AYAKA UCHIDA

I create art that harmonizes bicultural perspectives and faith in order to let hope rise in the world. 世界が希望で満たされるように、バイリンガルな感性と信仰を調和したアートを創作しています。

Born and raised in Tokyo with tri-cultural parents, I loved listening to stories about great grandfather’s sea travel to France to learn oil painting; grandparents’ life in South Africa and Australia; Mom's teen years in Paris; Dad’s adventure in America as a rare exchange student in the 60’s; and my parents’ married life in the chocolate town of Hershey, USA. I followed dad’s footsteps to attend the same boarding school in Connecticut.

Moving back to Japan after 24 years in the USA, I started learning the traditional mineral pigment painting #Nihonga. It taught me a slower, quieter, more present, and immersive way to observe God’s creation.

After 2 decades of working as a graphic/UI designer and fighting for justice as a social entrepreneur, while experiencing personal sufferings in health and marriage, I want to create art that comforts and lifts up others with the hope of Christ. Let hope rise in you!

東京で生まれ、3つの文化を持つ両親のもとで育ちました。高校からアメリカに留学し、東海岸で大学・就職・結婚・出産した後、西海岸で子育てと貧民奉仕活動をしていました。24年ぶりの帰国以来、日本画を学びつつ、静かで没入感のある感性を磨いています。デザイナーや社会起業家として正義のために戦いながら健康や結婚における苦しみを経験した20年を超えた今、キリストの希望で人々の心が慰め癒されるアートを作りたいと思っています。

It’s fun to be inspired by other discipline & medium than your own crafts. And fun to see @loewefoundation preserving traditional crafts, challenging the craftsmen from around the world to innovate, and allowing us to enjoy the artwork/craf
🌸 Easter 2025 On Good Friday, we turned around as the entire church to join Peter who turned his back on Christ. We prayed to repent of our own individual sins that rejected Jesus. Then we faced forward again, only to see the word: “You are
Any other Nihonga artists get lost between painting & cooking? 😶‍🌫️💭 GOFUN 胡粉 (oyster shell pigment) — I use a mortar and pestle to grind them into fine powder... like when I put glutinous sweet rice flour in the blender to bake bu
#春の院展 2025 Spring Exhibition of Japan Academy of Fine Arts Highly recommend squatting down and looking up at Nihonga paintings from below or at an angle 😆… in order to see all the textures, hidden details, prismatic refractions of mineral p
Sakura storm! 🌧️🌸💦 Fascinated by the irregular, organic, & rhythmic polka-dot patterns that the wind & petals have painted all over the city! Nature’s patterns are never mundane or boring. Playful yet elegant. Makes you forget the
Magnolias blooming upward in NorCal & Tokyo 🩷🤍 上を向いて咲き誇る木蓮達、北カリフォルニアでも東京でも💗 1-8 NorCal: Poofy blooms bubbling up to the sky. What a dream to live under one of those magnificent trees! 9: A sense of buoyancy, like the magnolia flowers (Don
When a pirate story inspires you to love all out, live unafraid of new people, risk your life for those who can’t repay you, face fears to find yourself, ride the craziest wave of life, respect others’ adventures (not criticize or try to
It’s wondrous to realize that beautiful (and visible) flowers can only bloom because of (often invisible) roots that are growing in every which way... ぐにゃぐにゃ育ってる(普段あんまり見えない)根っこのおかげで(目に見える)美しいお花達が咲いてるんだと気づくと、なんだか素晴らしい。。。 #ayakamusing日記 #ayaka

WORKSHOPS + SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS

2023 Community Arts Tokyo: Guest speaker (in English & Japanese), Tokyo JAPAN
2025 Nihonga Slow Art Workshop, Los Altos California USA
2025 Japanese Art & Wabi-Sabi Philosophy (in English), Tokyo JAPAN

