Sarah Brayer

Sarah Brayer (born 1957) is an American artist who works in both Japan and the United States. She is internationally known for her poured washi paperworks, aquatint and woodblock prints. In 2013 Japan's Ministry of Culture awarded Sarah its Bunkacho Chokan Hyosho ("Commissioner of Culture Award") for dissemination of Japanese culture abroad through her creations in Echizen washi. She currently resides in Kyoto, Japan and New York, U.S.A.

Sarah Brayer's art is in the collections of the British Museum, the Smithsonian Institution's Sackler Gallery, and the American Embassy in Tokyo. Brayer was featured at the TED Conference "The Young, the Wise, the Undiscovered" in Tokyo in June 2012.

Arriving in Kyoto Kyoto in 1980, Brayer studied etching with Yoshiko Fukuda and Japanese woodblock printing with Tōshi Yoshida (1911-1996) the son of influential woodblock artist Hiroshi Yoshida (1876-1950). Her interest in color gradation was piqued by the woodblock technique, and she subsequently applied similar gradations to her color aquatints. In 1986 Brayer began making large-scale paperworks in the historic paper village of Imadate, Echizen, Japan.

Influences and early works
In the 70's Brayer became interested in Japanese aesthetics through the color aquatints of Mary Cassatt, and Raku-style ceramics. Arriving in Japan in 1979, she studied etching with Yoshiko Fukuda (1937-1986) and Japanese woodblock printing with Toshi Yoshida (1911-1996). In 2007, she was honored as the first western woman artist to have her work on the cover of the CWAJ Print Show catalog, the premier contemporary Japanese print show in Tokyo.

In 1985, Brayer exhibited at the Ronin Gallery in New York, and was reviewed in the NY Times, which noted Day Glow, a large, soft-ground aquatint of Charles Street in New York City that made striking use of Oriental techniques to catch dawn in lower Manhattan. In 1986 she opened her own print studio in an old kimono weaving factory in Kyoto. That same year she discovered the art of poured washi, and her interest in this technique led her to the historic washi paper center of Echizen in Fukui prefecture. She has been working in the village of Echizen ever since; the only non-Japanese artist who has worked in this 800-year-old village, home to living national treasure paper-makers. She is also the only westerner to work there continuously. In 1999, she received a grant from the College Women's Association of Japan (CWAJ), which enabled her to develop a pioneering print technique of using washi Japanese paper as a printing medium. Brayer's early works were realistic cityscapes and landscapes, figures or pathways through the snow. With continued experimentation, her imagery has become more abstract: the flow of a waterfall, the curve of a wave, or the passage of light through clouds.

Recognitions

 * In 2013 Japan’s Ministry of Culture awarded Sarah its Bunkacho Chokan Hyosho (“Commissioner’s Award”) for dissemination of Japanese culture abroad through her paper creations in Echizen washi.
 * Sarah has been recognized in Japan as the first artist ever invited to exhibit at Byodoin Temple, a World Heritage site dating from the Heian period, as part of Kyoto’s 1200-year celebration in 1992.

Collections

 * The Herbert F Johnson Museum of Art: Oceanic Moon (2012 luminescent paperwork mural)
 * The British Museum: Sojourn (1995 paperwork scroll), Dayglow (1984 aquatint), River Mist Kyoto (1982 woodblock), Yukata (1987 aquatint)
 * The Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian: First Snow (‘91 aquatint), Expanse (‘95 aquatint)
 * The Oregon Art Institute: Japanese Bath (‘86 aquatint)
 * Zimmerli Art Museum: City Pearls (‘86 aquatint), City Light (‘85 woodblock print), Yellow Taxi (’93 paperwork/lithograph), Surge (‘95 editioned paperwork)
 * Cincinnati Museum: Mankai (‘99 collagraph)
 * Rochester Memorial Art Gallery: Mikazuki (’07 aquatint/paperwork), Yellow Taxi (’93 paperwork/lithograph), Spring Rice (‘82 aquatint),
 * Cedar Rapids Museum of Art: Hint of Red (‘09 aquatint/paperwork)
 * Smith College Museum of Art: Moontrance (‘00 lithograph)
 * Shimonoseki Art Museum: Shimonoseki Pearls (’05 paperwork)
 * Worcester Art Museum: Taki (’05 aquatint), Kyoto Snowfall (’81 aquatint)
 * U.S. State Department: Dayglow (‘84 aquatint)
 * U.S. Embassy, Tokyo: Kyoto Snowfall (‘81 aquatint)
 * Newark Public Library: City Jewels (’86 aquatint), Moontrance (‘00 lithograph)
 * American College Board Collection: Dayglow (‘84 aquatint)
 * Johns Hopkins Hospitals: Ruby’s Paradise (‘93 paperwork)
 * University Hospitals, Cleveland: Going Places (commissioned mural), Schoolgirls (‘86 aquatint), Schoolboys (‘86 aquatint), Blue Kyoto (‘87 aquatint)
 * Citibank, Tokyo: Bather (‘88 lithograph)
 * TRW, Los Angeles: Together (‘85 aquatint)
 * RJ Reynolds: City Pearls (‘86 aquatint)
 * Ozumo, San Francisco: Ryoanji Pools (‘04 paperwork), Source (‘04 paperwork)
 * Ozumo, Oakland: Blue Surge (‘04 paperwork), Blue Moon (‘08 paperwork), Katsura Squares (‘08 paperwork)

