Kristine Aono Artist Statement

Kristine Aono is an artist who uses a wide variety of materials to explore themes of personal narrative and history. Her artwork tells stories of her family’s Japanese-American experience and cultural, racial, and societal issues that reflect both historical events and present day injustices. Community input and interaction is often an integral component of her process and artwork.

Aono’s solo shows include the National Museum for Women in the Arts (Washington, DC), the Japanese American National Museum (Los Angeles, CA), the International Sculpture Center (Washington, DC), and other venues. Her work has been exhibited in places such as the Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art (Northwestern University, Evanston, IL), the Long Beach Museum of Art (CA), the Bronx Museum of Art (NY), National Academy of Design (NY, NY), Japan Cultural Center (Embassy of Japan, Washington, DC), the Washington Project for the Arts (Washington, DC), and the Harold Washington Library (Chicago, IL).

She received a MacDowell Fellowship and numerous grants, including ones from the National Endowment for the Arts, Maryland State Arts Council, Civil Liberties Public Education Fund, and Art Matters. Aono attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture and holds a BFA from Washington University in St. Louis. She has served on numerous art panels, given workshops and presentations, worked with community organizations, and is a lead teaching artist for historically resilient youth and young adults at Arts on the Block.

Aono has been featured in articles, broadcasts, and interviews, with reviews in ARTFORUM International, Artspace Magazine, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, and Yomiuri Shimbum. She is included in books such as Exhibitions for Social Justice (Elena Gonzales), Unsettled Visions: Contemporary Asian American Artists and the Social Imaginary (Margo Machida), Contemporary Art and Multicultural Education (New Museum of Contemporary Art, Ed: Susan Cahan and Zoya Kocur), and Community of Creativity: A Century of MacDowell Colony Artists (Andrew P. Spahr).

Kristine Aono’s studio is in Maryland, in the Washington DC region.