George Miyasaki March 24, 1935 - October 21, 2013
George Miyasaki was born in Kalopa, Hawaii in 1935, a part of the island dominated by sugar plantations. In this rural, isolated environment, he was encouraged by his high school art instructor to pursue his dream of becoming an artist. So, in 1953, Miyasaki began studies at California College of Arts & Crafts in Oakland where his fellow students included Manuel Neri and Billy Al Bengston. Among his teachers were Nathan Oliveira and Richard Diebenkorn, artists who were not yet legends, and each has had a lasting impact on Miyasaki. He found his voice in both painting and printmaking with compositions that achieve a notable balance - abstract yet gentle, shapes with hard edges coexisting with delicate lines and shadows of paint. While exhibiting both locally and internationally, Miyasaki continued to live and work in Berkeley.
EDUCATION
California College of Arts & Crafts, B.F.A., 1957
California College of Arts & Crafts, B.A.Ed., 1957
California College of Arts & Crafts, M.F.A. 1958
TEACHING
Assistant Professor, California College of Arts & Crafts, 1958– 64
Lecturer, Stanford University, 1963
Lecturer, University of California, Berkeley, 1964-65
Assistant Professor, University of California, Berkeley, 1965-85
Professor, University of California, Berkeley, 1985-94
Professor Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley, 1994 – 2013
FELLOWSHIPS
John Hay Whitney Opportunity Fellowship, 1957 -58
John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, 1963-64
National Endowment for the Arts Artist’s Fellowship, 1980-81
National Endowment for the Arts Artist’s Fellowship, 1985-86
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATION
Member, National Academy of Design, New York, 1993
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS - From over 50 since 1957
1957 Gumps Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1961 Paul Kantor Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Richmond Art Center, Richmond, CA
1963 University of California, Worth Ryder Gallery, Berkeley, CA
Lanyon Gallery, Palo Alto, CA
The Achenbach Foundation for the Graphic Arts, Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, CA
1964 Lanyon Gallery, Palo Alto, CA
The Original Prints Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1965 The Original Prints Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1966 Gallery of Modern Art, Washington, D.C.
The Original Prints Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1967 San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
The Original Prints Gallery, San Francisco, CA
La Jolla Museum of Art, La Jolla, CA
1968 University of Maine, Orono, ME
1969 Berkeley Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1970 Berkeley Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1971 San Marco Gallery, Dominican College, San Rafael, CA
1979 Stephen Wirtz Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1980 Honolulu Academy of Fine Arts, Honolulu, HI
Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ
1981 Stephen Wirtz Gallery, San Francisco, CA
The Dillon Gallery, Seattle, WA
1982 Stephen Wirtz Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1983 Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR
1984 Rubiner Gallery, Bloomfield Hills, MI
Stephen Wirtz Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1986 United States Embassy, Belgrade, Serbia
1987 Site 311 Gallery, Pacific Grove, CA
Gallery of the American Cultural Center, Belgrade, Serbia
1988 Stephen Wirtz Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1989 Paul Klein Gallery, Chicago, Il
1992 Stephen Wirtz Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1993 Mary Ryan Gallery, NY
2010 455 Market Lobby Gallery, San Francisco, CA "Off The Wall" Exhibition
2014 SGA International Conference Exhibition, George Miyasaki Memorial Retrospective,
Worth Ryder Gallery, University of California, Berkeley, CA
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS - From Over 275 Since 1956
1958 National Print Exhibition, 11th Biennial, Brooklyn Museum, NY
1962 Images From The Stone, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Houston, TX
Lithographs from the Tamarind Workshop, University of California at Los Angeles Art Galleries
{exhibition traveled in 1962-63}
1964 National Print Exhibition, 14th Biennial, Brooklyn Museum, NY
1984 Three Pick Four, University of California Extension Center Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1989 Order and Intuition: Aspects of Bay Area Abstract Painting, Palo Alto Art Center, CA
1992 Directions in Bay Area Printmaking: Three Decades, Palo Alto Art Center, CA
1995 With New Eyes: Toward an Asian American Art History in the West, San Francisco State University Art Department Gallery
1998 Japanese American Contemporary Artists ’98, Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii, Honolulu
1999 Public Art: Private Vision, Art Foundry Gallery, Sacramento, CA
2000 Tamarind: 40 Years, University of New Mexico Art Museum, Albuquerque
2001 Fresh Impressions: American Abstract Prints of the 1940s, 50s, and 60s, Cantor Fitzgerald Gallery, Haverford College, PA
The Stamp of Impulse, Abstract Expressionist Prints, Worcester Art Museum, MA
{exhibition travelled through 2003 to five additional museums}
Leading the Way: Visionary Asian-American Artists of the Older Generation, Barrington Center for the Arts, Gordon College,
Wenham, MA
2002 Lines in Motion: Abstract Impressions from the Charles R. Dean Collection, Knoxville Museum of Art, TN
2003 California Abstract Expressionists: Prints from the Charles R. Dean Collection, International Print Center, New York City
Expressive Impressions: Three Decades of American Abstract Print, Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens, Jacksonville, FL
2004 Contemporary Prints from the Collection of the National Academy Museum, National Academy of Design, New York City
2007 CCA Centennial: Alumni and Faculty at Stephen Wirtz Gallery, San Francisco
182nd Annual Exhibition, National Academy of Design, New York City
2008 Asian / American / Modern Art: Shifting Currents 1900-1970, de Young, Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, CA
Magnolia Tapestry Project, Fort Collins Museum of Contemporary Art, CO
2010 Gold Standard: Nine Asian American Modernist Artists, Togonon Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Rehistoricizing Abstract Expressionism in the San Francisco Bay Area, 1950s - 1960, The Luggage Store Gallery,
San Francisco, CA
2011 Beyond Traditions: Art Legacies at the Richmond Art Center, Part II, Richmond, CA
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts, San Francisco, CA
Pasadena Art Museum, Pasadena, CA
Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, NY
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Library of Congress, Joseph Pennel Collection, Washington, D.C.
