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Shari Arai DeBoer is a visual artist working in printmaking, watercolor and book arts. After working as an architect, Shari shifted her focus to visual art. In her art practice she examines wonders of the natural world, the minutiae of everyday life, and her own family stories in the context of larger social and historical issues. Shari is active in local organizations that use art to build community and one of the five members of the artist collective, Sansei Granddaughters.

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Yumiko Glover is a Los Angeles based visual artist originally from Hiroshima, Japan. Her work reflects a dialogue between Japanese tradition and contemporary life, often exploring impermanence, memory, and transformation through the lens of Zen philosophy and personal history. Growing up in Hiroshima shaped her sensitivity to the fragility of life and the resilience of the human spirit, themes that continue to guide her exploration of cultural identity and reconciliation.

Glover’s paintings and installations merge organic imagery such as clouds, water, and bonsai trees with abstract, pixelated forms that evoke both destruction and renewal. Her practice bridges Eastern and Western aesthetics, inviting reflection on the interconnectedness of past and present.

Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including at the Honolulu Museum of Art, Los Angeles International Airport, the Shangri La Museum of Islamic Art, Culture & Design, the Torrance Art Museum, and the Japanese Friendship Garden in San Diego. She currently teaches painting and contemporary art at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

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Jennifer Boyuan Han is currently based in San Francisco. She is a member of the Asian American Women Artists Association. Han earned her BFA and MFA from California College of the Arts (CCA). She works across media, from traditional materials like acrylic and oil paint to sand, performance, laser-cutting, and mixed-media installation and sculpture. Her work has been exhibited in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Maryland, Rome, and Venice, with solo exhibitions in San Francisco, and in Nanjing and Shanghai.

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Connie Cagampang Heller is a textile artist based in Oakland, CA. Her art explores themes related to race in America--capturing both what is beautiful and inspiring about people and disturbing about the continually evolving systems of marginalization.

Her art has been shown at the Kahilu Theatre (Waimea, HI), the National Academy of Medicine (Washington, DC) and at Kearney Street Workshop’s APAture 2023 (San Francisco, CA). Her art is in the collections of The Charles Houston Hamilton Institute, the California Historical Society, Tufts' Tisch College for Civic Life, the Advancement Project (DC) and on the cover of the late Dr. Lani Guinier’s book The Tyranny of Meritocracy. You can see her art at www.projectlinkedfate.org/make/

She serves on the boards of the AAPI Civic Engagement Fund and the AAPI Democracy Fund.

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Betty Nobue Kano was born in Sendai, Japan. Her mother Elsie Adachi was born in Richmond, CA and her father Toshio Kano was born in Amami Oshima, Japan. Her grandfather started Adachi Nursery in Richmond in 1905. The Adachi’s were incarcerated at Topaz, UT, and returned after the war to their floral business until 2017.

She received her M.F.A. in Painting from U.C. Berkeley. She was awarded a CA State Senate Certificate of Recognition; “Sisters of Fire” Award by Women of Color Resource Center; Rockefeller Foundation Residency at Queens College, NY; SECA Award Finalist; Exhibition Award, SF Arts Festival.

She taught at San Francisco State University for 18 years and was Executive Director at Pro Arts Gallery for 6. She co-founded Asian American Women Artists Assoc.; Art Against Apartheid; Women of Color Camp. She volunteered with Medicine Warriors/All Nations Singers Powwow in Oakland, CA.

Exhibitions: Eric Fischer Gallery, NYC; Triton Museum, Santa Clara; Mary Porter Sesnon Gallery at UCSC; Univ. Ill at Springfield; California African American Museum, L.A.; Marjorie Barrick Museum, UNLV; Berkeley Art Center; Downtown Gallery, LA; Allrich Gallery, SF; Richmond Art Center. Collections: SF Art Commission; Triton Museum; Mills College, WA State Art Commission, Univ. of Colorado Art Museum

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Susan is Nikkei-Sansei (third-generation Japanese American) and is a native of Stockton, CA. She mainly channels her creative energies towards the Japanese traditional art of ikebana.

Susan exhibits ikebana arrangements in various venues and conducts demonstrations and workshops throughout the U.S. and teaches in Northern California

She holds the rank of Mokudai (senior professor) and is currently the Vice Director of the Saga Goryu School of Ikebana, North America Chapter.

