a book is a tribute / a map / a witness / a quest/ion / an exploration / a form of play (or pretend) / a portal / a memory / a testimony / a ________
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dreaming about exhibiting my book art somewhere, someday. at least here, for now ❤️🔥
#bookart #artistbooks #handmadebooks
one of my highlights of 2024 was returning to my love of craft❣️ learned new bookmaking techniques & began to think about books as sculptural objects.
“family history” (2024) combines lines from a poem I wrote with archival images relating to my japanese great-grandparents’ immigration to & ww2 internment in canada.
cover photo is my great uncle and family dog in greenwood, bc (circa 1942)
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#paperartist #artistbook #flagbook #japanesecanadian
there are still a few spots left in tomorrow's "portraits of community care” workshop led by myself and nico koyanagi as part of the 2026 sakurafest at @japanesecanadianculturalcentre ❣️
thursday, may 7
6:30-8:00pm
6 sakura way, toronto
$7 workshop fee includes light refreshments and materials. nobody will be turned away for lack of funds. please email [email protected] if cost is prohibitive.
registration link in bio.
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Jīchan & Bāchan" (2024) by Erica H Isomura
mixed-media collage on washi, 10cm x 15cm.
private collection.
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Join us for a dialogue and art-making workshop exploring the role of women and non-binary people within Japanese Canadian and Nikkei community life. This workshop is co-facilitated by Erica H Isomura and Nico Koyanagi.
In this beginner-friendly workshop, Nico will lead the group in conversation around care, gendered labour, and community wellbeing, inviting participants to reflect on their personal experiences. This will be followed by a mixed-media/collage art activity, during which Erica will teach participants how to create portraits as homage to loved ones. No prior experience is necessary.
This workshop will be approached from a stance of creative empowerment, solidarity, and making visible what labour and care goes unseen in everyday life and community.
Participants are invited to bring copies of personal photos to use in their projects, notably of women, family members, care givers, mentors, or teachers who have played a caretaking role in their lives.
Workshop Dates:
Thursday, May 7 | 6:00-8:30 PM
Price:
$5 +HST to reserve a spot. Nobody is turned away for lack of funds.
More details at the link in our bio✨
Hey Toronto! Tickets for Tuesday, April 7th’s Trampoline Hall become available THIS THURSDAY! Link in bio for tickets 🎟️
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This month…
Curated by Claire McGee (@gruff_waitress )
Set design by Erica H. Isomura (@ericahiroko )
Lectures by…
Ethan Vestby (@ethanves ) - “Xerxes: The Good, The Great, The Guy”
Hannah Brennan (@thetallesthannah ) - “The Shape of a Conversation”
Tim Pyron (@timpyron ) - “George ‘Tall Twelve’ Frederick”
a video to document the process of ink making with natural and foraged materials. thank you to kyla brown for your patience in teaching us!
for this class, we used onion skins, lily anthers, and various red flower petals to make natural inks. one student later experimented with canned beets and kyla also shared her results from cabbage! we had so much fun~
not pictured: all the cool art we made afterwards!
@tsa_art
I wrote this poem to reflect on an event organized by @tsuruforsolidarity@laresistencianw@denshoproject & @seattlejacl for the 2020 japanese american day of remembrance, which typically falls on february 19.
for context, feb 19 is the anniversary of the day when f. d. roosevelt signed and issued executive order 9066, which incarcerated "all persons of japanese ancestry."
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I first learned about this history while taking an asian american studies class on internment camps in north america taught by Dr. Tetsuden Kashima at UW in winter 2012. the class affected me profoundly, setting off my journey to better understand my own family’s WWII incarceration history in canada. (side note — one of our optional readings in Dr. Kashima's class was Famous Suicides of the Japanese Empire by David Mura, whose poetry is also published in the anthology.)
to be honest I don’t know what else to write here that hasn’t already been said by so many others fighting against immigrant detention/border control and towards liberation for all. there is a lot of on the ground work happening in and with affected communities, and this is simply a poem.
however, I am grateful to the many teachers I've had over the years, whether educators in formal classrooms, community activists, elders, mentors, peers, writers, or artists, who have taught me better ways of understanding the world and my place within it. I know that when we build power collectively, running together in a herd like the fire horse, "another world is not only possible, she is on her way" (Arundhati Roy).
#ChingaLaMigra #NoOneIsIllegal #FuckICE
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this poem appears in The Gate of Memory, an anthology edited by @brynnsaito & @brandon_shimoda , published by @haymarketbooks .
happy year of the pink pony, lovers ❣️🐎
may fire horse guide you towards creative self-expression and freedom. may you find your herd to run with. & may your gallop pick up momentum as you race towards collective liberation, strength, and power.
加油! ga yao!
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pictured is a valentine’s day x lunar new year print for my 嬤嬤 in the year of the horse.
met so many great people at @gladdaybookshop ’s artist market today. thank you to all who dropped by to support, check out my art, and offer kind words.
I love seeing which of my designs resonate with people and learning what interests we have in common based on their reactions. today, I chatted with a number of folks about our mutual appreciation for ginkgos trees, excitement for the lunar new year, and a love of colour and texture. I was really excited to share new hand printed stickers and stamped cards.
one of my favourite interactions of the day was with an elder who took the time to pick up and carefully examine each item on display. she ended up selecting several cards, one of which she wanted to send to her sister and sister-in-law. the couple are retired teachers in burnaby, which is where I went to school! what a funny coincidence.
since I make almost everything by hand, it takes a lot of work to prep for a market. I am very tired after such a long day (12-7pm! 🫠), but my heart feels very full. I won’t be vending tomorrow (on day 2 of the market) but am definitely looking forward to checking out more of the artist vendors. hope to see you there, too. 💕 🌈
#queerart #noAIart #gladdaybookshop
