Join us at the Dunedin Fine Art Center on Thursday, March 20th, at 12:00 p.m. for an inspiring Coffee & Conversation with artist Akiko Kotani! Sponsored by DFAC’s Sterling Society, this monthly series brings together art lovers to connect with notable artists over coffee.
Akiko Kotani’s artist talk will trace her journey from Waipahu, Hawaii, where she was born and earned a BFA at the University of Hawaii, Manoa, to the TriBeCa area of New York. She will also explain how she became captivated by Guatemala’s traditional weaving techniques and patterns. Kotani applied what she learned from her life in New York and her extensive studies in Guatemala to pursue an MFA in Contemporary Weaving at the Tyler School of Art in Elkins Park, NY.
As an artist and a professor of art at Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania and Koç University in Istanbul, Turkey, she has gained significant recognition in the Tampa Bay area. Since relocating to Tampa Bay in 2015, Kotani has held five solo exhibitions. In 2019, Creative Pinellas honored her as an Artist Laureate in Largo, FL. She and two other Florida artists were recently selected for the “Florida Contemporary 2021/22” exhibition at the Baker Museum. In 2023, her “Neon Forest” installation won the prestigious “Florida Prize” at the Orlando Museum of Art. Kotani has also participated in two previous Skyway exhibitions, and her work was recently featured in “Skyway 2024/25” at The Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, FL. Additionally, she exhibited “Midsummer Suite” at the Saga Museum in Japan and is currently showcasing “Burst,” a solo installation at the Chihuly Collection in St. Petersburg, FL.
Her work is included in collections at prestigious institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Baker Museum in Naples, Florida, and the Cleveland Museum of Art in Ohio. Akiko Kotani is represented by Leslie Curran Gallery in St. Petersburg, FL.
Event Details:
Date: Thursday, March 20th
Time: 12:00 p.m.
Location: Dunedin Fine Art Center
Admission: $5 (Free for DFAC members)
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Akiko Kotani’s work belongs in many private, corporate, and museum collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. It has been exhibited there and in many international and national venues, including the Kyoto Museum of Art, Japan; the Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio; and the Contemporary Museum, Honolulu. She has shown her work in more than 260 exhibitions, 40 of which are one-person exhibits. She has received many prizes and honors during her career, including grants, awards in exhibitions, and commissions.
Her medium during the early years of her career was weaving. Gradually, she expanded her repertoire to include other soft materials. She has received acclaim as well for her silk drawings. Her drawings with graphite on paper have also attracted much attention. More recently, she has discovered expressive possibilities in polyethylene.
Kotani received a BFA in Painting from the University of Hawaii, near her birthplace of Waipahu, Hawaii, and an MFA from the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her inspirations are diverse and often surprising. Her Buddhist background quietly informs her work, drawing its subtle power from this venerable tradition. The preeminence of her hand derives from vivid memories of her mother, a strong and unpretentious woman whom she saw working items with her hand to grace the home and body.
Before her MFA studies, Kotani traveled to Guatemala to study traditional weaving with Rafaela Godinez, a highly accomplished Mayan Indian weaver. The geometric shapes that came from the cyclical mysteries of their culture made a striking impression on Kotani and influenced her 1977 Sawtooth Series, her piece that was included in the permanent collection at The Metropolitan Museum, NY, and later in 1985 exhibited there.