I was born in 1947, two years after my parents, grandparents, and many other family members were released from incarceration at Manzanar.     

Growing up among low income, working class people, predominantly of European ancestry, I learned early that anyone with their heart in the right place can be an ally. I also learned to protect myself and my friends from bullying and physical violence.

During the middle years of my adult  life,  parenting and working  full-time as a registered nurse serving low income and immigrant families left little time for much else.

Now legally blind and retired, I continue to be involved in community advocacy. I also now have time for art making and writing.

With very little formal art training., I have enjoyed participating in quite a few juried community focused art shows. I hope others will find joy in exploring their own creativity within community.

As we reach the 250 year anniversary of the founding of our country, here on native American land, we truly must all openly embrace each other in creating a true homeland for us all.

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Elle’s intention is to inspire the viewer to feel at peace through her dreamlike, calming, and meditative compositions that utilize digital paint brushes and textures. Amidst the chaos of the world, she believes art can uplift and bring peace, which is her intention woven through every piece she creates.

Whether working on a traditional canvas or in the digital realm, Elle infuses her work with an infectious sense of playfulness and optimism. Her vivid colors, intricate details, and ethereal scenes invite you to step into a world where imagination knows no bounds.

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Kira is a sixth-generation Japanese American high school senior from Portland, Oregon. In her free time, she enjoys volunteering at local JACL events and at a senior lunch program called Ikoi No Kai. She also loves trying different foods and exploring new places.

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Tara Tamaribuchi (b. 1975, California) currently lives and works in Seattle, WA, and is a descendent of Tule Lake incarceration. Her recent exhibitions have taken place at Tlaxcala3 (Mexico City Art Week), Jack Straw Cultural Center (Seattle), Carnation Contemporary (Portland, OR), Seattle Art Fair (Vestibule Gallery), UW Jacob Lawrence Gallery (Seattle), Method Gallery (Seattle), Seattle University Hedreen Gallery, Eastover Contemporary Arts (Lenox, MA), and Galpão (São Paulo, Brazil). Tara has been working to realize more tangible outcomes through creative placekeeping via a nonprofit she founded, Friends of Inscape, to save Seattle’s largest art studio building and former immigration and detention center (and site of Japanese American incarceration) from redevelopment. As a part of that effort, she curated the 2025 group exhibition, Eight Years: Finding Resistance and Belonging in the Historic Immigration Building, at ARTS at King Street Station. She is a member of SOIL Artist-Run Gallery, which is celebrating its 30th year as an experimental art space. Tara earned a BA in Journalism from George Washington University, BFA in Painting from Pacific Northwest College of Art, and MFA from Lesley Art and Design.

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Loring Taoka is a visual artist who explores looking and seeing, asking questions about how we look and what we choose to see. They use camouflage as an aesthetic and conceptual framework, queering it to negotiate their relationship with hiding in plain sight and/or blending in, and to navigate the tension between safety and violence. Recent solo exhibitions include ± at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, vs at Galleri Urbane, and I heart void at Public Storage. Loring lives and works in Pittsburgh, PA.

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Erica Wong is a Los Angeles based graphic designer and illustrator. She specializes in logo design, brand identity, illustration, and print layout. She also has a background in studio art focusing on drawing, painting, and printmaking.

Erica graduated summa cum laude from Loyola University Chicago in May 2024 with her B.A. in Studio Art and Visual Communication. She has had the pleasure of designing for Japanese American Memorial Pilgrimages (JAMP), the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center (JACCC), and Asian Students in Action (ASIA).

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I am a creative, diligent, patient product of hardworking immigrant parents. My mom was detained at Angel Island; her grandfather worked on the railroad. We lived in Sacramento. Parents, family worked hard at Wong’s Cafe so 3 siblings and I could graduate from UC. Friends, family are a mix of ethnic groups, some experiencing internment camps. I also lived back east; now I am in SF Mission, very hard with Anti Asian Hate. I met the founder of Stop Anti Asian Hate, “Don’t give up.” 2019 I walked 10 Miles of Track in One Day, Promontory Point, Utah. 8/28/25-9/2 I/25, I attended The Commemoration of the Rock Springs Chinese Massacre of 1885, meeting the retired general of the 442 RCT, “GO FOR BROKE.” The Rock Springs community acknowledges its past and honors the lives and memories of the men killed. That is inspiring; an example of America250 acknowledging its past and working, improving towards the future.

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