Roy Kenzie Kiyooka (January 18, 1926January 8, 1994) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

painter, poet, photographer, arts teacher, and multi-media artist.

Biography

Nisei is a Japanese-language term used in countries in North America and South America to specify the ethnically Japanese children born in the new country to Japanese-born immigrants (who are called ). The are considered the second generation, ...

, or a second generation

Japanese Canadian are Canadian citizens of Japanese ancestry. Japanese Canadians are mostly concentrated in Western Canada, especially in the province of British Columbia, which hosts the largest Japanese community in the country with the majority of them living ...

, Roy Kenzie Kiyooka was born in

Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan Moose Jaw is the fourth largest city in Saskatchewan, Canada. Lying on the Moose Jaw River in the south-central part of the province, it is situated on the Trans-Canada Highway, west of Regina, Saskatchewan, Regina. Residents of Moose Jaw are k ...

and raised in

Calgary, Alberta Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Canadian Prairies, Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,30 ...

. His parents were Harry Shigekiyo Kiyooka and Mary Kiyoshi Kiyooka. Roy's grandfather on the maternal side, a

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...

Ōe Masamichi, was the 17th headmaster of the

Musō Jikiden Eishin-ryū is a Japanese sword art school and one of the most widely practiced schools of iai in the world. Often referred to simply as "Eishin-ryū," it claims an unbroken lineage dating back from the sixteenth century to the early 20th century. 17th und ...

school of swordsmanship. Roy Kiyooka's brother Harry Mitsuo Kiyooka also became an abstract painter, a professor of art, and sometimes a curator of his brother's work. Roy's youngest brother Frank Kiyooka became a potter. In 1942, after the bombing of

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Re ...

, the family was uprooted and moved to a small town in rural Alberta called Opal. Roy Kiyooka was unable to finish high school. From 1946 to 1949, he studied with

Jock Macdonald James Williamson Galloway Macdonald (31 May 1897 – 3 December 1960), commonly known in his professional life as Jock Macdonald, was a member of Painters Eleven (Painters 11, or P11), whose goal was to promote abstract art in Canada. Macd ...

and

Illingworth Holey Kerr Illingworth "Buck" Kerr (20 August 1905 – 6 January 1989) was a Canadian painter, illustrator and writer. He is best known for his landscape paintings of the Saskatchewan and Alberta prairies and foothills. Early years Illingworth Holey Kerr w ...

at the

Provincial Institute of Technology and Art Provincial Institute of Technology and Art (PITA) was the predecessor institution of both the Alberta University of the Arts and Southern Alberta Institute of Technology. In 1933, Marion Nicoll Marion Florence Nicoll (née MacKay; 11 April 190 ...

. With a scholarship, he was able in 1955 to go to Mexico for eight months to study under James Pinto at the

Instituto Allende The Instituto Allende is a visual arts school in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. The institute provides a range of courses, and offers a BA in Visual Arts and an MA in Fine arts in association with the Universidad de Guanajuato. Its courses and de ...

San Miguel de Allende San Miguel de Allende () is the principal city in the municipality of San Miguel de Allende, located in the far eastern part of Guanajuato, Mexico. A part of the Bajío region, the city lies from Mexico City, 86 km (53 mi) from Queré ...

. In 1956, he began teaching at the Regina College of Art. In Regina, he worked with a group of abstract painters, but Kiyooka left for Vancouver in 1959 and thus was not included in the group show coined the " Regina 5". At the time, Kiyooka was very impressed with

Clement Greenberg Clement Greenberg () (January 16, 1909 – May 7, 1994), occasionally writing under the pseudonym K. Hardesh, was an American essayist known mainly as an art critic closely associated with American modern art of the mid-20th century and a formal ...

's ideas. In the summers from 1957 to 1959 he took part in the Emma Lake Artists' Workshops of the

University of Saskatchewan A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

, and there worked with

Will Barnet Will Barnet (May 25, 1911November 13, 2012) was an American artist known for his paintings, watercolors, drawings, and prints depicting the human figure and animals, both in casual scenes of daily life and in transcendent dreamlike worlds. Biogr ...

and

Barnett Newman Barnett Newman (January 29, 1905 – July 4, 1970) was an American artist. He has been critically regarded as one of the major figures of abstract expressionism, and one of the foremost color field painters. His paintings explore the sense o ...

. While in Vancouver, in 1960, he began ''Hoarfrost'', a series of abstract large paintings on hardboard characterized by all-over white colour and criss-crossed patterning. Later, his work became more hard-edge and he used the ellipse form as in the

Art Gallery of Ontario The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO; french: Musée des beaux-arts de l'Ontario) is an art museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The museum is located in the Grange Park neighbourhood of downtown Toronto, on Dundas Street West between McCaul and Beve ...

