Yuko Nii
Encyclopedia
Aoyama Gakuin University
, abbreviated AGU, is a Japanese Christian university in Shibuya near Omotesandō, Tokyo, Japan. Aoyama Gakuin University is part of a comprehensive educational institute called Aoyama Gakuin, which includes a kindergarten, an elementary school, junior and senior high schools, and a women's junior...
, Tokyo, Japan. In 1963 she transferred to Macalaster College, St. Paul, Minnesota as a scholarship student, and earned her BFA. in 1965. From 1966 she attended Pratt Institute
Pratt Institute
Pratt Institute is a private art college in New York City located in Brooklyn, New York, with satellite campuses in Manhattan and Utica. Pratt is one of the leading undergraduate art schools in the United States and offers programs in Architecture, Graphic Design, History of Art and Design,...
, Brooklyn, New York, as a fellowship student and earned her MFA
Master of Fine Arts
A Master of Fine Arts is a graduate degree typically requiring 2–3 years of postgraduate study beyond the bachelor's degree , although the term of study will vary by country or by university. The MFA is usually awarded in visual arts, creative writing, filmmaking, dance, or theatre/performing arts...
in painting
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
in 1969. Her creative activities include painting, printmaking, graphic design, stage set, costume and fashion design. She distinguished herself also as a writer in journalism, poetry, fiction, essays and philosophy, publishing a book with Terrance Lindall
Terrance Lindall
Terrance Lindall is an American artist who was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1944. Lindall attended the University of Minnesota and graduated magna cum laude from Hunter College in New York City in 1970, with a double major in Philosophy and English and a double minor in Psychology and Physical...
, entitled BLUE EYED SATORI, and writing for newspapers and magazines.
Nii's work has been shown at numerous museums, art galleries and universities in the U.S.A. and Japan, including one person shows at The Berkshire Museum, Massachusetts, Fairleigh Dickinson University
Fairleigh Dickinson University
Fairleigh Dickinson University is a private university founded as a junior college in 1942. It now has several campuses located in New Jersey, Canada, and the United Kingdom.-Description:...
, NJ, International Monetary Fund
International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund is an organization of 187 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world...
Washington DC; Ginza
Ginza
is a district of Chūō, Tokyo, located south of Yaesu and Kyōbashi, west of Tsukiji, east of Yūrakuchō and Uchisaiwaichō, and north of Shinbashi.It is known as an upscale area of Tokyo with numerous department stores, boutiques, restaurants and coffeehouses. Ginza is recognized as one of the most...
Kaiga-kan, Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
; and including many group shows in such venues as, the Brooklyn Museum
Brooklyn Museum
The Brooklyn Museum is an encyclopedia art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At 560,000 square feet, the museum holds New York City's second largest art collection with roughly 1.5 million works....
, New York, The Bronx Museum, New York, the Hudson River Museum
Hudson River Museum
The Hudson River Museum, located in Trevor Park in Yonkers, New York, is the largest museum in Westchester County. The Yonkers Museum, founded in 1919 at City Hall, became the Hudson River Museum in 1948...
, New York, the Parish Museum, Southhampton, New York, The World Trade Center
World Trade Center
The original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...
, New York, Lincoln Center, New York, and The United Nations General Assembly Building, New York.
Nii's works are in public and private collections including those of the Cincinnati Art Museum
Cincinnati Art Museum
The Cincinnati Art Museum is one of the oldest art museums in the United States. Founded in 1881, it was the first purpose-built art museum west of the Alleghenies. Its collection of over 60,000 works make it one of the most comprehensive collections in the Midwest.Museum founders debated locating...
, The Berkshire Museum, The Alternative Museum, Equitable Assurance Collection, JP Morgan Chase Bank Collection, Bankers Trust, Security Pacific Bank, N.L. Industries, The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, Bony Corp., Nihon Davis Standard Corp., and many outstanding public and private collections.
Nii was an advisory panelist for the 1978 CAPS Grants under the Cultural Council Foundation of New York City and JPMorgan Chase 2007 Regrant Program. And she was twice (in 1981 and 1983) an artist in residence at Yaddo
Yaddo
Yaddo is an artists' community located on a 400 acre estate in Saratoga Springs, New York. Its mission is "to nurture the creative process by providing an opportunity for artists to work without interruption in a supportive environment."...
in Saratoga Springs, New York.