Solo exhibitions

 * 2014   The Castellani Museum of Art, Niagara University
 * 2013   The Verne Gallery, Cleveland, Ohio
 * 2010   Luminosity: Night Paperworks, Kyoto
 * 2010   The Ren Brown Collection, Bodega Bay, California
 * 2010   Art in June, Rochester, New York
 * 2010   30 Years of Art in Kyoto
 * 2007   The Ren Brown Collection, Bodega Bay, California
 * 2007   Gallery Bonten, Shimonoseki, Japan
 * 2007   Round the Horn, Nantucket
 * 2006   Whisper to the Moon, Kyoto
 * 2005   The Ren Brown Collection, Bodega Bay
 * 2005   Gallery Bonten, Shimonoseki
 * 2004   Azuma Gallery, Seattle
 * 2004   Tokyo American Club
 * 2004   Esmay Fine Art, Rochester
 * 2004   Ronin Gallery, New York
 * 2002   Kato Gallery, Tokyo
 * 2002   The Tolman Collection, Tokyo
 * 2001   Hanga Ten, London, England
 * 2001   Beatrice Royal Gallery, Eastridge, England
 * 2000   Takashimaya Gallery, Yokohama
 * 2000   Tokyo American Club
 * 2000   The Tolman Collection, Tokyo
 * 1999   The Ren Brown Collection
 * 1999   Gallery Bonten, Shimonoseki, Japan
 * 1998   Gallery Rewdex, Kyoto
 * 1997   The Tolman Collection, Tokyo
 * 1997   Ars Locus Gallery, Kyoto
 * 1996   Ronin Gallery, New York
 * 1996   Tokyo American Club, Tokyo
 * 1996   Gallery Bonten, Shimonoseki, Japan
 * 1995   Dieu Donne Gallery, New York
 * 1995   WICE Artspace, Paris
 * 1995   Daimaru Gallery, Osaka, Japan
 * 1995   Kanda Gallery, Okinawa, Japan
 * 1994   Takashimaya Gallery, Yokohama, Japan
 * 1994   Shoestring Gallery, Rochester, New York
 * 1994   A Sense of Place, The Verne Gallery, Cleveland, Ohio
 * 1993   Takashimaya Gallery, Tamagawa, Tokyo, Japan
 * 1993   Tokyo American Club, Tokyo, Japan
 * 1993   The Ren Brown Collection, Bodega Bay, California
 * 1993   Galeries Ann Monnet, Kyoto, Japan
 * 1992   Sarah Brayer at Byodoin Temple  Invitational honoring Kyoto’s 1200th year
 * 1992   Azuma Gallery, Seattle, Washington
 * 1992   Gallery Cocteau, Kyoto, Japan
 * 1992   Shoestring Gallery, Rochester, New York
 * 1992   Kanda Gallery, Okinawa, Japan
 * 1991   Recollections: Tokyo American Club
 * 1991   Takashimaya Gallery, Yokohama
 * 1991   Daimaru Gallery, Osaka, Japan
 * 1991   Takashimaya Gallery, Tamagawa, Tokyo
 * 1990   Connecticut College, New London, Connecticut, Invitational
 * 1990   Ronin Gallery, New York
 * 1990   Shoestring Gallery, Rochester, New York
 * 1989   Kato Gallery, Tokyo
 * 1989   Gallery Blanche, Osaka
 * 1989   Kintetsu Gallery, Kyoto
 * 1989   Tokyo American Club, Tokyo
 * 1989   Gallery San, Kyoto
 * 1988   The Museum of Modern Art, Shiga, Japan
 * 1988   April Sgro-Riddle Gallery, Los Angeles, California
 * 1988   Daimaru Gallery, Kobe, Japan
 * 1988   Shukugawa Gallery, Shukugawa, Japan
 * 1987   Sumi Arts, Hong Kong
 * 1987   The Japanese Bath and other Landscapes Carter Arcand Gallery, Portland
 * 1987   Kato Gallery, Kobe, Japan