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
University of Oklahoma Art Museum, Oklahoma City, OK
Art Council of Pakistan, Pakistan
Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI
City Art Gallery of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
Mildura Art Gallery, Mildura, Victoria, Australia
U.S. Information Agency, Europe
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
Mills College, Oakland, CA
California College of Arts & Crafts, Oakland, CA
Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
The Free Library of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Il
Madison Art Center, Madison, WI
Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon
St. Cloud College, St. Cloud, MN
University of New Mexico Art Museum, Albuquerque, NM Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
University of the Pacific, Stockton, CA
San Francisco Art Commission, San Francisco, CA
University of Alberta, Alberta, Canada
California State University, Sacramento, CA
Anchorage Historical and Fine Arts Museum, Anchorage, AK Honolulu Academy of Arts, Honolulu, HI
Arizona State University Art Collections, Tempe, AZ
Washington State University, Intercollegiate Center for Nursing, Pullman, WA
California State College, San Bernardino, CA
United States Information Service, Europe Office
James A. Michener Collection, University of Texas, Austin, TX Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR
de Saisset Museum, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, CA
Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ
Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
Worcester Museum of Art, Worcester, MA
British Museum, London, England
Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY
San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, CA
National Academy of Design, NY
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
PRIVATE COLLECTIONS
Atlantic Richfield Company, Los Angeles, CA
Bank of America, San Francisco, CA
Crocker Properties, San Francisco, CA
International Paper Company, New York, NY
Seattle First National Bank, Seattle, WA
St. Paul Companies, St. Paul, MN
Hughes Aircraft Company, Los Angeles, CA
Frito Lay Corporation, Piano, TX
First Bank of Nevada, Reno, NV
U.S. Venture Partners, Menlo Park, CA
NATIONAL AWARDS
1956 William Gerstle Memorial Prize for Painting, San Francisco, Museum of Art, Painting and Sculpture Annual.
1958 Purchase Prize, Pasadena Art Museum, First National Print Exhibition
Purchase Prize, The Brooklyn Museum, National Print Exhibition, NY.
1959 Honorable Mention for Prints, Philadelphia Print Club Annual, PA
1961 Purchase Prize, the Brooklyn Museum, National Print Exhibition, NY
Purchase Prize, The Library of Congress, 18th National Exhibition of Prints, Washington, D.C.
1963 The Agnes Lewis Memorial Purchase Prize, Society of American Graphic Artists, “100 Prints of the Year” Exhibition, New York.
Ford Foundation Purchase Prize, San Francisco Museum of Art, Painting and Sculpture Annual.
1966 Purchase Prize, Madison Art Center, National Print Exhibition, “Perspectives in Color”, WI
1968 The John S. Turner Memorial Purchase Award, Society of American Graphic Artists, 49th National Print Exhibition, NY
Purchase Prize, The Brooklyn Museum, 16th National Print Exhibition, “Two Decades of American Prints, NY
1995 Certificate of Merit, National Academy of Design, 170th Annual Exhibition, NY
GSA Award & Contract, Painting for the new U.S. Courthouse and Federal Building in Sacramento, CA, Public Building Service,
Washington, D.C.
2001 The Henry Ward Ranger Purchase Award, National Academy of Design, 176th annual Exhibition, NY
Thanks to Bonnie Earls-Solari and Rehistoricizing The Time Around Abstract Expressionism