Nii’s “Friends and Mentors” belong to an established circle of the international art world, and include Jack Lenor Larsen (Textile Designer), Isamu Noguchi
Isamu Noguchi
was a prominent Japanese American artist and landscape architect whose artistic career spanned six decades, from the 1920s onward. Known for his sculpture and public works, Noguchi also designed stage sets for various Martha Graham productions, and several mass-produced lamps and furniture pieces,...
(Sculptor), Toshiko Takaezu
Toshiko Takaezu
Toshiko Takaezu was an American ceramic artist.She was born to Japanese immigrant parents in Pepeekeo, Hawaii, in 1922. She studied at the Honolulu Academy of Arts and at the University of Hawaii under Claude Horan from 1948-1951...
(Ceramist), Ansei Uchima (Print Maker and Painter), Toshiko Uchima ( Collagist and Box Assemblage Artist), Esteban Vicente (Painter and Collagist), Siah Armajani
Siah Armajani
Siah Armajani is an Iranian-born American sculptor.Siah Armajani designed the Olympic Torch presiding over the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, United States...
(Conceptual Artist), Hillary Harris (Film Maker), Max Newhouse (New Media Artist), Kenneth Noland
Kenneth Noland
Kenneth Noland was an American abstract painter. He was one of the best-known American Color field painters, although in the 1950s he was thought of as an abstract expressionist and in the early 1960s he was thought of as a minimalist painter. Noland helped establish the Washington Color School...
(Painter), Max Roach
Max Roach
Maxwell Lemuel "Max" Roach was an American jazz percussionist, drummer, and composer.A pioneer of bebop, Roach went on to work in many other styles of music, and is generally considered alongside the most important drummers in history...
(Jazz Percussionist), Leon Kirchner
Leon Kirchner
Leon Kirchner was an American composer of contemporary classical music. He was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for his String Quartet No. 3.Kirchner was born in Brooklyn, New York...
(Composer) and many more.
In 1996, Nii founded the not for profit Williamsburg Art & Historical Center (WAH Center) in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York which is housed in the Kings County Savings Bank
Kings County Savings Bank
Kings County Savings Bank is a New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission-designated building in the Williamsburg, Brooklyn section of New York City. It is an example of French Second Empire-style architecture. Construction of the building began in 1860, to designs of William H...
Building, which is in the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
and a New York City Landmark.
In 2001, Governor George Pataki
George Pataki
George Elmer Pataki is an American politician who was the 53rd Governor of New York. A member of the Republican Party, Pataki served three consecutive four-year terms from January 1, 1995 until December 31, 2006.- Early life :...
named Nii one of New York State's "women of the year" and called her a “Woman of Excellence with Vision and Courage.” He also congratulated Nii on turning the historic Kings County Savings Bank into a multipurpose art center that serves the needs of artists and art aficionados of diverse backgrounds.
In 2003, Borough President Marty Markowitz
Marty Markowitz
Marty Markowitz is the Borough President of Brooklyn, New York City, the most populous borough in New York City with nearly 2.6 million residents. Markowitz was first elected borough president in 2001 after serving 23 years as a New York State Senator...
gave Nii the Betty Smith
Betty Smith
Betty Smith, née Elisabeth Wehner , was an American author.-Biography:Born on December 15, 1896 in Brooklyn, New York to German immigrants, she grew up poor in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and attended Girl's High School. These experiences served as the framework to her first novel, A Tree Grows in...
Arts Award for her outstanding achievements and contributions to the arts in Brooklyn. And also City Councilwoman Tracy Boylan] gave her the Outstanding Citizen award.
In 2008, Borough President Marty Markowitz named Nii as one of the six Asians who provide dynamic leadership and demonstrate outstanding commitment to the betterment of our community and the Borough of Brooklyn, and gave her the Asian Cultural Award along with Carol Enseki, President of the Brooklyn Children's Museum
Brooklyn Children's Museum
The Brooklyn Children's Museum is a general purpose museum in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, New York City, USA. Founded in 1899, it was the first museum in the United States and some believe, the world, to cater specifically to children and is unique in its location, predominantly a residential area...
.
Acclaim
"Art in Williamsburg has made great strides. In fact, all Williamsburg has progressed, undoubtedly because of its attraction to artists. Much of the credit must be placed on the doorstep of the director of the Williamsburg Art & Historical Center, Yuko Nii. The center operates out of the former Kings County Savings Bank Building (1867) and celebrated an infusion of a $500,000 capital funding grant from the city."http://www.brooklyneagle.com/categories/category.php?category_id=23&id=22230
I have known her for 20 years as a fine artist, friend & a very lively, active, and committed person who gets things going and gets them done. Esteban Vicente
Esteban Vicente
Esteban Vicente Pérez , was an American painter born in Turégano, Spain. He was one of the first generation of New York School abstract expressionists.-Early life:...
