Statement
Judy Shintani is the Narrator of Culture. The unspoken compels her to create. She believes art leads us in a search for our connection and our identity. Shintani’s work depicts family stories, honors Japanese American history, showcases women’s issues, and offers viewers ways to participate and become art collaborators. She works with found objects, organic materials, video, words, and most recently with cultural clothing, to create assemblages and installations.
Bio
Japanese American artist Judy Shintani was born in Ames, Iowa to a mother from Honolulu, Hawaii and a father from Poulsbo, Washington. Her father’s family lost their oyster farming business when they were taken to Tule Lake Internment Camp.. Her mother saw the bombers flying overhead on their way to attack Pearl Harbor. Her family ended up in the Central Valley of California where her mother was the first Asian American elementary school teacher in Lodi, and her father worked in television broadcasting. She has exhibited throughout California and the Pacific Northwest, including in: A solo show at In Linimal Space, Enso Gallery, Half Moon Bay, CA, 2011; A Place of Her Own produced by the Asian American Women Artist Association, SOMArts Gallery, SF, 2010; Distillations, Meditations of the Japanese American Experience, JFKU Gallery, Berkeley 2010; Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center’s 13th Annual United States of Asian American Festival SOMArts Gallery, SF 2010; APAture 2009, Kearny Street Workshop, SF; American /Asian, A Tale of New Cultures, ArtXchange Gallery, Seattle, Washington, 2009; Balancing Perspectives: East Asian Influences in Contemporary Art, JFK University in association with the de Young Museum, Berkeley, 2008; Women on War, Northern California Women’s Caucus on Art at the Mission Cultural Center 2008; Dream It, Build It, The Intersection for the Arts, San Francisco, 2007. Shintani speaks about Asian American Art and Women’s Art at conferences, galleries, high schools, colleges, and organizations including San Francisco State, De Anza Community College, JFKU, ArtXchange Gallery in Seattle, Enso Gallery in Half Moon Bay, and National League of American Pen Women. Judy is the founder and curator of the Coastside Doctors Without Borders Art Auction in Half Moon Bay, CA, in it’s seventh year of raising money for medical care for those in need around the world. She was warded the Peninsula Arts Council 2012 Award for donor support. In addition to making art, she facilitates art workshops including: Wellbeing Mandala Workshop, Gifts of Our Ancestors Youth Workshop; History, Healing, and Hope Community Workshop, with Legacies of War and ArtXchange Gallery; Inter-Generational Storytelling Workshop with Half Moon Bay Senior Center and Coastside Children’s Programs. Shintani owns and runs the Kitsune Community Art Studio in an old dairy barn in Half Moon Bay, hosting a monthly women’s project drop in, book club, art workshops, herb walks, drumming, and more. She is a member of the Asian American Women’s Artist Caucus and on the board of the Northern California Women’s Caucus for Art. Judy has a Masters in Transformative Art from JFK University, Berkeley and a Bachelor’s of Science in Graphic Design from San Jose State University.
