Today we’d like to introduce you to Harumo Sato

Hi Harumo, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?

I am an immigrant artist from Japan. Art has always been a part of my life and I never stopped drawing since childhood. But Asian kids tend to experience family pressure to be smart and successful, and I was one of them. Working as an artist was like an imaginary unicorn while pushing back a heavy pressure from my family.
I didn’t fully understand who I was until my dominant arm suddenly stopped in January 2011 – my freshman year at an ad agency in Tokyo, Japan. Two months later, the Fukushima nuclear plants exploded in response to the earthquake. Our family lived in the neighborhood prefecture of Fukushima. Many of the buildings – including temples and houses – were ruined. Many people died. We, especially young people, were told not to go out because of the potential danger of radiation. I felt powerless.

These two events changed my life.

It took almost 6 years to regain my full control on the dominant hand. It was through rehabilitation that I met my mentor. His method is quite spartan, but he guided me to go outside of the norm of how to use my body. Say, in our first session, he duct taped a pencil on my paralyzed hand and said to me “draw a line”. I stared at my hand with a pencil duct taped for a while with confusion. It was like a zen master’s question. “ how can
I move a thing which doesn’t move?” Eventually, my mentor pushed the dormant hand
with the other hand to draw a line, saying “You have another hand to push, you always
find a way to unlock your so-called obstacle when you truly are in search”.
Thanks to my mentor and our rigorous rehabilitation, I now can draw with both hands.
In the process of recovery, I went to University at Buffalo NY to study art. Then, I met with my future husband. He got a job in the Bay. We did a cross country drive in 2016 to settle in. Since then, I have been in search of how to empower people through art as I experienced, and how to share a vision of a sustainable and harmonious future with not only human-beings, but also with nature, land and sea.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?

I think a rough road can be a blessing. I have hit many bumps in my life to arrive at this
point today. I am amazed how all of the hardships and detours I went through
have helped build who I am, and helped guide me to what I create and what I want to create.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?

My work aesthetic can be colorful, cute and squishy, but uses a lot of iconography, patterns and historical references – many layers.
I am an object maker. I started as a painter, and expanded my surface from flat paper/canvas to three dimensional surface such as ceramic sculpture.

I share my work in two ways – through public art and through studio work.
My main themes focus on celebrating diversity and being in harmony with nature. I also love to study and research as the daughter of academic historians. My goal is to artistically depict my themes in a way that anyone race, gender, age, culture can understand the context and intentions about important and relevant topics today regardless of age, gender, race, and culture.

Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?

Diversity in the Bay makes me feel energized and inspired. Many of the restaurants and
grocery stores which offer international delicacies ignite my curiosity all the time! I also
wonder about many of the people in the Bay Area who left their home and their own culture to find a new life. Observing these strong diverse cultures in the Bay encourages me to think there is a way to establish greater humanity to achieve peace beyond borders and differences.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.harumosato.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/harumosato/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/harumosato.painting/

Image Credits

Personal photo: Lanny Nguyen
We used to be held mural pictures: Lanny Nguyen