SEIKO TACHIBANA was born in Japan and completed her Masters of Art Education at Kobe University, Japan. She received an MFA from San Francisco Art Institute in 1995, and has since received many awards including Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation Award. She has been living and working in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1993. Her distinctive work balances Asian tradition with minimalist modernity. Tachibana’s work has shown internationally also can be found in the Los Angeles County Museum, Fine Art Museums of San Francisco the Legion of the Honor, Portland Art Museum as well as a number of other museums, institutios and individual collections throughout USA, Europe and Japan.
locus of water
The ways in which many small pieces come together to make up a larger whole is a central theme in my artwork. I like to compare the marks, lines, shapes, colors, and textures that are the basic language of my work to living cells, and in the context of an individual block or panel, those cells come together to comprise an organ. When I assemble several individual works together, the blocks and panels then become like organs in a body, a body that is the whole of an artwork. In contemplating the similarities between biological structures and my work, I have discovered many different connections between ourselves and the universe in which we live.
Water is an essential element of living things, and a circle represents infinity, harmony, and unity. When a droplet of water falls on a flat surface, it creates a circle. In previous works, I have used circular elements as a metaphor for cells. In “Locus of Water,” I have used circles in a way such that they seem to be drawn together into clusters by some unifying force exerted by a condition of belonging. The clusters represent the location of the essence of life, and the way in which all living things are themselves an organization of smaller elements. The arrangement of the circles implies movement of water toward its locus.
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITION
2018 | ArtZone Kaguraoka Gallery, Kyoto, Japan |
2017 | Themes + Projects Gallery, San Francisco, CA |
2016 | Ruth Bachofner Gallery, Santa Monica, CA |
2015 | Toa Road Gallery, Kobe, Japan Artzone Kaguraoka, Kyoto, Japan Orie Gallery, Tokyo, Japan Ren Brown Collection, Bodega Bay, CA |
2014 | Ruth Bachofner Gallery, Santa Monica, CA San Francisco State University Library, San Francisco, CA |
2013 | Toa Road Gallery, Kobe, Japan Modernbook Gallery, San Francisco, CA |
2012 | Ruth Bachofner Gallery, Santa Monica, CA Artzone Kaguraoka, Kyoto, Japan |
2011 | Toa Road Gallery, kobe, Japan |
2010 | Orie Gallery, Tokyo, Japan |
2009 | Ruth Bachofner Gallery, Santa Monica, CA Artzone Kaguraoka, Kyoto, Japan |
2008 | Davidson Galleries, Seattle, WA Millstatt-Rittersaal, Wasserkunst, Austria |
2007 | Napa Vallery Museum, Napa, CA Ruth Bachofner Gallery, Santa Monica, CA ArtZone Kaguraoka, Kyoto, Japan Orie Gallery, Tokyo, Japan |
2006 | Davidson Galleries, Seattle, WA Mary Bell Galleries, Chicago, IL |
2005 | Ruth Bachofner Gallery, Santa Monica, CA Galerie Cathay, Paris, France Spheris Gallery, Bellowsfalls, VT |
2004 | Cervini Haas Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ Tinhorn Press Gallery, San Francisco, CA |
2003 | Tercera Gallery, Palo Alto, CA |
2002 | Kathryn Markel Fine Arts Gallery, New York, NY Ruth Bachofner Gallery, Santa Monica, LA RenBrown Collection Gallery, Bodega Bay, CA Gallery Hirawata, Kanagawa, Japan Gallery Naufu, Gifu, Japan Cervini Haas Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ |
2001 | Tercera Gallery, San Francisco, CA Cecile Moochnik Gallery, Berkeley, CA |