Selected group exhibitions

 * 2018   MOON, the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Ithaca NY
 * 2014   Celestial Threads: The Asian Art Museum, San Francisco
 * 2011   The William J. Dane Fine Print Collection, Newark Public Library
 * 2009   IMPACT the Big Print, Orange Coast College, Costa Mesa, Cal. Curated by Donna Westerman
 * 2009   WOOD. METAL. STONE: Contemporary Japanese prints The Flinn Gallery, Greenwich Connecticut
 * 2007   Catalogue Cover artist and Poster artist, for the 52nd CWAJ Print Show, Tokyo, Japan
 * 2005   The Color of Night: How Artists Work with Darkness, Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University
 * 2003   Japan Through Western Eyes, The Morikami Museum, Del Ray Beach, Florida
 * 2003   Snow in Winter: Ukiyo-e and Contemporary Prints from Japan, The Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation, London
 * 2003   1853-2003: A Sesquicentennial Salute to Commerce and Cultural Exchange between Japan and the USA, the Newark Public Library, Newark NJ
 * 2002   Rags to Riches: 25 Years of Paper Art from Dieu Donne Papermill: Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Travelling to Mariana Kistler-Beach Museum of Art and the Heckscher Museum of Art, Huntington, NY
 * 2001   Rags to Riches: 25 Years of Paper Art from Dieu Donne Papermill, Kresge Art Museum, Michigan; Maryland Institute College of Art
 * 1999   Miyabi: a Celebration of Beauty by Five American Artists of Kyoto, Sogetsu Museum, Tokyo. Produced by the Tolman Collection
 * 1997   Across Cultures: Five Contemporary Artists from Japan, Allen Memorial Museum, Oberlin, Ohio
 * 1995   Out of the Drawing Room, Recent Acquisitions: Works on Paper by Women Artists, The Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester
 * 1995   Works on Paper  The Verne Collection, New York
 * 1994   The Verne Collection, Cleveland, Ohio
 * 1992   Almost a Century after Helen Hyde and Bertha Lum, the Mitzie Verne Collection, Cleveland
 * 1992   Accent on Paper: 15 Years at the Dieu Donne Papermill  Lintas Worldwide, New York
 * 1990   Intaglio Printing in the 1980s The Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ
 * 1988   Relief Printing in the 1980s The Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University. Curated by Trudy Hansen
 * 1987   Mary Ryan Gallery, New York
 * 1987   Eight Artists from Kyoto  Takashimaya Gallery, Yokohama
 * 1987   Prints from the Yoshida Studio, Kabutoya Gallery, Tokyo
 * 1986   "Curator’s Choice"  Portland Art Institute, Oregon
 * 1986   Saga Print Annual  New York
 * 1986   The Bank of Tokyo, Hong Kong
 * 1986   April Sgro-Riddle Gallery, Los Angeles
 * 1985   50/50 Monoprints-Prints  Montgomery College
 * 1984   The Caraccio Collection,  Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster
 * 1984   American Painters from Kyoto,  Ronin Gallery, New York
 * 1984   Foreign Artists in Kyoto  Hankyu Gallery, Senri Osaka
 * 1982-2014     The College Women’s Association of Japan Print Show  Tokyo
 * 1998-2014     The New York Print Fair, the Armory, New York City
 * 1982-2010     Kyoto Etching Association Annual   Kyoto City Art Center

