Seiko Tachibana

Born: in Osaka, Japan
Medium: etching, aquatint, chine colle and mixed media paintings


Seiko Tachibana was raised in the Kansai area and received a Bachelors in Education from Kobe University. She taught at Nishinomiya High School for two years and received a Masters in Art Education, also from Kobe University. This was followed by an MFA degree from the San Francisco Art Institute in 1995, with an emphasis on printmaking. For now, the artist continues to live in the San Francisco area.

Seiko has explored many themes in her artwork. In one series she has examined circles in a variety of configurations--including stepping stones, labyrinths, and ripples. In each of these, the artist laboriously etched background plates with thousands of tiny words and characters to provide density and surface texture to the composition.

Since 1997, Seiko has been working on a visually less complex series of etchings using spirals, circles, lines, curves and dots. The series is Michi ,which means both 'road' and 'life' in Japanese. These may be seen as a study of the road of life and the discoveries encountered as we grow--Riverbank, Tenderness, Cliff, Sounds of the Earth, Air, and Transformation. In these works, Seiko explores the effects of using multiple plates to create the imagery. Sometimes there may be three or four large plates, separately inked and printed, with additional smaller plates printed over the top. She often employs chine collè--applying a thinner paper over the base paper. And because she has so many ideas to convey, often she chooses to make a series of monoprints rather than editioning a single image.

Recent themes include rain and genetic material. Seiko Tachibana wishes to bridge the differences between our two separate cultures. She has a vivid imagination, a strong foundation in art training, and an immense compulsion to create. She has already amassed a large body of work and we can expect her prints to continue to explore a variety of themes in a particularly unique and exciting way.

Exhibits:
Kobe, Japan
Duxbury, MA
Binghamton, NY
Osaka--one person show
San Francisco--one & two person shows
Logan, Utah--3 person exhibit
Nishinomiya
Hyogo--one person show
Fairfield--award winner
San Bernardino
Oakland
Amador County Arts Council--award of excellence
Downey Museum of Art
Sebastopol Center for the Arts--merit award
Portland Art Museum, Oregon--purchase award
California Museum of Art, Santa Rosa--Barnhart Memorial Award
CWAJ Print Show, Tokyo
Krakow International Print Triennale, Poland
Ren Brown Collection, Bodega Bay--one woman shows

Collections:
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Achenbach Foundation, SF
Portland Art Museum
State of Hawaii
McNeese State University, Louisiana
Scripps College, Claremont, CA
City of Mesa, Arizona
University of San Francisco
Lunze Co. Ltd., Kobe, Japan