Mashiko was born in Tailien City, Manchuria, grew up in the city of Kyoto, Japan, and came to the USA in 1962. She has been living in New York since 1964. Until she left Japan for the United States, Mashiko studied painting under an influential master of the time, Kazuo Tsuboi. Her work was accepted into competitions at an early age and she exhibited alongside accomplished artists. In New York, Mashiko studied at the Brooklyn Museum Art School — having been awarded a Beckman Scholarship. It was at this school that she started carving wood and in the following year began to carve stone. Her initial material — oil painting — was replaced by silk-screen printing and pen-drawing. Her childhood passion for writing turned into working in the book-art format. She found the medallic art format as a method of combined expression in the early 90’s. Since then, she has been encouraging this unique expression to artists as well as promoting it to collectors. Mashiko uses any art form and material that appeals to her feelings a particular moment, however, her theme always remains a constant.

Her theme came from experiencing various conditions of unfairness in her life. When she overcame this suppressed feeling, it became clear to her that all living beings have both reason and value. She expressed her theme in the following lines:

From hidden pathways in the air
Deep in the sea
And some unknown space in the universe
I hear new lives approaching just a little before dawn

This exhibition is highlighted by her commission to create a memorial monument for Betty Friedan (February 4, 1921- February 4, 2006), whose 1963 book — The Feminine Mystique — helped to reignite the second stage of the Women’s Movement. Friedan remained a powerful figure as an activist and as a writer, and her contributions to American society are immense. Mashiko translated Friedan’s ideas and vision to a book-like shape, and the movement and rhythm of her mind in wave motions.

September 12th through October 24th, 2009