Eugenia Sumiye Okoshi  (1921 -2008) 

Eugenia Sumiye Okoshi was a Japanese-American artist born in Seattle, Washington in 1921. Her family returned to Japan in 1928 where she lived and attended school outside of Tokyo. During her life in Japan, Okoshi was witness to the destructive force WWII had on her family’s homeland. After encountering Hiroshima after the bombing, she used her American citizenship to return to Seattle and attend art school at Seattle University and the Modern Art Museum of Seattle. Okoshi was particularly inspired by the work of fellow Seattle artist, Mark Toby, “who incorporated Japanese sumi painting, brush gesture and calligraphy into his Abstract Expressionist paintings”.

In 1956, Okoshi moved to New York where she worked in a studio in the West Village and studied under Jacob Lawrence at the New School Painting Workshop. She exhibited in shows internationally and was a member of the Westbeth Artists Community in the West Village.