Hiroko Yoshimoto, “Innocence #1″ 10 x 10” silverpoint on paper. Photo by W. Scott Miles, www.TheScientificPhotographer.com
SANTA PAULA — The Santa Paula Art Museum presents “Hiroko Yoshimoto: New Works,“ an exhibition of 40 new artworks that represent the Ventura artist’s continued work on her long-running “Biodiversity“ series. The exhibit also features “Impending Storms,” a large-scale installation designed by Blue Marble Art Collective, a group that includes Yoshimoto and artists Katherine Chang Liu, W. Scott Miles, and Tori Tasch. Many of the artworks in the exhibit will be available for purchase.
“Hiroko Yoshimoto: New Works” and “Impending Storms” will be on view through November 6, 2022.
Hiroko Yoshimoto has continued to add to her “Biodiversity” series since first exhibiting it at Carnegie Art Museum in Oxnard in 2014, and several other venues through 2017. The complete series, including many pieces that now belong to public and private collections, amounts to more than 140 canvases and just as many watercolors and sketches. Inspired by biologist Edward O. Wilson and other environmental writers, Yoshimoto paints abstract images to convey her concern for the growing threat to biological diversity.
“Yoshimoto’s work is a masterclass in mark-making,” notes Santa Paula Art Museum Executive Director Jennifer Heighton. “In her ‘Biodiversity’ series, lines bend, curve, and curl in all directions, while pools of saturated color ripple across the canvas. The series is a visual triumph, and a call to action.” The artist’s newest works also include delicate silverpoint drawings that reflect those of the Renaissance masters who first made that medium famous. Drawn with the fine point of a silver needle and tarnishing to bronze over time, Yoshimoto’s realistic drawings serve as a stunning counterpart to her abstract paintings within the exhibit.
Hiroko recently teamed with fellow environmentally conscious artists Katherine Chang Liu, W. Scott Miles, and Tori Tasch to form Blue Marble Art Collective. The term “blue marble” was coined in 1972 by the astronauts traveling to the Moon on Apollo 17 to describe our fragile planet seen from a distance of about 18,000 miles. Together the four artists designed “Impending Storms,” a large, collaborative art installation that will hang at the center of the Museum’s main gallery.
“Our purpose in creating this installation is to put a spotlight on the reality of the impending dangers of significant loss of species and biodiversity,” the group explains, “and by inference, the dangers looming over our biosphere.” Blue Marble Art Collective invited artists from all across the county, including school children, to make drawings depicting endangered animals and plants that are caught in the “fishnet” of human design. The installation will feature hundreds of drawings submitted by the public, and museum visitors will be invited to create and add their own images during the show’s run.
About Hiroko Yoshimoto — Hiroko Yoshimoto was born and raised in Japan and moved to Los Angeles as a teen. She has BA and MA degrees in Art from UCLA. Yoshimoto became a U.S. citizen in the 1970s. She taught studio art at Ventura College as a full-time professor until her retirement, and at the same time worked as an exhibiting artist. Hiroko’s interest in painting has long been in appreciation of nature focusing on ecological concerns. In addition to Southern California, the artist has exhibited in New York, Tokyo, Osaka, San Francisco, Palo Alto, Seattle, Houston, Ashland, Denver, and other locations. Her studio is in Ventura, California.
About Katherine Change Liu — Katherine Chang Liu grew up in Taiwan, and received her MS degree from the University of California, Berkeley. She was a recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts and the Virginia Commission of Arts and Humanities. Liu has had 43 solo exhibitions in the U.S., Denmark, Finland, France, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. She has exhibited in over 100 invitational art shows, and her work is in over 1,000 public, corporate, and private collections. Liu works in Westlake Village, California.
About W. Scott Miles — After working as an architectural, commercial, and advertising photographer for 20 years, W. Scott Miles returned to his alma matter, Brooks Institute, to join the BFA Professional Photography faculty. Upon earning his MS in Educational Technology, he served as the BFA Professional Photography Program Chair and later developed the new Master of Science in Scientific and Technological Imaging (MSSTI) program at Brooks Institute. Since 2017, Miles has provided imaging services related to scientific, research, cultural heritage and museum photography. He resides in Ventura, California.
About Tori Tasch — Tori Tasch is a Wisconsin-based artist and educator focusing on sustainable papermaking and printmaking practices. She received a BFA from Carroll College in Montana with additional studies at Columbia College Chicago’s Center for Book and Paper Arts. Tori maintains an active studio practice as a resident artist at Studio 224 in Port Washington, Wisconsin. Her work has been exhibited extensively throughout the U.S., in addition to Japan, Mexico, and Canada.
About the Santa Paula Art Museum — The Santa Paula Art Museum occupies two historic buildings located at 117 N 10th Street and 123 N 10th Street in downtown Santa Paula. The Museum features rotating exhibitions of historic and contemporary art, art classes for children and adults, creative community events, a well-curated gift shop, and more. Regular museum hours are Wednesday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and Sunday from 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Regular admission is $4.00 for adults, $3.00 for seniors, and free for students and museum members. Contact the Museum: (805) 525-5554, info@santapaulaartmuseum.org. Follow the Museum on Facebook and Instagram. Website: www.santapaulaartmuseum.org.
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