EXHIBITIONS + PRINTS

2012 Group exhibition in Mountain View, California USA
2013 Fundraiser auction in Menlo Park, California USA
2014 Charity gala in East Palo Alto, California USA
2015 Popup in San Francisco, California USA
2016 Popup in Nashville, Tennessee USA
2017 Popup in San Jose, California USA
2017 Art show in Redwood City, California USA
2020 Tiny painting giveaway during Covid lockdown
2021 “Art Life Museum” exhibition in Ginza, Tokyo JAPAN / Nihon Bungei
2022 "Bringing Colour To The World" curated by Sari Shryack / Art Mums United
2022 “Botanicals” art show / Grey Cube Gallery
2022 “My heart: Book, movie, & music” exhibition in Nihombashi, Tokyo JAPAN / Gallery Kanon
2022 “Christian Creator Otteto - 8 expressions of Christmas” exhibition in Nihombashi, Tokyo JAPAN / Gallery Kanon
2023 The Huts Magazine feature, UK (digital and print issues)
2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake Relief Charity Exhibition, Tokyo JAPAN / Citizens Gallery Meguro Museum
2025 Vita Poetica Magazine feature / vitapoetica.org

TRANSLATION WORK

2004 Sales Department live-interpreter, Pennsylvania USA
2019 Kintsugi Master’s AirBnB Adventure lessons, Tokyo JAPAN
2021-Current Bible & Art Ministries workshops, materials, speeches, Tokyo JAPAN
2023-Current HeyDay in Portland Oregon, USA in partnership with Coffee Elementary School in Tokyo, JAPAN

PILGRIMAGE IN ART

TOKYO: Oil painting, watercolor, pastel, figure drawing, clay.
CONNECTICUT: Watercolor, mixed media, 3D art installation.
PENNSYLVANIA: Bachelor of Art: Double major in Communication Design + Human Computer Interaction. Graphic/UI designer in medical company, design firm, and my own design studio.
CALIFORNIA: Print shop + thrift store social enterprises with BIPOC single mothers in marginalized neighborhoods, Art therapy with children.
TOKYO: Slow art of “Nihonga” traditional mineral pigment painting, Exploring the usage of art in EMDR trauma therapy & mental health.

画歴・受賞歴

1978 東京に生まれる
1988 祖母から油絵を教わる
1990-1993 油絵・水彩画・パステル画
1994-1997 Kent School (米国コネチカット州) ケント高校美術部
1997-2001 Carnegie Mellon University (米国ペンシルバニア州) カーネギーメロン大学グラフィックデザイン専攻
2002 受賞 米国デザイン雑誌 ：ドイツのアートショーに出展
2012 グループ展 (水彩) (米国カリフォルニア州)
2013 グループ展 (水彩) 募金オークション (米国カリフォルニア州)
2014 グループ展 (水彩) チャリティーイベント (米国カリフォルニア州)
2014-2018 貧困な多人種地域でNPOを設立。プリントショップと古着屋を経営し、アートで希望を生むための奉仕活動 (米国カリフォルニア州)
2016 グループ展 (水彩) (米国テネシー州)
2017 グループ展 (水彩) (米国カリフォルニア州)
2018 二十四年ぶりに帰国し、日本画を学び始める
2021 グループ展 (日本画)
2022 受賞 英国美術コンテスト "Bringing Colour To The World" by Art Mums United
2022 受賞 米国美術コンテスト “Botanicals” by Grey Cube Gallery
2022 グループ展 (水彩・染料)
2022 グループ展 (日本画)
2023 The Huts 雑誌, UK (デジタルと印刷物)
2023 Community Arts Tokyo: 日本画ゲストスピーカー（日本語・英語）
2024 能登半島地震被災地支援チャリティ展（目黒区美術館 区民ギャラリー）
2025 Vita Poetica 雑誌アートコンテスト vitapoetica.org
2025 日本画 Slow Art ワークショップ (米国カリフォルニア州)
2025 日本の美学と侘び寂びワークショップ（英語）