NAOKO MORISAWA

My artwork is hand-made of thousands of very small slices of natural and oil-dyed wood-cut pieces on board. I like to incorporate the patterns in the wood and enhance them with oil-stain. The variety of wood grain is very beautiful and the pattern is never the same. The combinations of natural and oil-stained grains create interesting shadows and impressions.

Wood is an important component in my art. The life of a tree and the energy in each grain of wood are why I use wood.
When seen from a distance, my artwork looks like a normal painting. The details of the labor-intensive work and mosaic technique slowly emerge when viewers come closer. Look closely and see the vibrancy and movements of the wood patterns. By using wood mosaic I can show the life and energy. I can talk about life and the energetic atoms inside my work with my wood slices.

I make art that is natural, playful and lifts people’s spirits. But I also want my artwork to be about myself, like a diary. Each piece is created with the care one would use writing a letter to a loved one or friend. Bright, fun, and unusual subjects attract and inspire me to work in new directions. Mysterious creatures/objects such as magic mushroom and jellyfish, gravity, Illusions and Waves are recurring themes in my work..
My recent themes which I am currently working on include those that exist but cannot be seen with the naked eye. For example, the Utopia Land, Shangri-La(not a hotel), Voltage, Static Electricity, Uber system, GPS and the concept of Targets etc.

My original works are mainly created using a unique method of expression, mosaic collage painting, using wood and paper.
In addition, I have worked as Morisawa studio for local public art projects, I work to re-arrange the images via digital processing them and transfer the images to make public spaces bright, fun and unique.

My work is featured in Studio Visit Magazine over ten times, several other national and international publications printed in Seattle, Tieton, Denver, Omaha, Boston, Tokyo, London, Dublin, Athens and New York.

My work has been exhibited in the Pacific Northwest at Seattle Art Museum Gallery, CVG Show, Northwind Art Center Gallery (where I got Best of the Show, Special Award, Merit Award, and People's Choice Award), Nordstrom Corporate Gallery, Edmonds Public Library, Edmonds Art Festival, Lynnwood Convention Center, Lynnwood Public Library, Shoreline City Hall, Axis Hotel, Alexis Pioneer, Twilight Gallery in South Seattle, Tashiro Kaplan Building, Sammamish City Hall, Chase Gallery in Spokane, Whatcom Museum, Wing Luke Museum, White River Valley Museum, Harbor History Museum in Gig Harbor, ArtXchange Gallery, Kate Alkarni Gallery and COCA etc. Outside Washington State, my art has been selected for juried shows more than thirty different states in the US and I have exhibited internationally at FCA Gallery Vancouver-BC Canada, The Contemporary Museums and Galleries in Ginza, Aoyama, Kobe, Kawasaki, Yokohama and Tokyo Japan, and Dublin Biennial International 2014 Gallery in Ireland, Roma Art International Biennial.and the National Weather Center Biennial 2017, Bellingham National 2019 at Whatcom Museum, WA State. My works have been selected and exhibited, collected or printed in over 35 states in the North America.

I have been developing new works using other types of materials such as different kinds of paper and cardboard in addition to the wood mosaic art-form to increase the overall size of the artworks.  And these experimental approaches have become a NEW and INNOVATIVE style of my mosaic painting.

My artworks have been into the permanent collection by City of Seattle, Seattle Public Utilities (SPU), City of Kent, City of Shoreline, Seattle- Tacoma International Airport and City of Portland. Also my art image have been adapted into local public building design and traffic boxes in Greater Seattle.

CBS Seattle News named Naoko Morisawa Studio as one of Best 5 Seattle local Artists recently.

My newest works both wood mosaics and paper mosaics are shown in many places in Washington States, such Traver Gallery, City of Seattle Public Art Gallery, City of Shoreline Gallery, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, Northwest Craftsmen (NWDC) and Bellevue Art Museum Exhibitions, Anacortes Art Festivals in Washington USA, City of Bellevue, and the New Vanport Building in the City of Portland.


