Kinji Akagawa (born 1940,

Tokyo, Japan Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

) is an American

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

printmaker Printmaking is the process of creating work of art, artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand proce ...

, 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, field stone, cedar, and

ipe wood ''Handroanthus'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Bignoniaceae.David J. Mabberley. 2008. ''Mabberley's Plant-Book'' third edition (2008). Cambridge University Press: UK. It consists of 30 species of trees, known in Latin America by ...

. Akagawa trained at the

Cranbrook Academy of Art The Cranbrook Educational Community is an education, research, and public museum complex in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. This National Historic Landmark was founded in the early 20th century by newspaper mogul George Gough Booth. It consists of Cr ...

, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan; Tamarind Lithography Workshop, Los Angeles; the

Minneapolis College of Art and Design The Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD) is a private college specializing in the visual arts and located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. MCAD currently enrolls approximately 800 students. MCAD is one of just a few major art schools to offer ...

; and the

University of Minnesota, Minneapolis The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

, where he earned an MFA degree in 1969. From 1973 to 2009, Akagawa was a professor at the

(MCAD), where he taught

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

printmaking Printmaking is the process of creating artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand processed techniq ...

photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed ...

video Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) syste ...

installation Installation may refer to: * Installation (computer programs) * Installation, work of installation art * Installation, military base * Installation, into an office, especially a religious (Installation (Christianity) Installation is a Christian li ...

and

conceptual art Conceptual art, also referred to as conceptualism, is art in which the concept(s) or idea(s) involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic, technical, and material concerns. Some works of conceptual art, sometimes called insta ...

. Akagawa's work is exhibited nationally and internationally and is found in numerous public and private collections, including the

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of char ...

, Washington, D.C.; the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

, Washington, D.C.; the

Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile, Los Angeles, California, Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Pa ...

;

Norton Simon Museum The Norton Simon Museum is an art museum located in Pasadena, California, United States. It was previously known as the Pasadena Art Institute and the Pasadena Art Museum and displays numerous sculptures on its grounds. Overview The Norton Sim ...

, Pasadena, California;

Minneapolis Institute of Art The Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) is an arts museum located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. Home to more than 90,000 works of art representing 5,000 years of world history, Mia is one of the largest art museums in the United State ...

; the

Walker Art Center The Walker Art Center is a multidisciplinary contemporary art center in the Lowry Hill neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The Walker is one of the most-visited modern and contemporary art museums in the United States and, t ...

, Minneapolis; the

University of Iowa Museum of Art The University of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art is a visual arts institution that is part of the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. Since its inception, the museum has partnere ...

, Iowa City; and the

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 (1855–1940) to The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It is located a ...

, 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; "Bayou Sculpture" (1985),

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

; and "Four Seasons with a Sundial" (1984), Tettegouche State Park, near Silver Bay, Minnesota. Akagawa's awards and recognitions include the

McKnight Foundation The McKnight Foundation, a Minnesota-based family foundation, advances a more just, creative, and abundant future where people and planet thrive. Established in 1953, the McKnight Foundation is deeply committed to advancing climate solutions in ...

Distinguished Artist Award (2007);"Sculptor Kinji Akagawa Receives 10th Annual McKnight Distinguished Artist Award"
McKnight Foundation website
/ref> Minnesota State Arts Board cultural collaborations grant (1995); Carnegie Mellon Foundation faculty enrichment grant (1984);

Artist Fellowship (1983);

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 ...

Fellowship (1982); and a

Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the death ...

Fellowship (1965). Akagawa lives and maintains a studio in

Afton, Minnesota Afton is a city in Washington County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 2,886 at the 2010 United States Census. It lies on a small bay where Valley Creek empties into the St. Croix River, several miles north of its confluence with ...

. He is married to fiber artist Nancy Gipple.

Notes

References

* Abbe, Mary
"Artful Legacy."
''Star Tribune'', January 22, 2009. * Byrne, J. Kevin
"Kinji 101: A philosophically-minded primer-cum-tribute to acclaimed artist and educator Kinji Akagawa."
''MN ARTISTS'' (February 18, 2011). * Combs, Marianne
"Professor Teaches Students the Art of Living,"
''MPR NewsQ'', Minnesota Public Radio, February 5, 2009. * Higgens, Hannah. "Kinji Akagawa--Artistic Journey from the Egotistical Self to the Eco-tistical Self: Shifting the Focus from Maker to Relationship" ''Art Journal'' (April 2006). * Makholm, Kristin, ''Paradigm Shift''. Exh. cat. Minneapolis College of Art and Design, 2009. * Randall, Cynde. "Rivers Merging: Ten Cross-cultural Teams of Minnesota Artists Investigate the Meanings of Representation and Identity." ''Arts'' 18, no. 5 (May 1995): 6-7. * Riddle, Mason. "Platform." ''Architecture Minnesota Magazine'' 34, no.2 (March–April 2008): 17-20. * Schmelzer, Paul
"A Meadering Walk with Kinji Akagawa."
Interview. ''Walker'' (April 2006). * _____

''Eyeteeth'', October 31, 2007.
"What Art Can Be - A Restful 'Front Porch' on Campus."
''Pieces of Eight'' (Greenville, N.C.), September 1, 1986.

External links

2007 McKnight Distinguished Artist catalogue (PDF)

Minneapolis College of Art and Design

Kinji Akagawa at the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden

Kinji Akagawa at Highpoint Center for Printmaking, Minneapolis

* Featured on the "MN Original" artist profile series produced by TPT (Twin Cities Public Television)
MN Original Video
{{DEFAULTSORT:Akagawa, Kinji 20th-century American sculptors 21st-century American sculptors American male sculptors Cranbrook Academy of Art alumni Minneapolis College of Art and Design alumni University of Minnesota alumni American artists of Japanese descent People from Tokyo Japanese emigrants to the United States Living people 1940 births 20th-century American printmakers Sculptors from Minnesota 20th-century American male artists