Aono, Mika. Hang On, 2021. 2022 Individual Artist Fellow, Oregon Arts Commission.
Originally published February, 2022
Mika Aono is a multidisciplinary artist and one of the founding members of the non-profit Eugene Printmakers. Her recent work explores humanness in absurdity and futility through laborious processes, giving meaning to the meaningless. Her fascination for nature has driven her projects and installations to utilize found objects and various printmaking techniques. She cherishes serendipitous moments and believes art has the power to solve the mystery and connect all sorts of life on earth. She wishes she were a gentle superhero.
Born in Sendai, Japan, Mika received a bachelor’s in primary and special education from Miyagi University of Education in Japan, a bachelor’s in Art from University of Oregon and an MFA in Printmaking from San Francisco Art Institute. Currently, she works as an instructor and a printmaking/ letterpress studio technician in the Department of Art in the College of Design at the University of Oregon. Her work has been shown at galleries including Northwest Museum of Art, University of Richmond Museum, Asheville Bookworks and Manhattan Graphics Center and in international exhibitions in India, Spain, Brazil, Switzerland and Canada. Some of her works are in museum and public collections.
Courtesy of the Oregon Arts Commission.
Artist Credit: Mika Aono