We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Suguru Hiraide. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Suguru below.

Suguru , appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

When I first came to the U.S. as an international student from Japan, one of my main goals was to build a “bridge” between national and international artists. Therefore, after starting my career as a professional artist and educator, I have actively participated in international art exchange shows and events involving China, Costa Rica, Japan, and Thailand. I have also served as a co-curator and organizer, since 2014, for similar shows and events between the U.S. and Japan. These projects include exhibitions at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum in 2015, Wichita Falls Museum of Art in 2016, and Kanagawa Kenmin Hall in 2019. By having these collaborative events, local artists have an incentive to travel internationally and network with artists of similar interests and goals. In fact, some of the artists have stayed in touch and were able to organize new shows and projects together. We have also had a participating Japanese artist who was invited by an American art professor to attend a graduate school in the U.S. and now teaching at a university in Ohio. My most recent exchange project is an exhibition that showcases 25 artists’ work from Japan and the U.S. This event will take place during June 2023 at the Redbud Art Center in Houston, TX and will later be held at the Wichita Falls Museum of Art in Wichita Falls, Texas for the duration of October 2023 through February of 2024. These exhibitions were originally scheduled to take place in 2020 but had to be postponed for about three years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Five artists from Japan will visit Houston in June for the installation, opening reception, and related events. I am excited to finally be able to see these shows come to fruition.

Suguru , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I grew up in Okaya, a city on the shores of Suwako (Lake Suwa) in Nagano Prefecture in Japan. My father is a retired architect and engineer who used to run a construction company with my mother. My parents had hoped that my brother and/or I would take over their business. However, after graduating from high school, I moved to Tokyo and soon began to realize my real interest was in creative art and design. Also, as a someone with my inquisitive personality and being 6’ 3” tall, I was beginning to feel cramped and confined within the city and decided it was time for a new start. I moved to the U.S., in 1993, where I received my BFA in graphic design and sculpture and was awarded the Most Outstanding Graduating Senior Art Student award at West Virginia University. After that, I went on to study sculpture at California State University, Fullerton where I received my MFA. In 2003, I was offered the Assistant Professor position at Midwestern State University in Texas. I accepted the job and moved to Texas where I have been teaching sculpture and metals for over 20 years and have enjoyed being able to share knowledge and skills with the students to help them grow as artists. My artwork consists of creating sculptures using different types of fabricated metals such as aluminum and stainless steel. I also utilize cast metals such as aluminum and bronze for figurative and organic forms. In addition to these materials, I often incorporate kinetic features to my sculpture. These sculptures have been exhibited at indoor and outdoor shows nationally and internationally including solo exhibitions in Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, and Tokyo, as well as group shows at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, the Fukuoka Asian Museum in Fukuoka, Japan, and the Kanagawa Prefectural Gallery in Yokohama, Japan.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

During my last semester of graduate school, I had my first interview for a teaching position. It was an on-campus interview that included me providing a technical demonstration in their sculpture studio. Having an interview was already nerve-racking for me and in addition I would to do it in English. Before the interview day, I overloaded myself with information that I didn’t have enough time to process it. I was very nervous during the interview and performed poorly which caused me to embarrass myself in front of the hiring committee. On the drive home, from the interview, I thought that there was no way I could ever get a teaching position in the U.S. However, several month later, I was invited by another university for on campus interviews. This time I decided that I would focus on two fundamentals: staying true to myself and actively engaging with the people I met during the interview process. A few days after the three-day interview trip, I received a phone call and was offered the job from the university and the rest is history.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

I am most fulfilled when my work leads me to the opportunity to travel and contribute to the exchange of art and culture with people in the U.S. and around the world.   

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.suguruhiraide.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/suguru.hiraide/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/suguru.hiraide

Image Credits
Yasuyo Maruyama Kolanowski Studio Suguru Hiraide