Misako Inaoka, is an artist and Art Therapist woking in Kyoto and Shiga, Japan. She studied fine art in the United States and Italy, (BFA 2001, MFA 2006) and her works have been exhibited worldwide. She is also a certified Art Therapy in Japan, currently living and working in Japan.
For Art therapy please visit Crescent Art Counseling
稲岡美早子は、京都と滋賀を拠点に活動するアーティストで、表現アートセラピストでもあります。 アメリカとイタリアで美術を学び（2006年修士号取得）、作品は世界各地で展示されています。また、日本におけるアートセラピストの資格を持ち、現在、京都と滋賀を拠点に活動しています。
アートセラピー・カウンセリグのお問い合わせは Crescent Art Counseling まで。
Artist Statement
My creative practice is rooted in a deep inquiry into the interplay between inner and outer ecosystems—how the psyche moves through cycles of memory, perception, and nature. I am drawn to the “small beauties” of the world: fragments, traces, and overlooked materials that quietly invite attention. Using found objects, natural materials, and clay, I intuitively assemble and shape forms that hold emotion, ambiguity, and meaning just beyond language.
As both an artist and art therapist, I see creativity as an alchemical process—where transformation arises through relationship: between self and material, inner vision and outer expression. Nature is not just inspiration, but collaborator and mirror. Its cycles of growth, decay, and regeneration echo the nonlinear, layered nature of healing and becoming.
What emerges is not a final product, but a gesture—an offering of alignment between inner experience and the world around me. In this way, each piece is an invitation: to pause, to notice, and to reconnect with what is subtle, natural, and alive.
私は世界の「小さな美」に惹かれる。それは、静かに注意を誘う断片、痕跡、見過ごされた素材などである。拾い物、自然素材、粘土を使い、感情、曖昧さ、言語を超えた意味を持つ形を直感的に組み立て、形にしていく。
そこから生まれるのは、最終的な作品ではなく、ジェスチャー、つまり内なる体験と私を取り巻く世界との間の整合性の提示なのだ。それぞれの作品は、立ち止まること、気づくこと、そして繊細で自然で生きているものと再びつながることへの招待状なのだ。
Education
BFA 2001 RISD (Rhode Island School of Design) RI, United States
MFA 2006 Mills College, CA, United States
RESUME
Selected Solo Exhibition
2019 The Objects of Relations, Hounen-in temple, JAPAN
2015 Wild Wild Life, Dominican University,
2014 Fractured Fauna, Johansson Projects, Oakland, CA
2012 Back Domain, Johansson Projects, Oakland, CA
2012 Muted Imprints, Boca Raton Museum of Fine Art, FL
2010 Guided Growth, Johansson Projects, Oakland, CA
2009 Natural Selection, Galleri Urbane, Marfa/Dallas, TX
2009 Survival Game, David Salow Gallery, Los Angels, CA
2007 Origin of Species, Stephen Wirtz Gallery, SF, CA
2006 Secret Nature, Blankspace, Oakland, CA
2005 Invisible City of Moon Watching Plants, View 155, SF Arts Commission Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2004 The first twenty-four hoursî ATAWindow Installation, SF, CA
2002 The Microfiche, The Back Room Gallery,SF, CA
2000 Le Onde, solo installation, Cenci Gallery, Rome, ITALY
Selected Group Exhibition
2022 Shifting Terrains, Mills College Art Museum, CA
2015 Youno-kai-ten, Umeda Garo(Gallery), Osaka, JAPAN
2015 Altered Books, Adobe Books Backroom Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2014 Cat Art Show LA, 101 exhibit, Los Angels, CA
2013 Alive, Laguna Beach Museum, Laguna Beach, CA
2012 Matcha, Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, CA
2012 Evolutionary Insight, Worth Ryder Gallery, US Berkeley,
2011 Mini Size Me, Bakersfield Museum (BMA), Bakersfield
2011 MA2 Gallery, Tokyo, JAPAN
2010 VOLTA, NY Art Fair, site-specific installation, NY, NY
2009 Green, ICA San Jose, San Jose, CA
2009 What is Isnít, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX
2009 Natural Blunders, de Saisset Museum, Santa Clara, CA
2008 BAY Area Now 5, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA
2008 Contocore, Ping Ping Space, Guangzhou, CHINA
2008 Sol, two person show, Gallery Trex, Yatugatake, JAPAN
2008 Birdwatch, Sun Valley Center for the Arts, ID
2008 Homegrown, PUNCH Gallery, Seattle, WA
Awards/Grants/Residencies
2024 Montalvo Arts Center, Lucas Artists Residency, Saratoga, CA
2012 Gerd Koch & Carole Milton Grants, Ventura, CA
2011 Environmental Biennale, I-park residency, East Haddam, CT
2010 Montalvo Residency, Irvine Fellowship, Saratoga, CA
2010 Washington Award, S & R Foundation, Washington DC
2008 de Young Museum, Artist-in-Residency program, SF, CA
2007 Headlands Art Center, Artist-in-Residency, Marin, CA
2007 MacDowell Colony, Artist-in-Residency, NH
2005 Trefethen Merit Award, Oakland, CA
2005 Eklind Fellowship, Oakland, CA
2005 Frank Herringer Foundation, scholarship, CA