Ito Ikuko

Ikuko Ito: Born in 1944 in Yonezawa city, Yamagata prefecture, she is currently a resident of Shimada city, Shizuoka prefecture. She is a painter and contemporary artist who graduated from the Faculty of Education at Tohoku University. After working at elementary, junior high, and high schools in Yamagata and Shizuoka prefectures, she held various positions over the years, such as being a member of the 14th Central Council for Education (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology), a manager of the Prefectural Department of Education, the vice president of the Comprehensive Education Center of Shizuoka Prefecture, and a councilor of the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo. She has also planned a project to support education in Afghanistan and served three terms as a member of the prefectural assembly for Shizuoka. In her 50 years as an artist she has been awarded the following: the Honorable Mention Award at the Sankikai Exhibition in 1979, the Grand Prize at the Fugaku Culture Biennale Exhibition, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Award at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, the Honorable Mention Award by the Yasuda Kasai Fine Art Foundation, The Hakone Open-Air Museum Award. She has been nominated six times for the Shiseido Notable Award and was twice a candidate for the Yasui Award, considered the painter’s version of the Akutagawa Award (a famous Japanese writer). In 1992, under the Agency for Cultural Affairs, she was dispatched as a trainee in the Program of Overseas Study for Upcoming Artists and studied abroad at the Graduate school of Mills College in the state of California, USA. She has held 51 private exhibitions in Japan, as well as four cities internationally, including New York, USA. Her works are collected and stored at Shizuoku Prefectural Museum of Art, Yamagata City Hall and other places. Currently she is the administrative director of Mirai Create 21, an NPO. She is also a member of the Women Artists Association and was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Rays award in 2015.