2000 | Stewart Gallery, Boise, ID Sonoma Museum of Visual Arts, Santa Rosa, CA |
1999 | Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, CA Reed Whipple Cultural Center, City of Las Vegas, Las Vegs, NV Second Street Gallery, Charlottesville, VA |
1998 | Evolving Space Gallery, San Francisco, CA Southern Oregon University, Ashland, OR The Carnegie Arts Center, Turlock City Arts Commission, Turlock, CA Ventura College Art Galleries, Ventura, CA |
1997 | Evolving Space Gallery, San Farancisco, CA Ren Brown Collection Gallery, Bodega Bay, CA |
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2018 | "Il Burino d'artista nelle Edizioni Il Bulino di Roma" Galleria de;;'Accademia di Belle Arte di Marcerata, Roma, Italy "Polychromatic Perspectives" Davidson Gallery, Seattle, WA "Global Matrix IV" Galleries at Cleveland State Univ, Cleaveland, OH "Zero Acid 1" Besançon, France |
2017 | "International Triennial of Graphic Arts in Livno" Franciscan Museum and Gallery, Gorica Livno, Bosnia and Herzegovina "Making our Mark" Bellevue Arts Museum, Bellevue, WA "Global Matrix IV" Robert L.Ringel Gallery, Stewart Center Gallery, Purdue Univ, West LAfayette, IN, Robert and Elaine Stein GAlleries, Wright State Univ, Dayton, OH |
2016 | "Women Printmakers" JACCC George J. Doizaki Gallery, Los Angeles, CA "Powder and Smoke" Seager Gray Gallery, Mill Valley, CA "The Impression: A Print Survey" Blue Line Arts Gallery, RoseVille, CA "The Art of the Book" Galletta Gallery, Sebastopol Center for the Arts, CA |
2015 | "The Art of Book" Brooklyn Public Library NY "Beneath the surface" MIXX project, Telluride, CO |
2014 | "Progressive proof" Fine Arts Gallery SFSU, CA "Washi Printmaking with paper of Fukui" Muchenthaler Cultural Center, CA "California Etchers Currents" DVC Gallery, Diablo Valley College, CA "International Contemporary Art Exhibition" Le Logge Art Gallery, Assisi, Italy |
2013 | "Eläin, Haiharan taidekeskus" Tampere, Finland "Awagami international mini print exhibition" Tokushima, Japan |
2012 | "International print Trienial" Krakow, Porland "International printArt Trienial" Katowice, Porland "The theater of the book" San Francisco center for the book, CA |
2010 | "Prints Byte; the cutting edge of printmaking" San Francisco, CA |
2009 | "Art; It's Alive!" di Rosa, Napa, CA “Oakland International Airport”, CA |
2008 | "Still Pulling: Traditional Printmaking in the Digital Age" Elaine L.Jacob Gallery,Wayne State Univ, MI "Works on Paper" SFStudio School, SF, CA "Wink" Mina Dresden Gallery, San Francisco, CA |
2007 | "Common Ground; works on paper" Chautauqua Institute, NY "Banzai/Godzilla Exhibition" SFMOMA Artist Gallery, San Francisco, CA “Pillow Talk: Small Comforts in Hard Times” Ruth Bachofner Gallery, Santa Monica, CA |
2006 | "The Art of the Book: Bay Area Treasures" Donna Seager Gallery , San Rafael, CA "fiera di Verona" Il Sole Arte Contemporanea, Italy |
2005 | “The Art of the Book; Treasures from the Bay Area” Contemporary Fine Arts. San Anselmo, CA “Thirty Something/ Kala Art Institute” SFMOMA Artist Gallery, San Francisco, CA “Sensory Experience” Gallup Ingham Chpman Gallery, University of New Mexico, NM |
2004 | "30 Years: Three Decades of New Art at Second Street",Second Street Gallery, Charlottesville, VA |
2003 | "On the wall" Reeves Contemporary, New York, NY "Grafica Contemporanea" Galeria Nacional, Museo De Los Ninis, San Jose, Costa Rica "Grabado sin Fronteras/Printmaking Without Borders", the Centro Metropolitan, La Estamperia, Quito, Ecuador / the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts, San Francisco, CA "Works on Paper" Mary Bell Galleries, Chicago, IL “KALA in Belarus” Tirana Museum, Albania Museum, Tashkent Museum, Uzbekistan Museum, Moscow Museum “Sensory Experience” Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, University of Nebraska Lincoln Fine Arts Gallery, Dewaters Art Center, Mott Community College, Flint, Michigan |