Naoko Morisawa/ Morisawa Studio

With over five-thousand and seven hundred entries and from 100 countries around the world, Naoko was selected as one of the 154 finalist artists to exhibit artwork at Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum and the Art Olympia International Biennial 2019, Toshima- Tokyo, Japan by a panel of well-known art curators and judges. New York judges including; Florence Derieux (The director of exhibitions at Hauser & Wirth,  New York , Ex- Curator of The Centre Pompidou Foundation),  and Brett Littman ( The Director of the Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum, New York) and international judges lnclude Emmanuelle Lequeux ( Art journalist for Le Monde, Paris), Chu Teh-I (Director of Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts, Taipei National University of the Arts, Taipei), and Zheng Lin ( Owner / Director of Tang Contemporary Art, Beijing/ Bangkok/ Hong Kong). as well as 5 leading Japanese curators and mastered artists. The exhibition in Tokyo, Japan. 

While most of my works have been exhibited on the Pacific Northwest of the United States and beyond, our Studio will work with Traver Gallery, Seattle. The Traver Gallery, a leading international and national premier Seattle gallery that can expand visibility, connect our studio artworks to local and contemporary art museums and collectors in the West and the World.

Nationwide US exhibitions included Nebraska, Louisiana, Washington (Bellingham National Biennial 2019), Vancouver BC, Honolulu, Minnesota confirmed and Michigan is To Be Determined in 2019. In order to attain/exhibit all the states in the USA gradually one by one, the opportunities of nationwide exhibition at central and mid USA such SD, OH, UT, WY, WI,AZ, IN, IA, MT being considered/ targeted during 2020-2021. 

"Transmigration - Magic Mushroom World Series"  Project  2012-2013 for international juried shows/ competitions.
I am very honored that this Project got the Artist Grant Award 2013 from Puffin Foundation New Jersey, USA.

My recent Project: Transmigration - Magic Mushrooms World, a series from all over the world.
Mushroom spores are parasitic to dead-creatures or plants and grow mushroom. This is like a Transmigration or Reincarnation.
The shape, color, and fragility of mushroom is very mysterious. This mystery inspired me to start my Magic Mushroom project.
I hope my artworks travel all around the world like a spore !

General Electric (GE) chosen my artworks for their Corporate Headquarter Cultural Fine Art Gallery exhibition during Asian Pacific American Celebration Months 2012 in Fairfield CT, USA.

   At Northwind Art Center Gallery.  ART Port Townsend WA USA
Above Center:  Deborah Scott's and  Right: Jeff Weekly's artwork



Traver Gallery Seattle, Seattle, Summer Exhibition 2023 USA
Naoko MorisawaNaoko Morisawa, Jun Kaneko, Patti Warashina, Lauren Grossman, Harold etc.

   AXIS Pioner Square Gallery： "Ex Libris 100 artists 100 books" Exhibition Opening Night, Seattle WA  

   The Contemporary Arts Center "CAC 23rd Annual Juried Show" 18b Arts District. Las Vegas NV, USA
Mat Gleason, LA based critic and curator selected my work for this show.

Kate Alkarni Gallery @ Seattle Design Center.  Lots of visitors, Seattle WA USA

 

Kate Alkarni Gallery, Matthew, a poet guy made a poem for me, next to my artworks, Thanks, Matthew!!

        Featured Interview with the Weekly Herald Newspaper, at Edmonds downtown Seattle
  This artworks is selected for Studio Visit Open Press, a nationwide USA juried publication 

 



Artists on stage, Artist Trust Benefit Art Auction @ Fisher Pavilion Seattle Center 




A Snapshot from the Group show at Kate Alkarni Gallery, Seattle Design Center, Seattle Washington


London Art Habens Contemporary Art review 2017-2018, At a Seattle Gallery Opening reception, Seattle, Published art magazine in London, UK

                           Edmonds Artwalk at My Solo Exhibition:  Theme: "Magic Mushroom Worlds Series" and More.  

 




Thanks letter from Dublin Biennial Director, Maggie Magee, Dublin Ireland 

 
Artwork made by Alexis Dahan, NY Based French Artist  at P3 Studio, Cosmopolitan Hotel Las Vegas Thanks! Alexis.