Philadelphia, Gainesville, Denver, Chicago, Anchorage, Portland, Seattle and Eugene. 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.