Toru SUGITA

Born: Shiga, Japan in 1964
Medium: Etching & Aquatint, Wood Engraving, Lithograph, Monoprint

After studying painting in college in Kyoto and receiving a Bachelor of Art Education in 1987 to teach Nihon-ga painting in a Junior High School Teacher’s course, Toru began learning more about printmaking.  He was a Research Student in the Printmaking Department of Kyoto Seika University, traveled throughout the US and Latin America 1990-91, then the Middle East and West Asia 1993-94. He moved to California and earned a MFA  in Printmaking from San Francisco State University in 2003.

Toru Sugita worked around the San Francisco area, then taught at Mesa State College in Grand Rapids, Colorado from 2006 to 2009.  Since 2009, he has been teaching drawing and printmaking at Diablo Valley College where he is now a full professor in the Art Department, and was chosen as Chair, in 2018.

Toru Sugita’s printmaking focuses primarily on black and white urban images.  He often uses strong contrasts between shadowed and lit areas.  Subjects may include everyday objects—chairs, pets, street scenes or freeway overpasses.  In 2016 the artist created a series of 12 prints “Transient Monument” which depict the old San Francisco Bay Bridge being dismantled.

Selected Exhibitions:
2017 Davidson Gallery, Seattle, Washington
2016 Espacio Centro, Oaxaca, Mexico
2015 Gallery Hillgate, Kyoto, Japan
2014 Sonoma Community Center, Sonoma, California
2012 La Pena Cultural Center, Berkeley, California
2012 SFMOMA Artists Gallery, San Francisco, California
2011 The Art Center of Western Colorado, Grand Junction, Colorado