2002 | "Collaboration: East Bay Presses, Oakland Artists", Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, CA "Works On Paper", Cervini Haas Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ "KALA in Belarus" The National Museum of Belarus, Minsk |
2001 | "Marks of Creativity: Recent Acquisitions of Contemporary California Works on Paper", Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, California Palace of the Legion of the Honor, Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts, San Francisco, CA “Eastern Trans(formations), Fresh Paint, Culver City, CA “Inside Editions”. Kala Institute, Berkeley, CA "Books as Art: Art as Books", Triton Museum of At, Santa Clara, CA |
2000 | Ruth Bachofner Gallery at Bagamot Station, Santa monica, CA "Contemporary Asian American Art" Collectors Gallery, Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, CA |
1999 | “Modern Japanese Prints: Abstraction” Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA “Iconography: Extreme and Serene” Matrix Gallery, Sacramento, CA “Lyrical Cartography” The Richard H. & Marjorie M. Reynolds Gallery, University of the Pacific, Stockton, CA “Faultlines/Watermarks: California/Amsterdam”, The Atrium, San Francisco, Fetterly Gallery, Vallejo, CA USA Der Zaaijer, Amsterdam, Raadhuis te Heemstede, Netherlands “Out West; The Artist’s Book in California Part I” The Center for Book Arts, NY, NY “Veil/Mark/Mirror”, Diablo Valley College Art Gallery, Pleasant Hill, CA “Artist Book Show”, Gusto House Gallery, Kobe, Japan |
1998 | “The CIRCLE GAME” Korean Cultural Center, Los Angeles, CA “Print Work ‘98” Barrett House Galleries/Dutchess County Art Association, Poughkeepsie, NY “Pacific States Biennial National Print Exhibition 1998” Campus Center Gallery, University of Hawaii at Hilo, HI “Works on & Paper” Art Gallery, University of West Florida, Pensacola, FL |
1997 | “International Print Exhibition” Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR “Four Man Show” FireHouse Gallery, Rogue Community College, Grants Pass, OR “Kala Institute Fellowship Awards Exhibition” Kala Institute, Berkeley, CA “Celebrate Northwest Women” Wiseman Gallery, Rogue Community College, Grants Pass, OR “Three Person Show” Alliance for the VAried Arts, Logan, UT “Salutes KALA” Collectors Gallery, The Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, CA “Magnum Opus X; 10th International Open Exhibition”, Sacramento Fine Art Center, CA “Primary Colors” SITE Gallery, Gallery 825, Watts Towers Arts Center, Los Angeles, CA “Pacific Edge; Print Exhibition” Mendocino Art Center, CA “Aerial View” Pittsburg State University Art Gallery, KS ‘Count Down 2000” 1078 Gallery, Chico, CA “NVAL 13th Annual National Juried Art Show” North Valley League, Redding, CA “The 18th Annual Paper in Particular National Exhibition” Columbia College, Columbia, MO |
1996 | “Pacific Current; Japanese Print show” Santa Rosa Junior College, CA “California Small Works 1996” California Museum of Art, Santa Rosa, CA “Eleventh Mini Print International Exhibition” Studio School & Art Gallery, Binghamton, NY “All California/ All Media” Downey Museum of Art, Downey, CA “31st Annual Open Exhibition” The Fine Arts Institute of the San Bernardino County Museum, Redlands, CA “Awesome and Inspiring” Peninsula Art Association, Foster City, CA “Point of View” Center for the Visual Arts, Oakland, CA |
1995 | “The 45th North American Print Exhibition” The Art Complex Museum, Duxbury, MA |
