Norie Sato (born July 19, 1949) is an artist living in Seattle, Washington. She works in the field of public art using sculpture and various media–including glass, terrazzo, plastic film, stone, and metal–and often incorporating lighting effects, landscaping, mosaics, prints, and video. She frequently collaborates with architects, city planners, and other artists and specializes in integrating artwork and site specific design.[1][2]
Life
editSato was born in Sendai, Japan and moved to the United States with her family when she was 4. After spending some years in Michigan she graduated from the University of Michigan with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Printmaking in 1971. She moved to Seattle in 1972 and received her Master of Fine Arts degree in Printmaking and Video from the University of Washington in 1974.[3] Since that time she has lived and worked in Seattle and has been involved with public art.
Work
editSato has managed, designed, and contributed artwork to urban infrastructure projects, parks, universities, aquatic centers, galleries, museums, transportation systems, airports, libraries, and other civic structures. She has worked extensively in light-rail public-art projects in Phoenix, Portland, Tempe, Salt Lake City,[2] and particularly her native Seattle where she was hired by Sound Transit for its Link Light Rail project in 1998 as a system artist collaborating with fellow artists Dan Corson, Sheila Klein, and Roger Shimomura.[4]
- Selected works
- Seattle Light Rail system at Columbia City station[4]
- The Reflection Room at San Diego Airport[5]
- Romare Bearden Park in Charlotte, NC[6]
- San Francisco International Airport[7]
- Port of Portland headquarters in Oregon[8]
- Palmer Human Development and Family Studies Building at Iowa State University[3]
- Spirit of Inquiry sculpture at University Drive and Rural Road Metro Station - Tempe AZ[9]
- Artwork for Chisholm Trail Parkway in Fort Worth[10]
- Artwork for Waterfront Seattle's Union Street East-West Connector (in progress)[2]
Awards
editShortly after moving to Seattle, one of Sato's prints won a first prize at the 1973 Pacific Northwest Arts and Crafts Fair.[1] She was awarded National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships in 1979 and 1981.[11][12] She received the 1983 Betty Bowen award,[13] the 1998 The National Terrazzo and Mosaic Association Honor Award,[14] the 2013 Twining Humber Award from Washington State Artist Trust,[15] the 2014 Public Art Network Leadership Award from Americans for the Arts,[2][16] and the 2014 Washington State Governor's Arts and Heritage Individual Artist Award.[17][18]
Sato served on the Visual Arts Advisory Panel for the NEA in 1983.[19] She is a former member of the Americans for the Arts Public Art Network Council.[16]
She is a commissioner of the Seattle Design Commission.[16] In 2024, she voted in opposition to replacing a parking garage next to the Pacific Science Center into a 151-unit apartment building, arguing the apartment building will be a "massive presence [that is] missing any articulation that brings delicacy."[20]
References
edit- ^ a b Norie Sato at historylink.org
- ^ a b c d Americans for the Arts: Norie Sato
- ^ a b Iowa State University: Art on Campus Program: Norie Sato, About the Artist
- ^ a b Longtime light-rail artist Norie Sato is ‘curator’ of Link station art; Seattle Times, July 11, 2009
- ^ Meet the airport's first meditation room; San Diego Union, June 20, 2014
- ^ "Charlotte City Center Partners: Romare Bearden Park". Archived from the original on 2015-03-28. Retrieved 2015-03-17.
- ^ San Francisco International Airport unveils glass murals at Terminal 2, San Francisco Examiner, January 13, 2011
- ^ Culture Now: Windswept Air, 2010 - Artworks: Glass
- ^ Spirit of Inquiry - University/Rural Metro Station - Tempe AZ
- ^ Meet artist at Chisholm Trail Parkway Run & Ride event May 2, 2014
- ^ Annual Report of the NEA 1979
- ^ Annual Report of the NEA 1983
- ^ Seattle Art Museum: Betty Bowen award: Past Winners
- ^ Biochemistry art installation wins national honor by Barbara Wolff, University of Wisconsin-Madison News, Feb 01, 1999
- ^ Artist Trust: Award Winners/Past
- ^ a b c Americans for the Arts: Recipients Named in the 2014 Annual Local Arts Leadership Awards May 1, 2014
- ^ University of Michigan Stamp School of Art & Design: Norie Sato Awarded Sep 27, 2014
- ^ Washington State Governor's Arts and Heritage Individual Artist Award
- ^ Annual Report of the NEA 1983
- ^ "Will a proposed apartment high-rise block out a Seattle Center treasure?". The Seattle Times. 2024-08-01.