anakamura@gmail.com / @ayasembe
Born in Tokyo, Japan / Lives and works in Chicago, IL
EDUCATION
2013, MFA, Painting and Drawing, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
2011, Post-Baccalaureate, Painting and Drawing, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
2004, BA, Fine Arts and Political Science, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
REPRESENTATION
Western Exhibitions, 1709 W. Chicago Ave. #5009, Chicago, IL 60622
SELECTED SOLO AND TWO PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2025, Parts, Places, 4th Ward Project Space, Chicago, IL
2024, Sight Lines, Western Exhibitions, Chicago, IL
2022, Wayfaring, Western Exhibitions, Chicago, IL
2019, Relatum, Relata, MPSTN, Fox River Grove, IL
2019, Slow Trace, Rainbo Club, Chicago, IL
2017, Memory Material, Final Resting Place, Chicago, IL
2014, In Medias Res, Biblio Exhibitions, Lyons, IL
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2026, Spaces for People, Systems for Spaces, Western Exhibitions, Chicago, IL
2025, Emergent Matter. Wild Future., Roots and Rays Center for Creative Medicine, Chicago, IL
2025, Up & Up 2025, Promontory Point, Chicago, IL
2025, Door County Contemporary, Fish Creek, WI
2024, COSMIC GEOMETRIES: The Prairie’s Edge, Secrist Beach Gallery, Chicago, IL
2023, Regather, The Merwin Gallery, Illinois Wesleyan University, Bloomington, IL
2023, Serenity of Less, The Research House for Asian Art, Chicago, IL
2023, EXPO Chicago, Navy Pier, Chicago IL
2023, Concentrate and Ask Again, Heaven Gallery, Chicago, IL
2023, Drawing Biennial, Western Exhibitions, Chicago, IL
2022, NADA New York, Pier 36 299 South Street, New York, NY
2021, In Good Company, Monira Foundation, Chicago, IL
2020, NADA Chicago, Stanley Brown Jewelist, Chicago, IL
2019, Mana Decentralized, Mana New Jersey, Jersey City, NJ
2018, Bibliothēca, Roman Susan, Chicago, IL
2018, Tyrants, Final Resting Place, Chicago, IL
2017, The New Normal, Supa Salon, Istanbul, Turkey / The Hangar and Dawawine, Beirut, Lebanon
2017, En/Counter, Hybrid Salon, Chicago, IL
2015, Art from Excess, Marshall J. Gardner Center for the Arts, Gary, IN
2015, A*HAUL: Part Duh, in conjunction with 2nd Floor Rear, Chicago, IL
2014, Scrap Heap II, Tusk, Chicago, IL
2014, A*HAUL, in conjunction with 2nd Floor Rear, Chicago, IL
2013, Eye Sense, The Chandelier Room, Chicago, IL
RESIDENCIES
2020-2023, Fresh Press, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL
2022, Chop Wood, Carry Water, Pachamanka, NW IL
2021, Meta Open Arts, Chicago, IL
2019, Pyramid Atlantic Art Center, Hyattsville, MD
2012, Art Farm, Marquette, NE
AWARDS & GRANTS
2023, DCASE Individual Artist Program
2022, Rauschenberg Medical Emergency Grant, Robert Rauschenberg Foundation
2022, Rex Abandon Fund, Chop Wood, Carry Water
2019, Denbo Fellowship, Pyramid Atlantic Art Center
2013, George and Ann Siegel Fellowship, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
BIBLIOGRAPHY
2025, “How Aya Nakamura’s Drawings on Handmade Paper Tie Materiality and Temporality” by Susannah Papish, Newcity Art
2024, "Switch Grass Paper: Bridging Art, Prairie, and Community in Chicago," edited by Tamara Valdez, Handpaper Making Magazine
2024, “Soft Spirits: A Review of Aya Nakamura at Western Exhibitions” by Alan Pocaro, Chicago Reader
2024, “Switch Grass Paper Offer Chicagoans an Innovative Take on an Ancient Medium” by April Behnke, Ardose Magazine
2024, “Forming Lined Taxonomies: An Interview with Aya Nakamura,” with Ashley Janke, Wrightwood 659
2023, “Unassuming and Self-Assured” by Alan Pocaro, Chicago Reader
2022, “Strange Confederations: A Review of Aya Nakamura at Western Exhibitions and Megan Greene at Regards” by Alan Pocaro, Newcity Art
PROJECTS
2023-Present Co-Founder of Switchgrass Paper