Longtime Artist, Subject of WSU Press Book Keiko Hara Earns Artist Trust Award
In June, Keiko Hara, longtime painter, printmaker, and subject of a WSU Press book about her art, earned the 2025 Twining Humber Award from the Artist Trust, a nonprofit organization that supports and encourages individual artists working in all disciplines to enrich community life throughout Washington state.
The $10,000 award is given annually to a Washington female visual artist, age 60 or over, who has dedicated 25 years or more to creating art, made possible by a generous gift to the Artist Trust Endowment Fund by the Irving and Yvonne Twining Humber Fund for Artistic Excellence.
“I am grateful and thrilled for the support of Artist Trust and for being chosen to receive the 2025 Twining Humber Award,” Hara said. “This grant will make it possible to work on a new set of 12 large-scale mokuhanga (Japanese woodblock prints) I have been planning for quite some time. It would not be possible to create these prints without the use of large, high-quality, handmade washi (traditional paper) from Japan. This paper is becoming much harder to find and quite expensive. If it were not for their support, I would be unable to continue this project.”
In 2022, WSU Press published Keiko Hara: Four Decades of Paintings and Prints by Linda Tesner and Ryan Hardesty of the WSU Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art. The publication was released with a retrospective exhibition of the same title, which also opened in 2022 at the Schnitzer Museum.
According to the press website, the book offers a detailed exploration of the prolific artist’s unwavering commitment to painting and her unique form of Japanese woodblock printmaking. Separated from her earlier cultural surroundings in Japan, memory and longing became overarching themes. Rich with metaphorical imagery, her visual universe encompasses references to water, fire, skies, and verdant lands, all the while investigating the poetics of space.
“From beautiful paintings and prints to a detailed understanding of the artist’s life, this book tells the fascinating story of a masterful painter and printmaker with a poetic authenticity that sets it apart as an exquisite art publication,” Hardesty said.
The Artist Trust bio on Hara said she was born in 1942 in North Korea to Japanese parents. When war broke out, her father was captured, and her mother managed to bring Hara and her sisters to Japan, where they faced significant hardship. In third grade, Hara was accepted into a gifted arts program, marking the beginning of her artistic path. Despite her family’s disapproval, she graduated from a two-year art college and went on to teach art at the Kagoshima Handicapped School for five years. During this time, she exhibited her work in Tokyo, Kagoshima, and Oita.
At 28, Hara immigrated to the United States alone to pursue her art. She earned a bachelor of fine arts degree in painting from Mississippi State University for Women in Columbus; a master of arts degree in printmaking from University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee; and a master of fine arts degree in printmaking from Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.
She was granted U.S. permanent residency in recognition of her accomplishments as an artist. Hara taught art at Whitman College for 21 years, serving as art department chair while also raising her child as a single mother.
Now based in Walla Walla, Washington, Hara works across various media, including painting, printmaking, glass, and installation. Her work has been featured in over 50 solo exhibitions nationwide, as well as in group shows across the United States, Europe, and Japan. Her pieces are included in the collections of the National Gallery of Art and other major institutions.
Visit Hara’s website for more information about and artwork by the artist.