Publications

 * 2018	Sarah Brayer: The Complete Prints 1980-2018
 * 2011	Cover Art, Kyoto Journal, Volume 76
 * 2009	Cover Art, Kyoto Journal, Volume 73
 * 2007 	Cover art, 52nd CWAJ Print Show catalog. Tokyo Poster and postcard for CWAJ Print Show, Tokyo. Nick Jones, “Paper Moon” In Touch (TAC magazine), October 2007. Tokyo “Woman By the Sea”cover art, novel in Hebrew by Itai Kohavi, Tel Aviv
 * 2006	Hand Papermaking summer 2006, noted exhibitions: Sarah Brayer
 * 2005	April Vollmer, Intersections of East and West: Contemporary Printmakers in Japan, Contemporary Impressions, Spring 2005. “City Pearls” printed in the Zimmerli Journal 3, Zimmerli Art Museum, 			Rutgers  University of NJ. "Woman By the Sea” cover art for Shakespeare's Will by Vern Thiessen, Canada Playwrights
 * 2003 Rosemary T. Smith, Japan Through Western Eyes, 1854 to the Present, The Morikami Museum, Del Ray Beach, Florida CWAJ print artists and scholars create a good impression, The Japan Times, October 15, 2003 Kyoto Shimbun, feature article Nov. 11, 2003
 * 2002	Angela Jeffs, Celebrating “washi” in tune with Kyoto winters, The Japan Times, Nov. 30, 2002 Dai-ichi Seimei Hall, cover art, The Rubio Quartet and Yoshiko Endo Tokyo American Club magazine “47th Annual Print Show”
 * 2002 Kyoto Journal, inside art
 * 2001 Wigmore Hall, cover art, The Rubio Quartet and Yoshiko Endo
 * 2000 Sarah Brayer, Sarah Brayer  Prints 1980-2000
 * 1999 Isabel Reynolds,”American artist gets it down on paper, ” The Daily 			Yomiuri,  April 15, 1999 Five American Artist of Kyoto,  Hanga Geijitsu No. 104, Tokyo Japan, p. 111
 * 1997	Betsy Franco & Michael Verne, Quiet Elegance: Japan Through the Eyes of Nine American Artists Across Cultures: Five Contemporary Western Artists from Japan Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College Bulletin Number 1 Trudy Hansen, Evolving Forms/Emerging Faces; Trends in Contemporary 			American Printmaking, Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University
 * 1995	Kyoto Journal, inside cover art, Spring 1995
 * 1994	“Prints and Paperworks of Sarah Brayer,” Journal of the Print World, Spring 1994. Helen Cullinan, “Prints offer views of Japan,” The Plain Dealer, May 20, 1994.
 * 1994 Review	Roberto Casin,  “Paper and Color,”  Aboard  magazine, May/June
 * 1993	“Post Modern Japanesque,” Kimono, November 1992 Peter Mallett, “ Papermaking offers Creative, Colorful Medium,” Asahi 	Evening  News, Sept. 5, 1993
 * 1992	“Culture Portrait,” Photo, January 15, 1992 Journal of the Print World, Almost a Century after Helen Hyde and Bertha Lum, the 	Mitzie Verne Collection, Cleveland
 * 1991	Stewart Wachs, “Painter’s Career Flourishes in Kyoto,” The Japan Times, Feb. 10, 1991. *review
 * 1990	Ron Netsky, “Work from Kyoto to Brighton,” Democrat and Chronicle, 			May 20, 1990. *review Zimmerli Art Museum, Intaglio Printing in the 1980s
 * 1989	cover art Alan Booth, Tsugaru; Looking for the Lost
 * 1988	Zimmerli Art Museum, Relief Printing in the 1980s: Prints and Blocks from the Rutgers Archives for Printmaking Studios Ron Netsky, “From the Beauty of Kyoto to a Regional Print Show,” Democrat and Chronicle, March 6, 1988. Stewart Wachs, “Painting with liquid paper produces new genre for Brayer,”The Japan Times,  November 21, 1988. *review
 * 1985	Lawrence Smith, Contemporary Prints From Japan: Symbols of a Society in Transition Grace Glueck, The New York Times,  March 22, 1985.* review

Lectures and interviews

 * 2018 Lecture, “Luminosity," The Stoikov Lecture in Asian Art, The Herbert F. Johnson Museum, Cornell University
 * 2017 Lecture, The Print Club of New York, 2017 Presentation Artist
 * 2001 Lecture, “Painting With Paper," The Japan Society, London England Lecture, “Painting With Paper “, Beatrice Royal Gallery, Eastleigh, England
 * 1995 Lecture, "Viewpoints," the Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester
 * 1992 Feature story on Byodoin exhibition,  NHK News, Kyoto, September 22 Byodoin exhibition, NHK News Kansai, September 25
 * 1990 Lecture, “ Painting  with Liquid Paper," The College Women's Association of Japan, Tokyo.
 * 1989 Interview “Catch Up: Tokyo Art Expo,” Marui News, Tokyo, November
 * 1988 Museum of Modern Art Shiga exhibition, NHK News, Kansai, November 12, 1988.