Tom Nakashima

Tom Nakashima says of his series of large paintings and collages based on The Berryville Tree Piles – On rare occasions I encounter a form that startles me into creation – usually inspiration grows – slowly. Then there are the things that take no waiting. Like love at first sight, there are no doubts, no period of analysis – I feel it in my gut, like an epiphany. The silhouette of the tree pile struck me in this manner.

Tom Nakashima is an internationally exhibited artist who has had over 30 major solo exhibitions. He has had solo shows in N.Y., Washington, and Japan. His work has appeared or been reviewed in Art in America, Artforum International, Art News, The Washington Post, The Paris Review,, The New Art Examiner, Southern Accents and Elle Magazine. He has received numerous awards and fellowships including: The Joan Mitchell Foundation Award for Painters & Sculptors, The Mayor Award for Excellence (DC), The Awards in the Visual Arts 11 , The Southeast Center for Contemporary Art 7, The Virginia Art Commissions Individual Arts Fellowship, The Mid Atlantic Arts Fellowship (2 times) and The DC Arts Commission Fellowship (3 times). The KOAN poll (artist vote) rated him DC’s #1 printmaker and # 2 painter.

Nakashima’s work is in the permanent collections of The Corcoran Gallery of Art, The Smithsonian’s American Art Museum, L’Hermitage and numerous other museums. Nakashima is a Professor Emeritus from The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.