Style Pop Art | Name Laura Kina | |
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Nationality Okinawan and Spanish-Basque/Anglo Education University of Illinois at Chicago, School of the Art Institute of Chicago | ||
024 laura kina critical mixed race studies conference 100 mixed show
Laura Kina (born 1973) is an American artist, academic and contributor to the emergent field of Critical Mixed Race Studies. Kina was born in Riverside, California. and raised in Poulsbo, Washington. She moved to Chicago, Illinois in 1991 to attend the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she studied with Michiko Itatani and Ray Yoshida, earning her B.F.A. in 1994. Moreover, in 2001, Kina received her M.F.A. from the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) where she studied under noted painters Kerry James Marshall and Phyllis Bramson.
Contents
- 024 laura kina critical mixed race studies conference 100 mixed show
- Queering Contemporary Asian American Art
- Art
- Asian American Studies
- Critical Mixed Race Studies
- References
Drawing inspiration from popular culture, art history, textile design, historic photographs and family photos, Kina's works focus on the fluidity of cultural difference and the slipperiness of identity. Asian American history and mixed race representations are subjects that run through her work. Colorful pattern fields combined with figurative elements and subtle narratives characterize her paintings. Kina is mixed race Asian American. On her father’s side, she is a descendant of Okinawan sugar cane plantation workers from Piihonua on the Big Island of Hawai'i. Her maternal grandmother was Spanish/Basque from Vallejo, California, and her maternal grandfather was French, English, Irish, and Dutch from Waco, Texas.
Laura Kina is Associate Professor of Art, Media, and Design at DePaul University, Vincent DePaul Distinguished Professor, and Director of Asian American Studies. She helped found DePaul’s Asian American Studies program in 2005. Kina is a 2009-2010 DePaul University Humanities Fellow. Her work is represented by Diana Lowenstein Fine Arts in Miami, Florida. She currently lives and works in Chicago, Illinois with her husband, Mitch, daughter, Midori, and stepdaughter, Ariel.
Kina’s work was included in The New Authentics: Artists of the Post-Jewish Generation at the Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and Leadership, Chicago, IL in 2007-2008 and the Rose Art Museum in Waltham, MA in 2008.
Queering Contemporary Asian American Art
Art
Laura Kina creates art, which relates to race, religion, class, family, and identity, more specifically focusing on Asian American and mixed race identity. Kina's work typically studies highly personal subjects, such as her own family circle, friends, memories, and dreams. It is precisely the intimate relationship Kina has with her subjects that allows her to examine complex social and political issues with great care and detail.
Asian American Studies
Kina is Associate Professor of Art, Media, and Design, Vincent DePaul Distinguished Professor, and is also the director of Asian American Studies at the school, a program which she helped develop and establish in 2005. Kina teaches courses on Asian American Arts and Culture at DePaul. Kina has also been involved with Asian American arts organizations such as DestinAsian (1992–1995), Foundation for Asian American Independent Media (1995-), Asian American Artists Collective-Chicago and Project A (2001-), and the Diasporic Asian Arts Network (2009-).
Critical Mixed Race Studies
Kina is collaborating with Wei Ming Dariotis, Assistant Professor Asian American Studies San Francisco State University, and Camilla Fojas, Associate Professor and Chair Latin American and Latino Studies DePaul University, to found a national association for Critical Mixed Race Studies (CMRS). She helped created the biannual Critical Mixed Race Studies Conference held at DePaul University in 2010, which brings together over 400 scholars from across the U.S., Canada, U.K., and other countries. Kina is a community arts advisory member of the Mavin Foundation’s Mixed Heritage Center. Kina and Dariotis produced a book and curatorial project titled "War Baby/Love Child: Mixed Race Asian American Art" (University of Washington Press) in 2013. Kina teaches a course on Mixed Race Art & Identity at DePaul University.