1994 | “Three Person Show” Diego Rivera Gallery, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA “PCBA Annual Book Show” San Francisco Public Library, CA |
1993 | “Andepandan Exhibition” Nishinoniya, Hyogo, Japan |
1992 | “Zenkan Exhibition” Tennoji Museum, Osaka, Japan |
EDUCATION
1995 | MFA: San Francisco Art Institute, CA |
1993 | MA(Art): Kobe University, Kobe, Japan |
1988 | BA(Art & Education): Kobe University, Kobe, Japan |
AWARDS AND HONORS
2006 | "Juvenile Justice Center Public Art Program" Alameda County Art Commission, CA |
2004 | "presenter", Mid-America Print Council, Printmaking Conference, University of Nebraska-Lincoln |
2003 | "Artist in Residence", Jyvåkylån Grafiikkakeskus, Jyvåskylå, Finland |
2002 | "Artist in Residence", The Frans Masereel Center, Kasterlee, Belgium |
1999 | “Artist in residence/critique”, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA |
1998 | Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation, Museum Purchase Award, San Francisco, CA Best of Show Award” Pacific Art League of Palo Alto, “Pacific Prints 1998” “Acquisition Award Purchase” Hawaii State Foundation on Culture& the Arts, the State of Hawaii, HI Art in Public Places Relocatable Works Collection “Purchase Award” McNeese Permanent Collection. Lake Charles, LA, “11th Annual McNeese National Works on Paper” |
1997 | “Purchase Prize Award” The Gilkey Center of the Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR “International Print Exhibition” “Purchase Award” Galeria Mesa, Mesa Arts Center, Mesa, AZ, “Pulp Friction” “D. Steven Corey Award” Pacific Center for the Book Arts, San Francisco, CA “Award of Merit” Maryland Federation of Art, Annapolis, MD “Juror’s Award” Slocumb Galleries, East Tennessee State Univ. “Positive/Negative 12”. Johnson City, TN “Judith Banks Memorial Award” Sebastopol Center for the Arts, CA, “Into the New Abstract Art” |
1996 | Barnhart Memorial Award” California Museum of Art, Santa Rosa, CA, “California Small Works 1996 "Merit Award” Sebastopol Center for the Arts, Sebastopol, CA, “Repetition/Patterns/Textures” “Award of Excellence” Amador County Arts Council & Co.Artists Association, Sutter Creek, CA “Award” Fairfield Visual Arts Association “34th Annual Regional Juried art Show & Gala” “Fellowship Award” Kala Institute, Berkeley, CA |
1993 | The Rotary Foundation Scholarship” The Rotary Club, Chicago, IL |
SELECTED PUBLIC AND CORPORATE COLLECTIONS
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, California Palace of the Legion of the Honor, Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts
Portland Art Museum, the Gilkey Center for Graphic Art, OR
Museum Meermanno-Wetreenianum, Den Haag, The Netherlands
National Museum of Art of Belarus, Republic of Belarus
The Royal Museum of Fine Art in Antwerp, Antwarp, Belgium
Cleveland Museum of Art, OH
Museo de los Ninos, San Jose, Costa Rica
The New York Public Library, NYC, NY
National Academy of Sciences, Washington DC
Franciscan Museum, Gorica Livno, Bosnia and Herzegovina
State of Hawaii, Art in PublicPlaces Relocatable Works Collection, Hawaii State Foundation, HI
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Los Altos, CA
The McNeese Permanent Collection, MacNeese State University, Lake Charles, LA
City of MESA, Permanent Contemporary Art Collection, Mesa, AZ
Public Art Collection of the city Berkeley, CA
The Stanford University, CA
The Gleeson Library, University of San Francisco, CA
The Elta Strong Denson Library, Scripps College, Claremont, CA
The Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, University of Nebraska Lincoln. NE
University of Tulsa, OK
University of California, Berkeley, CA
University of California, San Diego, CA