's ''Barometer No. 2'' (1964). In Vancouver, he became involved with the artists' community. From 1960 to 1964, he was at the

Vancouver School of Art Emily Carr University of Art + Design (abbreviated as ECU) is a public art university located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The university's campus is located within the Great Northern Way Campus in Strathcona. The university is a co-e ...

(now Emily Carr University of Art and Design), from 1965 to 1970 at the

Sir George Williams University Sir George Williams University was a university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It merged with Loyola College to create Concordia University on August 24, 1974. History In 1851, the first YMCA in North America was established on Sainte-Hélène S ...

in Montréal (now

Concordia University Concordia University ( French: ''Université Concordia'') is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College and Sir George Williams University, Concordia is one of the t ...

). In 1971–72 he taught at the

Nova Scotia College of Art and Design NSCAD University, also known as the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design or NSCAD, is a public art university in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The university is a co-educational institution that offers bachelor's and master's degrees. The univ ...

, Halifax and then, from 1973 to 1991, at the Fine Arts Department of the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

in Vancouver, where he lived on Keefer Street. He was made an associate member of the

Royal Canadian Academy of Arts The Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (RCA) is a Canadian arts-related organization that was founded in 1880. History 1880 to 1890 The title of Royal Canadian Academy of Arts was received from Queen Victoria on 16 July 1880. The Governor General ...

in 1965. In the same year he represented Canada in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and won a Silver Medal at the Eighth

Sao Paulo Biennial SAO or Sao may refer to: Places * Sao civilisation, in Middle Africa from 6th century BC to 16th century AD * Sao, a town in Boussé Department, Burkina Faso * Saco Transportation Center (station code SAO), a train station in Saco, Maine, U.S. ...

. In 1975, the

Vancouver Art Gallery The Vancouver Art Gallery (VAG) is an art museum in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The museum occupies a adjacent to Robson Square in downtown Vancouver, making it the largest art museum in Western Canada by building size. Designed by Franc ...

organized a twenty-five-year

retrospective A retrospective (from Latin ''retrospectare'', "look back"), generally, is a look back at events that took place, or works that were produced, in the past. As a noun, ''retrospective'' has specific meanings in medicine, software development, popu ...

of his work. In 1978, he was named an Officer of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the ...

. At the end of the 1960s, Kiyooka had lost faith in modernism and stopped painting. He began to use performance, film and music. He also began to work with photography and he produced a few series of sculptures. In 1969, Roy was commissioned to build a sculpture, ''Abu Ben Adam’s Vinyl Dream'', for the Canadian pavilion at Expo ‘70 in Osaka, Japan. While in Japan he made the ''StoneDGloves: Alms for Soft Palms'' photographic series, shown at the

National Gallery of Canada The National Gallery of Canada (french: Musée des beaux-arts du Canada), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the l ...

in Ottawa and later he made ''16 Cedar Laminated Sculpture'' series, shown alongside the ''Ottoman/Court Suite'' of silk-screen prints, at the Bau Xi Gallery in Vancouver in May 1971. ''Pear Tree Pomes'' illustrated by David Bolduc (Coach House Press, 1987) was nominated for a Governor General's Literary Award.

Books

*''Kyoto Airs''. designed and printed by

Takao Tanabe Takao Tanabe, (born 16 September 1926) is a Canadian artist who painted abstractly for decades, but over time, his paintings became nature-based. Biography Born Takao Izumi in Seal Cove, today part of Prince Rupert, British Columbia, the son o ...

at Periwinkle Press, Vancouver 1964. (Inspired by a visit to Japan in 1963). *

Dorothy Livesay Dorothy Kathleen May Livesay, (October 12, 1909 – December 29, 1996) was a Canadian poet who twice won the Governor General's Award in the 1940s, and was "senior woman writer in Canada" during the 1970s and 1980s.Mathews, R.D.. "Dorothy L ...

: ''The Unquiet Bed''. Illustrations by Roy Kiyooka. *''Nevertheless These Eyes''. Printed at the Coach House Press, Toronto 1967. *''The Fountainebleau Dream Machine: 18 Frames from A Book of Rhetorick''. Coach House Press, Toronto 1977 *“Wheels, a trip thru Honshu’s Backcountry” was published by Coach House Press, Toronto 1981. *''StoneDGloves''. Coach House Press, Toronto 1970. Repr.: 1983. *''transcanada letters''. Talonbooks, Vancouver 1975. Repr.: 2004. *''Pear Tree Pomes'' 1987. Illus. by David Bolduc. Coach House Press, Toronto 1987. Nominated for the 1987 Governor General Award. Books published posthumously include: *

Daphne Marlatt Daphne Marlatt, born Buckle, CM (born July 11, 1942 in Melbourne, Australia), is a Canadian poet and novelist who lives in Vancouver, British Columbia. At a young age her family moved to Malaysia and at age nine they moved to British Columbia, ...

