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Naomi Kasumi MFA
Professor and Director of Design Program
Asian and Asian American Studies Associate appointment
Biography
Seattle-based artist, scholar, educator, and designer, Naomi Kasumi, was born and raised in Kyoto, Japan. Kasumi is currently both a Professor of Design and Director of the Design Program. She started teaching at Seattle University in 2003 and established the Digital Design Program. The program is named the Design Program and is situated in the Department of Visual Arts.
Kasumi's work spans various media, both ephemeral and permanent, with recurring themes of “presence and absence,” “memory/memorial,” and “loss and healing,” rooted in her personal experiences of loss and grief—central to her installation art and research. Her primary focus is a memorial series that employs a ritualistic process of repetitive, spontaneous creation of handmade objects. The sheer volume of these small objects underscores the scale, concept, and tangible quality of the work, serving as a therapeutic and redemptive process reflecting personal struggle. Her smaller-scale projects include book art, video, and design.
An internationally active installation artist, Kasumi's solo and group exhibitions span galleries and educational institutions worldwide. In Seattle, her work has been featured at venues such as the Wing Luke Asian Museum, Seattle Art Museum, Olympic Sculpture Park, the Gardner Center for Asian Arts & Ideas, Seattle Center, the University of Washington, and Seattle University, with some pieces housed in University of Washington’s and Seattle University’s Special Collections.
Her work has also been exhibited in cities across the U.S., including Rochester, Philadelphia, Chicago, Gainesville, Denver, and Anchorage, as well as in Portland and Eugene, Oregon. Internationally, she has exhibited in Verona, Frankfurt, Budapest, Brisbane, Sydney, Hobert (Tasmania), New Delhi, Shanghai, and Belize. In Japan, her exhibitions span Tokyo, Yokohama, Nagoya, Osaka, Kyoto, Fukushima, Kamaishi, and many other cities.
Kasumi has been invited as an artist-in-residence at the Soji-ji Temple in Yokohama, Japan, where she presented her signature piece "Sarit" (Flow of Compassion) for the 650th anniversary of the temple’s second Zen Master. In 2019, she created a large installation for the permanent collection at the Shanghai Institute of Visual Art, focusing on ecological concerns and water pollution. In 2020, she was invited to exhibit in “Make Crises Visible,” an activism art and design collection, at the Senckenberg Museum of Natural History in Frankfurt, Germany.
Education
- MFA in Visual Design at the University of Oregon
- BFA in Visual Design at the University of Oregon
- BA in Social Welfare at Bukkyo University, in Kyoto, Japan
Courses Taught
Kasumi teaches the majority of the program’s graphic design courses, including Typography, the Graphic Design 1 and 2 sequence, Artist's Book, and Senior Synthesis. Through her unique approach to inclusive design studio pedagogy and creative design thinking, she emphasizes the education of the whole person. In her courses, students not only acquire the technical skills necessary for design professionals but also apply these skills through community-engaged service-learning projects. These projects are designed to promote, support, educate, and raise awareness within the community. Additionally, students have the opportunity to collaborate with teams external to academia, which allows them to build their professional portfolios in real-world contexts.
At Seattle University, Professor Kasumi created and currently directs the Japan Program, a summer study-abroad Studio Art experience in Yokohama, Japan. Previously, she also created and directed the Siena Program, which was offered in Siena, Italy, for ten years. In both programs, students engage deeply with the art of bookmaking, facilitated by collaborations between Kasumi, local scholars, and hand-print artisans.
In addition to her academic work, Kasumi is deeply committed to community service. She has traveled with Professionals Without Borders to assist with projects at the Chikuni Mission in Zambia and has led a team of students in creating a large-scale installation art project at an orphanage in Ladyville, Belize.