Kinji Akagawa
Encyclopedia
Kinji Akagawa is an American sculptor
and arts educator best known for sculptural constructions that also serve a practical function. A pioneer in the public art movement
, Akagawa has throughout his career examined the relationship between art and community, most notably the concept of art as a process of inquiry. His sculpture and public artworks are noted for their refined elegance and use of natural materials, such as granite, basalt, fieldstone, cedar, and ipe wood
.
Akagawa trained at the Cranbrook Academy of Art
, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan; Tamarind Lithography Workshop
, Los Angeles; the Minneapolis College of Art and Design
; and the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, where he earned an MFA degree in 1969.
From 1973 to 2009, Akagawa was a professor at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design
(MCAD), where he taught sculpture
, printmaking
, photography
, video
, installation
and conceptual art
.
Akagawa's work is exhibited nationally and internationally and is found in numerous public and private collections, including the Minneapolis Institute of Arts
; the Walker Art Center
, Minneapolis; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art
; the Smithsonian Institution
, Washington, D.C.; the University of Iowa Museum of Art
, Iowa City; and the Ackland Art Museum
, Chapel Hill, N.C.
Notable public artworks include "Peace Garden Bridge," (2009) a collaboration with American architect Jerry Allan, in the Lyndale Park Peace Garden, Minneapolis
; "Garden Seating, Thinking, Reading" (1987) in the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden
; and "Bayou Sculpture" (1985), Houston, Texas.
Akagawa's awards and recognitions include the McKnight Foundation
Distinguished Artist Award (2007); Minnesota State Arts Board cultural collaborations grant (1995); Carnegie Mellon Foundation faculty enrichment grant (1984); McKnight Foundation
Artist Fellowship (1983); Bush Foundation
Fellowship (1982); and a Ford Foundation
Fellowship (1965).
Akagawa lives and maintains a studio in Afton, Minnesota
. He is married to fiber artist Nancy Gipple.
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
and arts educator best known for sculptural constructions that also serve a practical function. A pioneer in the public art movement
Public art
The term public art properly refers to works of art in any media that have been planned and executed with the specific intention of being sited or staged in the physical public domain, usually outside and accessible to all...
, Akagawa has throughout his career examined the relationship between art and community, most notably the concept of art as a process of inquiry. His sculpture and public artworks are noted for their refined elegance and use of natural materials, such as granite, basalt, fieldstone, cedar, and ipe wood
Tabebuia
Tabebuia is a neotropical genus of about 100 species in the tribe Tecomeae of the family Bignoniaceae. The species range from northern Mexico and southern Florida south to northern Argentina, including the Caribbean islands of Hispaniola and Cuba...
.
Akagawa trained at the Cranbrook Academy of Art
Cranbrook Educational Community
The Cranbrook Educational Community, a National Historic Landmark, in the US state of Michigan was founded in the early 20th century by newspaper mogul George Gough Booth. Cranbrook campus is in the Detroit suburb of Bloomfield Hills consisting of Cranbrook Schools, Cranbrook Academy of Art,...
, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan; Tamarind Lithography Workshop
Tamarind Institute
Tamarind Institute is a lithography workshop created in 1970 as a division of the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, NM. It began as Tamarind Lithography Workshop, a California non-profit corporation founded by June Wayne on Tamarind Avenue in Los Angeles in 1960...
, Los Angeles; the Minneapolis College of Art and Design
Minneapolis College of Art and Design
Minneapolis College of Art and Design is a private, nonprofit four-year and postgraduate college specializing in the visual arts. Located in the Whittier neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, MCAD currently enrolls approximately 1,000 students offering curriculum that includes...
; and the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, where he earned an MFA degree in 1969.
From 1973 to 2009, Akagawa was a professor at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design
Minneapolis College of Art and Design
Minneapolis College of Art and Design is a private, nonprofit four-year and postgraduate college specializing in the visual arts. Located in the Whittier neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, MCAD currently enrolls approximately 1,000 students offering curriculum that includes...
