Frostic School of Art

Visiting Artist: Roger Shimomura

October 21, 2010
Kalamazoo Institute of Arts
7 p.m.

Roger Shimomura is a Japanese-American artist whose artwork addresses sociopolitical issues of Asian America. Shimomura's work is provocative and challenges the viewers' notions of history, ethnic images, popular culture and American ideals.

Shimomura received his B.A. from the University of Washington, Seattle, and his M.F.A. from Syracuse University, New York. He has had over 125 solo exhibitions of paintings and prints as well as presented performance pieces in venues such as Franklin Furnace, New York City, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, and The Smithsonian institution Washington, DC. He has received over 30 grants, four of which are National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships in Painting and Performing Art. He is also very active in the education circuit and has lectured at over 200 universities art schools, and museums across the country. In addition to being a prolific artist, Shimomura taught for 35 years at the School of Fine Arts at the University of Kansas where he was honored as a University Distinguished Professor.