Profile:
Katie Yamasaki is a muralist, children’s book author/illustrator and teaching artist. She has painted over 80 walls in diverse communities around the world and is currently working on her seventh published book for children. Yamasaki is a faculty member at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, where she earned her MFA in Illustration as Visual Essay in 2003. She also has 14 years experience as a teaching artist in the New York City and Detroit public schools.
Education:
School of Visual Arts, NY, NY. Masters of Fine Art, Illustration as Visual Essay, May 2003
Earlham College, Richmond, IN. Bachelor of Arts. Phi Beta Kappa. May 1999
Mural Experience / Client List:
Lead artist for over 80 diverse projects locally and globally, including community-based social justice work, restorative justice work and international street art projects.
Women and Justice Project Resident Artist: Working in partnership with justice organizations around NYC to build a campaign of legislative reform and culture change around issues of gender justice and the mass incarceration of women. 2020-2024.
PS 369 Coy L Cox School, Mural partnership for large network of special needs schools in NYC’s district 75. Spring, 2022
TIAA Mural commission for new Manhattan office building to celebrate the work of the TIAA associates in “serving those who serve others.” 2020.
Wellspring Foundation Mural, 2020.
NoVo Foundation mural. Commissioned to work with NoVo staff and grantees to design and execute an 8000 sq. foot exterior mural on NoVo’s new office building in Brooklyn. Project currently in progress, 2017-2019
Shield of Peace and Non-Violence, collaboration with victims / families of victims of gun violence, local community leaders, former offenders and law enforcement in Detroit’s Southwest community. Project funded by the Knight Foundation, Detroit Arts Challenge. Summer/Fall 2017
Women and Justice Project collaboration with Hour Children, mural with formerly incarcerated mothers and their children for NOVO Foundation’s Women’s Building (womensbuildingnyc.org). 2016
Amnesty International, Art for Amnesty project about women’s reproductive health. New Orleans, LA, 2015
New York City Health + Hospitals Resident Muralist, First project at Lincoln Medical Center in the South Bronx. Collaboration with Lincoln staff and local community: patients, medical staff, administration, maintenance, security staff, local families, support groups. 2015
Amnesty International, Art for Amnesty project about women’s reproductive health. New Orleans, LA, 2015.
Japanese American National Museum, Los Angeles, CA. Large-scale outdoor permanent installation. 2014
Groundswell Community Mural Project, Brooklyn, NY. Lead artist for 15 projects in diverse communities covering specific themes relevant to each community, working with teams of youth muralists and community partners. 2004 - Present
Philadelphia Mural Arts, Lead Artist. Collaborated with detained youth in various criminal justice facilities, diverse community organizations and addiction treatment facilities. 2013 - Present
New York City Department of Education (multiple schools in the NYCDOE system) 2005 - Present
Converse (Boston Public Schools/Boys and Girls Club collaborations) 2010 - Present
Boggs Educational Center, 2009 - Present
School of Design, Cordoba, Argentina. 2013
Detroit Catholic Pastoral Alliance. 2006 and 2013
New York City Department of Corrections. Partnered with diverse groups at Rikers Island to realize projects both inside the Rose M. Singer Center and in the outside communities of the families of the incarcerated. 2011 - 2014
Covenant House, NYC Shelter for Homeless Teens. 2012
Barrilonia Housing Occupation, Barcelona, Spain. 2010
National University for Social Sciences, San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico. 2009
Cereso #5 Women’s Prison, San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico. 2009
Zapatista Army for National Liberation, Morelia, Chiapas, Mexico. 2009
Lutheran Medical Center, HIV/AIDS clinic, Brooklyn, NY. 2009
Crossville Arts Council, Crossville, TN. 2009
Earlham College. Richmond, IN. 2006
St. George Episcopal Church, Maplewood, NJ. 2005
Marcus Garvey Academy, Detroit, MI 2005
South Orange Public Schools, South Orange, NJ 2004-2007
Teaching Experience:
Each of Yamasaki’s mural projects is a teaching project, as they are all collaborative by nature with the community in which they are located. Yamasaki’s teaching mural projects have happened in schools, prisons, museums, churches, theaters, community/recreation centers, medical centers and homeless shelters. Yamasaki is fluent in Spanish and also conducts workshops and projects in Spanish when appropriate. Formally, she has also worked as a classroom teacher in the following capacities:
Center for Fiction teaching artist, 2021 - Present
Ezra Jack Keats Foundation, created video series curriculum on writing and illustrating children’s books for NYC public school teachers. Present.