(ed.): ''Mothertalk: Life Stories of Mary Kiyoshi Kiyooka''.

NeWest Press NeWest Press is a Canadian publishing company. Established in Edmonton, Alberta, in 1977,George Melnyk, ''The Literary History of Alberta Volume Two: From the End of the War to the End of the Century''. University of Alberta Press, 1999. . p. 173 ...

, Edmonton 1997. Roy Kiyooka's mother, Mary Kiyoshi Kiyooka's, story from a series of interviews by Matsuki Masutani and reworked by Roy Kiyooka. *

Roy Miki Roy Akira Miki, (born 10 October 1942) is a Canadian poet, scholar, editor, and activist most known for his social and literary work. Born in Ste. Agathe, Manitoba to second generation Japanese-Canadian parents, Miki grew up on a sugar beet farm ...

(ed.): ''Pacific Windows: Collected Poems of Roy K. Kiyooka''. Talonbooks, Burnaby, B.C. 1997. *Smaro Kambourelli (ed.): ''Pacific Rim Letters''. NeWest Press, Edmonton 2004. *Roy Miki (ed.): Roy Kiyooka: ''The Artist & the Moose: A Fable of Forget''. LINEbooks, Burnaby, B.C., 2009.

Exhibitions

''Roy Kiyooka: Accidental Tourist'' (

Doris McCarthy Doris McCarthy, LL. D. (July 7, 1910 – November 25, 2010) was a Canadian artist known for her abstracted landscapes. Life and career Born in Calgary, Alberta, McCarthy attended the Ontario College of Art from 1926 to 1930, where she was award ...

Gallery, Scarborough, Ont), 17–22 March 2005.

Awards

* 1973 Victor Martyn Lynch-Staunton Award

References

Bibliography

* Kent Lewis: ''Kiyooka, Roy Kenzie''. In: William H. New (editor): ''The Encyclopedia of Literature in Canada'', University of Toronto Press, Toronto, 2002, p. 582f * * National Film Board of Canada. ''B.C. Almanac(h) C-B.'' Vancouver: Presentation House Gallery, Reprint edition, 2015 (1970). * John O'Brian, Naomi Sawada, Scott Watson (ed.): ''All Amazed: For Roy Kiyooka''. Arsenal Pulp Press, Vancouver, B.C., with Belkin Gallery, 2002 *Michael Ondaatje (ed.): "The Long Poem Anthology", 1979 *Vancouver Art Gallery: ''Roy K. Kiyooka: 25 Years'', 1975 * Woloshyn, Alexa. �
Playing with the Voice and Blurring Boundaries in Hildegard Westerkamp’s “MotherVoiceTalk”
” ''eContact! 14.4 — TES 2011: Toronto Electroacoustic Symposium / Symposium électroacoustique de Toronto'' (March 2013). Montréal: CEC.

External links

Roy Kiyooka at The Encyclopedia of SaskatchewanRoy Kenzie Kiyooka
at

BC Bookworld ''B.C. BookWorld'' is a British Columbia-based quarterly newspaper about the book trade. It was established in 1987. Founded by Alan Twigg in 1987, ''B.C. BookWorld'' is Canada's largest-circulation, independent publication about books. Mission ...

All Amazed: For Roy KiyookaRecords of Roy Kiyooka are held by Simon Fraser University's Special Collections and Rare Books

at the University of Regina Archives and Special Collections
Kiyooka
item at English-Canadian writers,

Athabasca University Athabasca University (AU) is a Canadian public research university that primarily operates through online distance education. Founded in 1970, it is one of four comprehensive academic and research universities in Alberta, and was the first ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kiyooka, Roy 1926 births 1994 deaths 20th-century Canadian painters Canadian male painters Canadian photographers 20th-century Canadian poets 20th-century Canadian male writers Canadian male poets Officers of the Order of Canada Canadian writers of Asian descent Canadian people of Japanese descent Artists from Calgary Writers from Calgary Writers from Saskatchewan Artists from Saskatchewan People from Moose Jaw Instituto Allende alumni NSCAD University faculty Members of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts Canadian abstract artists 20th-century Canadian male artists