University of California, Santa Barbara, CA
Kohler Art Library Archives, University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI
Cerritos Library, CA
Kansas State University, KS
King Library, San Jose State University, CA
Allied Capital, Washington, DC
Wells Fargo Bank, Palo Alto, CA
Grand Hyatt, Tokyo, Japan
The Prince Gallery Hotel, Tokyo, Japan
Lunze Co. Ltd., Kobe, Japan
Nippon Express, San Francisco, CA
Four Seasons, Scottsdale, AZ
Rits Carlton, Boston, MA
Hotel Palomer, 5th Floor Restaurant, San Francisco, CA
Ambassador Hotel, Taiwan
Shilla Hotel, Korea
Kansas State University
Texas Tech University, Southwest Collections
University of Southern California, Doheny Library
Lafayette College, Skillman Library, Easton, PA
SGC Archive
BIBLIOGRAPHY
2016 | Asian Art News Volume 26 Part 2, 2016 |
2013 | Jody Zellen Art Scene Jan 21, 2013, p.21 Mitsuyama Tomohiko Kobe Newspaper, Jan 15, 2013 |
2012 | Artweek LA col. 103 November.26, 2012 Sarah A Spitz Santa Monica Daily Press , Dec 2o, 2012 Preview Hanga Geijyutsu, Spring 2012, p.134 |
2011 | Chiaki Kamitani "Kobe Newspaper" Jan.22, 2011, p.20 Gloria Barderas Synchronized Chaos Magazine , Feb, 2011 |
2009 | William Bush "THE" magazine Sept.14, 2009, volume 1 Number 7 Peter Clothier The Buddha Diaries , Sept 24, 2009 Beth Grabowski & Bill Fick "Printmaking" - A Complete Guide to Materials & Processes, published 2009 p.127 |
2004 | Berry, Colin "Confluence at A Street Gallery". Art Week, December2004/January2005, p.14 |
2001 | Brown, Glen "Seeking the Universal", Asian Art News, January/February 2001, p.66-69 |
2000 | Jenkins, Steven “ Preview; Trace of Time Through Rain & Wind; at the Sonoma Museum of Visual Art”, ArtWeek, March 2000 volume 31, issue 3, p.6 Thompson, Sandy “David Nash and Seiko Tachibana”, Artmuse, winter 2000, volume 5, issue 2, p.1, p. 4 Brown, Ren “One the Road to Filfilling dreams”, Daruma, 26, vol.7 No.2, Spring 2000, p.36 -43 |
1999 | Miller, Alicia “Ricardo L. Gill, Seiko Tachibana, and David Wolf at the Berkeley Art Center”, Artweek, April 1999, volume 30, issue 4, p.16 Morris, Barbara “ Under the Surface at Cecile Moochnek Gallery”, Artweek, December 1999, vol.30, issue 12, p.23 -24 Sargent, Sarah “Works by Seiko Tachibana”, The Second Glance, volume 11, November II, winter 1999, p. 2 |
1998 | Ceglio, Clarissa “ Seiko Tachibana at Evolving Space”, Artweek, January 1998, p. 17-18 Woodard, Josef “Cryptic Imagery”, Los Angeles Times, September 10, 1998, p. 50 Coleman, Sarah “Seiko Tachibana Through Nov. 25 Evolving Space”, San Franciscco Bay Guardian, November 11, 1998,p.101 Dunne, Jessica “Seiko Tachibana at Evolving Space”, The California Printmaker, Issue No.1, May 1998, p. 13-14 “Worth a Look” , Palo Alto Weekly, May 22, 1998 Brekke, Joe “Ancient and modern come together in Carnegie exhibits”, Turlock Journal, October 29, 1998, p. A4 Holmes, Mark “Nakamoto & Tachibana: sublime elegance in print and ceramic”, Art Scene, Turlock city arts commisson, November 4, 1998, volume 6, p. 1 “ Seiko Tachibana, Exhibition: rain”, MON, November 1998, p. 4 |
1997 | Lavoie, Steve “The Road to the Corey Award”, The Ampersand, Pacific Center for the Art, volume 16 #2, Spring, 97, p. 22-23 Ikematsu, Yuka “the theme; life, to live”, Hokubei Mainich Newspaper, October 1997, p. 2 Kimura “Looking through the life”, MON, October 1977, p. 6 “Etching by Tachibana Being Shown at Ren Brown”, Hokubei Mainichi Newspaper, May 8, 1997, p. 2 ZYZZYVA, IIIX-3, winter 1997, p. 58-61 Women Artists Date Book 1997, Cedco Publishing Company |
1996 | “Exhibition by Tachibana, Zoshi at Evolving Space”, Hokubei Mainichi Newspaper, April 30, 1996, p. 2 |
1995 | “Word”, Kyoto Journal, No.29, spring, 1995, p. 153 |