featured artist

Mayumi Oda

Mayumi Oda, who currently lives in Hawaii, is an internationally recognized print
artist. Nature—whether the mountains, sea or garden—often provides the backgroundfor the voluptuous women and goddesses that fill Oda’s silkscreens and
etchings. Vibrant colors express a special energy and joy, while her subjects transmit a sense of inner-knowing, contentment, and strength. Elements of Japanese design or references infuse most of Oda’s work, but her style and subjects cover a range that reflect the wide-range of her life experiences and influences, and the universality of the goddesses—how the feminine divine exists in all. Born in 1941 in Tokyo, Oda was strongly influenced and supported by her mother’s deep appreciation for art and creating, as well as her Buddhist history professor father’s presence and outlook. A graduate of the highly competitive Tokyo University, with a degree in Fine Art, she also studied at the Pratt Institute, after her U.S. arrival in the late 1960s. Her work is included in the permanent collection of more than a dozen public institutions, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and the Library of Congress. She is also the author of Goddesses and I Opened the Gate, Laughing. A website is also in progress at www.mayumioda.net. Her work is carried in Charleston, SC, at Plum Elements (843.727.3747).