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Artist Database
YAMADA, Ruth
- Born
- Vancouver, British Columbia, 1923
- Died
- Toronto, Ontario, 2001
- Biography synopsis
- Japanese-Canadian artist of sumi-e (ink brush) painting and watercolour, Ruth Yamada produced flower, nature and landscape works. She first studied traditional sumi-e in 1959 under Marjorie Pigott and also took classes with Kohaku Kawabata in Kyoto. She studied watercolour at the Ontario College of Art. Her work was shown in solo and group exhibitions in Canada and Japan. She was one of the founding members of the Sumi-e Artists of Canada Society. Recognized for twenty years of teaching at the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre (Toronto), her contributions are underlined by a commemoration of the Sumi-e Artists of Canada award - the Ruth Yamada Award for Excellence in Sumi-e - to the "best in show" artist at their annual fall exhibition. By 1980, Yamada, and others had started a Canadian chapter of the Sumi-e Society of America. She was also a member of the Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour.
- Media used
- Sumi-e ink brush painting
- Watercolour
- Education
- Ontario College of Art & Design (formerly Ontario School of Art), 1965 - 1975
- Memberships
- Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour
- Sumi-e Artists of Canada Society
- File & Archive locations
- Art Gallery of Ontario - Edward P. Taylor Research Library and Archives
- Edmonton Art Gallery, AB - Library
- Hamilton Public Library, ON - Local History and Archives Department
- London Public Library, ON
- Montreal Museum of Fine Arts / Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal, QC
- Canadian Women Artists History Initiative Documentation Centre, QC
- National Gallery of Canada, ON - Library and Archives
- Toronto Reference Library, ON
- BIBLIOGRAPHY
Writings about- "Ruth Yamada." Japanese Canadian Artists Directory Online Vancouver: Powell Street Festival Society, 2017
http://japanesecanadianartists.com/ - Carlo Caldarola, Shinpo, Mitsuru and K. Victor Ujimoto. Sakura in the Land of the Maple Leaf: Japanese Cultural Traditions in Canada Hull, Quebec: Museum of Civilization, 2007
- MacRae, Eileen. "Woman Artist's Fingertips seem to Dance as She Draws in an Ancient Japanese Style." The Globe and Mail 24 May 1971: 17
- Oberman, M.. "Ruth Yamada, 80, Taught Japanese Art; Vancouver-born Artist Promoted Sumi-e Painting." Toronto Star 07 Feb. 2001
- Sleeman, Elizabeth. The International Who's Who of Women 2002 London: Psychology Press, 2001