The School of Visual Arts, Faculty. 2013 - 2018
Ballet Tech, Teaching Artist, 4th- 8th Grade. The New York City Public School for Dance. 2003 - 2014
Rikers Island, Teaching Artist. Worked with female inmates on multiple public art projects. Spring-Summer, 2012
Voices Her’d Visionaries, Lead Teaching Artist. Worked with a group of young women of color year-round to address contemporary social justice issues relating to women. Women link social justice issues with large scale public art projects. Fall, 2007- Present
Guest artist, Santiago de Cuba. Working with Cuban teens, studying their art and identity, building on a new dialogue with art students in New York City. This residency complements my solo exhibition at the Galería Oriente described below. April 2007
Groundswell Community Mural Project. Lead muralist for large-scale, outdoor public art projects for young, minority women in the inner city. Facilitated in-house curriculum and educational workshops for other muralists and mentored new muralists for Groundswell. 2003 - Present
Spanish teacher in NYC and Detroit public schools. Fluent in Spanish. 1999-2001
Public Art Events Invitee:
Amnesty International, Arts for Amnesty event. One of Twelve artists invited internationally to New Orleans to create murals to support Amnesty’s Write for Rights campaign. 2015
Basque Country, Spain. One of Twelve invitees to a mural event exploring the history and future of rural women globally. 2014
Welling Court, Long Island City, Queens, NY. Invitee to annual global street art event, 2010 - Present
International Mural Encounter, Italo Grassi. Cosquin, Cordoba, Argentina. Invitee to mural event exploring the theme of “Children in Wartime.” 2013
San Cristobal de las Casas residency to do participatory mural work with indigenous communities throughout Chiapas, Mexico.
Arte Para Todos, Sevilla, Spain. Invitee to international mural event exploring the theme of globalization. 2010
Inter-Nos, Santiago de Cuba. Invitee to international mural conference/collaboration. 2007
Books and other Publications:
Author / Illustrator. Place Hand Here. Norton Young Readers. Fall 2023
Author / Illustrator. Shapes, Lines, and Light: My Grandfather’s American Journey. Norton Young Readers. Fall 2022
Author / Illustrator. Dad Bakes. Norton Young Readers. Fall 2021
Co-author / Illustrator. Everything Naomi Loved. Norton Young Readers. Fall 2020.
Illustrator. God’s Big Plan, Illustrated. Flyaway Books. Fall 2019
Author / Illustrator. When the Cousins Came. Holiday House. Summer 2018
Author / Illustrator. Fish for Jimmy. Holiday House. January 2013
Illustrator. Lifelines: The Black Book of Proverbs. Random House. November 2009
Illustrator. Honda: The Boy Who Dreamed of Cars. Lee and Low. August 2008
Author / Illustrator. Edwin’s Lucky Thirteen, Wrote and Illustrated. Lee and Low. Winner of Lee and Low’s prestigious New Voices Competition.
Editorial illustrator for The Walrus, Canadian Literary Magazine. 2006 - 2008
Editorial illustrator for the New York Times. 2003 - 2006
Work Features in Publications and Press:
Visions of Justice Award Winner, Arte Justice, Art & Resistance Through Education 2022
Dad Bakes, Kirkus, New York Public Library, Publishers Weekly, Amazon Best Books of 2021
Everything Naomi Loved, Books for Kids Foundation, Book of the Year, 2021
Everything Naomi Loved, Bank Street College Best Books of 2020
Artivist of the Year, Groundswel Mural Project, 2020
When the Cousins Came, Kirkus Best Books of 2018
NBC Asian America Artist Feature, 2017
Fish for Jimmy and When the Cousins Came, New York Times Book Review, Kirkus Reviews (starred), Booklist, School Library Journal (starred), Smithsonian Museum book reviews
Canvas Detroit, featured muralist in book by Nichole Christian and Julie Pincus. Wayne State University Press. 2014
New York and the Fight for the City, featured muralist in book by Peter Classon (in Danish), Copenhagen, Denmark. 2012
Mural Art 2: Murals on Huge Public Surfaces Around the World, featured muralist in book by Kiriakos Iosifidis. 2009
On the Wall: Four Decades of Community Murals in New York City, featured muralist in book by Jane Weissman and Janet Braun-Reinitz. 2009
Additional work and personal features include: The New York Times, The Nation, Eileen Fisher, NHK (Global Japanese network), Time Out New York, New York 1, The Village Voice, Publishers Weekly, The School Library Journal, Booklist, Kirkus Reviews, The Brooklyn Eagle, www.michaelmoore.com, The Socialist Worker, Free Speech TV, Le Monde (France), and multiple local news outlets specific to on-location mural work. International projects have been covered by numerous Cuban, Spanish, Mexican and Japanese news outlets.