(MCAD), where he taught sculpture
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
, printmaking
Printmaking
Printmaking is the process of making artworks by printing, normally on paper. Printmaking normally covers only the process of creating prints with an element of originality, rather than just being a photographic reproduction of a painting. Except in the case of monotyping, the process is capable...
, photography
Photography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
, video
Video
Video is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion.- History :...
, installation
Installation art
Installation art describes an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often called Land art; however, the boundaries between...
and conceptual art
Conceptual art
Conceptual art is art in which the concept or idea involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic and material concerns. Many of the works, sometimes called installations, of the artist Sol LeWitt may be constructed by anyone simply by following a set of written instructions...
.
Akagawa's work is exhibited nationally and internationally and is found in numerous public and private collections, including the Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Minneapolis Institute of Arts
The Minneapolis Institute of Arts is a fine art museum located in the Whittier neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, on a campus that covers nearly 8 acres , formerly Morrison Park...
; the Walker Art Center
Walker Art Center
The Walker Art Center is a contemporary art center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The Walker is considered one of the nation's "big five" museums for modern art along with the Museum of Modern Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim Museum and the Hirshhorn...
, Minneapolis; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is an art museum in Los Angeles, California. It is located on Wilshire Boulevard along Museum Row in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles, adjacent to the George C. Page Museum and La Brea Tar Pits....
; the Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
, Washington, D.C.; the University of Iowa Museum of Art
Figge Art Museum
The Figge Art Museum is an art museum in Davenport, Iowa. The Figge, as it is commonly known, has an encyclopedic collection and serves as the major art museum for the eastern Iowa and western Illinois region...
, Iowa City; and the Ackland Art Museum
Ackland Art Museum
The Ackland Art Museum is a museum and academic unit of The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It was founded through the bequest of William Hayes Ackland to The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It is located at 101 S...
, Chapel Hill, N.C.
Notable public artworks include "Peace Garden Bridge," (2009) a collaboration with American architect Jerry Allan, in the Lyndale Park Peace Garden, Minneapolis
Lyndale Park
Lyndale Park is located on the northeast side of Lake Harriet in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is adjacent to the Lakewood Cemetery and between Lakes Calhoun and Lake Harriet. It is part of an enormous greenspace circling through Minneapolis called the Grand Rounds Scenic Byway, and is one of the...
; "Garden Seating, Thinking, Reading" (1987) in the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden
Minneapolis Sculpture Garden
The Minneapolis Sculpture Garden is an 11 acre park in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in the United States.It is located near the Walker Art Center, which operates it in coordination with the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board...
; and "Bayou Sculpture" (1985), Houston, Texas.
Akagawa's awards and recognitions include the McKnight Foundation
McKnight Foundation
The McKnight Foundation is a philanthropic organization based in Minneapolis, Minnesota in the United States. The foundation's interests lie in the environment, the arts, community development, and other areas....
Distinguished Artist Award (2007); Minnesota State Arts Board cultural collaborations grant (1995); Carnegie Mellon Foundation faculty enrichment grant (1984); McKnight Foundation
McKnight Foundation
The McKnight Foundation is a philanthropic organization based in Minneapolis, Minnesota in the United States. The foundation's interests lie in the environment, the arts, community development, and other areas....
Artist Fellowship (1983); Bush Foundation
Bush Foundation
The Bush Foundation was created in 1953 by Archibald Granville Bush an American businessman primarily involved with 3M and his wife, Edyth Bassler Bush. The organization awards $40 million a year to philanthropic organizations, primarily located in Minnesota and the Upper Midwest....
Fellowship (1982); and a Ford Foundation
Ford Foundation
The Ford Foundation is a private foundation incorporated in Michigan and based in New York City created to fund programs that were chartered in 1936 by Edsel Ford and Henry Ford....
Fellowship (1965).
Akagawa lives and maintains a studio in Afton, Minnesota
Afton, Minnesota
Afton is a city in Washington County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 2,886 at the 2010 census. It is located on a small bay where Valley Creek empties into the St. Croix River several miles north of the confluence with the Mississippi River....
. He is married to fiber artist Nancy Gipple.