During 20 years of solid friendship, Yuko and I have worked on several projects together, building a bridge of the arts between Japan and the United States. She is a seriously hardworking, totally committed and great artist. Additionally she is also a free spirited, fun loving person with a great sense of humor! Because she is so well balanced and because of her creativity and energy, I have no doubt that the Williamsburg Art & Historical Center will be a great success! Kenneth Noland
Kenneth Noland
Kenneth Noland was an American abstract painter. He was one of the best-known American Color field painters, although in the 1950s he was thought of as an abstract expressionist and in the early 1960s he was thought of as a minimalist painter. Noland helped establish the Washington Color School...
I have known and worked with Yuko on various projects over the years and she is a person of great intelligence and integrity as well as a great artist. Robert Panza, Executive Director, Visual Artists and Galleries Association
A remarkable person, dedicated to the art world and her fellow artists, as well as being a fine artist herself. Curtis Harnack, President, School of American Ballet
School of American Ballet
The School of American Ballet is one of the most famous classical ballet schools in the world and is the associate school of the New York City Ballet, a leading international ballet company based at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City. The school trains students from the...
A person of great ability and integrity as well as a fine artist. Shoji Sadao, *http://www.noguchi.org/sadao.html Honorary Life Trustee, The Isamu Noguchi
Isamu Noguchi
was a prominent Japanese American artist and landscape architect whose artistic career spanned six decades, from the 1920s onward. Known for his sculpture and public works, Noguchi also designed stage sets for various Martha Graham productions, and several mass-produced lamps and furniture pieces,...
Foundation
An exceptionally gifted fine artist, a farseeing visionary...sincerely concerned about the well being of the human race. Max Roach
Max Roach
Maxwell Lemuel "Max" Roach was an American jazz percussionist, drummer, and composer.A pioneer of bebop, Roach went on to work in many other styles of music, and is generally considered alongside the most important drummers in history...
, Jazz Percussionist
A clarity of vision and mastery of technique so characteristic of the best Japanese artists. Stuart C, Henry, Director, The Berkshire Museum
Berkshire Museum
The Berkshire Museum is a museum of natural history, art and ancient civilization that is located in Pittsfield, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States....
The work of Yuko Nii carries a feeling of intensity and personal poetry. Her landscapes are in fact a landscape of her inner self. Tamon Miki, Chief Curator, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
The in Tokyo, Japan, is the foremost museum collecting and exhibiting contemporary Japanese art.This Tokyo museum is also known by the English acronym MOMAT...
Yuko Nii’s giant contributions of energy, vision and generosity transformed almost overnight a disintegrating landmark building into a vital center for the arts in Williamsburg, an historic Brooklyn community that now enjoys the largest concentration of resident artists within the art capital of the world, New York City. Yuko's extraordinary achievement is itself a landmark for Brooklyn and marks her for recognition as a living treasure of Brooklyn and the nation! Robin Radin, Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...
, Program on International Financial Systems, Associate Director
Yuko Nii Foundation
In 2008, Nii created the Yuko Nii Foundation. The purpose of the Foundation is to preserve and maintain the Kings County Savings Bank Building and preserve art and artifacts in her collection for future generations. Her collections includes 19th decorative and fine arts of the French and American empire periods, as well as an extensive collection of Japanese art from the Momoyama through the MeijiMeiji
Meiji may refer to:* Meiji Restoration, the revolution that ushered in the Meiji period* Meiji period - the period in Japanese history when the Meiji Emperor reigned...
periods. A feature of her holdings is the renowned "Milton Collection," which includes first illustrated editions of John Milton
John Milton
John Milton was an English poet, polemicist, a scholarly man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell...
's Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton. It was originally published in 1667 in ten books, with a total of over ten thousand individual lines of verse...
, and most notably, the original illustrations for Terrance Lindall
Terrance Lindall
Terrance Lindall is an American artist who was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1944. Lindall attended the University of Minnesota and graduated magna cum laude from Hunter College in New York City in 1970, with a double major in Philosophy and English and a double minor in Psychology and Physical...
’s Paradise lost, considered to be the greatest illustrations for this epic of the 20th century.