Lecturer/Panelist:
“Lifting Voices: Classroom Reading to Engage the Heart and Mind” Mackin Educational Panelist, 2021
“Day of Dialogue” Panelist, School Library Journal conference. 2020
“A Choice of Weapon: The Art of Cultural Resistance,” Panelist. Groundswell Artivist Talk. 2021
The Center for Architecture, Identity and Making Architecture, Speaker. 2018
Visual Art and Activism, Panelist, SVA. 2017
“The Color of Citizenship: Tracing the Legacies of Japanese Internment from WWII to Stop and Frisk.” Panelist, The Japanese American National Museum with Hunter College. May 2014
Northwestern University, Speaker, Global Engagement Summit, Evanston, IL. April 2014
University of California Merced, Speaker. October 2013
Mount Mercy University, Cedar Rapids, IA. Speaker. April 2013
Influencer Con, Panelist, New York, NY. 2012 - 2013
TEDx Brooklyn, Speaker. December 2012
Brooklyn Museum, Speaker and Panelist, Sackler Center for Feminist Art. Presented public art projects and teaching philosophy involving young women of color, their stories, and modern feminism in the context of the contemporary urban landscape. August 2007 and September 2008
Visiting artist/author/illustrator to elementary/middle/high schools around the country. 2007 - Present.
Eileen Fisher Leadership Institute, Guest Lecturer, Summer 2011
Eleanor Roosevelt Leadership Institute, Guest Lecturer, Summer 2011
Resident Artist, Created mural for Social Science department, presented on public art and muralism to art department, mentored undergraduate art students. Earlham College, Richmond, IN. Fall 2003
Major Exhibitions:
Group Exhibitions
7 World Trade Center, Benefit/Silent Auction for Groundswell Community Mural Project. October 2012. New York, NY.
Cue Art Foundation, Benefit/Silent Auction for Groundswell Community Mural Project. October 2011. New York, NY.
Affirmation Arts, Benefit/Silent Auction for Groundswell Community Mural Project. October 2010. New York, NY.
Affirmation Arts, Benefit/Silent Auction for Groundswell Community Mural Project. October 2009. New York, NY.
Romare Bearden Southern Sensibility Tribute Benefit Group Exhibit and Auction. September 2008. New York, NY.
Affirmation Arts, Benefit/Silent Auction for Groundswell Community Mural Project. November 2008. New York, NY.
Exit Art, Benefit/Silent Auction for Groundswell Community Mural Project. November 2006. New York, NY.
PPOW Gallery, Thesis Exhibition. New York, NY. May, 2003.
Woodstock Guild, 5×7 Show. December 2002. Woodstock, NY.
AIGA Manhattan, The Turning Page. September 2002. New York, NY.
Woodstock Guild, Artists Choose Artists. Spring 2002. Woodstock, NY.
Manhattan Marymount College, Watching You Watching Me. January, 2002. New York, NY.
Detroit Public Library, Asian Americans in the Arts. Summer 2000. Detroit, MI.
Solo Exhibitions
Katie Yamasaki, Muralist. SVA Gallery. January 2020
Pintando Postales Part II, Brooklyn College Gallery. April-August 2009. Brooklyn, NY.
Postcards from New York (Part I), Galería Oriente. Paintings of New York City public school students as they describe themselves in postcards written to the children of Santiago. This show was the first of a two-part visual dialogue between these children. April 2007. Santiago de Cuba, Cuba.
Competitions, Grants, Honors:
Journal of the Alliance of Black School Educators, featured artist/educator. October 2012
Art for All Public Art Festival. Malaga, Spain. Invitee. May 2010
New Voices Honor Award, Lee and Low Books. 2008
Celebrate Urban Birds, Cornell University Ornithology Lab. Winner of national competition to create image for Int’l Urban Bird program. January 2007
Urban Artists Initiative, New York City. Winner of grant provided to minority artists for the Postcards from New York project. December 2006
New Yorker of the Week, News Channel New York 1. Honored by New York 1 for the Voices Her’d mural and work with young women. Summer 2006
Inter-nos Presenter. Santiago de Cuba. Invited to participate and present at international conference for mural arts in Cuba. Presented on mural work being done by myself and other muralists in the United States, especially New York. January, 2006.
References:
Pamela Shifman, former Executive Director, NoVo Foundation. Commissioned Yamasaki’s largest mural at the NoVo offices in Brooklyn. pshifman@gmail.com
Jaya Vasandani, Co-Founder & Co-Director of the Women and Justice Project, Yamasaki’s current long-term, project partner. jaya@womenandjusticeproject.org