12.12.22

Shock Art

Chiyoko Myose ’07/11 is known primarily for her painting and installation art. Both as a solo artist and in collaboration with musicians, dancers and other visual artists, she weaves distinctly different forms of art together into brilliantly imaginative new wholes that carry names like Hisakatano (2012), White Bird Parabola (2012), Tumbled, Dried, and Softened (2013), Rewinding (2015), Gift (2017), Bloom (2017) and Origami Cranes in Blue (2018).

The Japanese-born, Wichita-based artist describes herself as a sojourner. “The life of a sojourner is like the one of a traveler,” she says, as she describes her Iridescence painting series. “A traveler does not know the whole reality of the next destination. In that place, the illogical looking things may not be illogical, and irrational looking things may not be irrational.”

Earlier this year, Myose, who often explores the varied threads of relationships in her artworks, worked with her daughter, Sarah ’20, in Wichita’s Front Porch placemaking project, which paired artists with downtown business owners to craft outdoor extensions to the stores. The Myoses collaborated on a whimsical art installation and seating area to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the Old Mill Tasty Shop.

Selected as KMUW’s featured artist in 2021, Myose has to her credit a number of large-scale solo exhibitions, including at Wichita’s CityArts, Mid-America Arts Alliance in Kansas City and Oklahoma Contemporary in Oklahoma City. This fall, she is traveling and showing her work in Japan, in the ancient capital of Asuka, Nara and in Tokyo, today’s capital and largest city.