About
BETTY NOBUE KANO
Born 1944, Sendai, Japan
Betty Nobue Kano in her studio
My mother was born in Richmond, CA, she was a Nisei/Kibei. She went back to Japan, married my father, who was from Amami Oshima, a teacher at Tohoku University in Sendai, where I was born. I was five when they came to the US and I started school, attending 6 different schools for the next 6 years as we moved from Richmond to Cambridge and back again.
The 60’s were turbulent at UC Berkeley and I careened from physics to fine arts, joined the Free Speech Movement and dropped out. I completed studio art studies at SFState, and returned to UC Berkeley Graduate School in art in 1968, where I helped form Asian American Political Alliance and participated in Third World Liberation Front, TWLF, organizing, striking and teaching a first class for Ethnic Studies. I was inspired by Asian American history to go to Japan and to leave the academic battleground I was losing. It was a pilgrimage that lasted 3 years and I came back chastised and an American.
I was readmitted to UC Berk. Art Dept. Among the 8 of us to receive MFA degrees in 1978 was the acclaimed artist Theresa Hak Kyung Cha.
The 80’s were with Richard Fallenbaum, my husband, daughter Nina, lots of art making, organizing, activism and expansion of my world view.
The election of Ronald Reagan drove me to put everything I could on the table to resist wholesale repression
The 80’s were with Richard Fallenbaum, my husband, daughter Nina, lots of art making, organizing, activism and expansion of my world view. The election of Ronald Reagan drove me to put everything I could on the table to resist wholesale repression. I helped organize Art Against Apartheid, developed activist art making and exhibitions. My first trip to Cuba in 1985 was transformative and made me thirst for its lessons about art and society. In 1986 I attended the 2nd Havana Biennale and saw what cultural democracy could look like.
I was introduced to the African presence in Cuba, the US and the Caribbean: its importance in creative spirituality and social transformation.
I joined the national Alliance for Cultural Democracy, which focused on representing marginalized communities for visibility and empowerment, and it provided a context for my activism. While exhibiting my own work, I helped found Asian American Women Artists Association, Art Auction for Jesse Jackson; in the 1990’s Resistance 500 (against 500 years of colonialism) and Women of Color Camp.
I taught art in various guises, from community centers to universities and art schools and was a Lecturer at San Francisco State University, teaching Japanese American Art and Literature in the Ethnic Studies Dept., and was Director of Pro Arts, a non-profit gallery in Oakland, where I curated numerous exhibits.
EDUCATION
1967
B.A. San Francisco State College, San Francisco, CA
1978
M.F.A. University of California, Berkeley, CA
TEACHING
1998 – 2015
Lecturer, San Francisco State University,
San Francisco, CA
COLLECTIONS
San Francisco Art Commission, CA
University of Colorado Art Museum, CO
Washington State Arts Commission, WA
Triton Museum of Art, CA
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024
Godzilla: Echoes From the 1990s Asian American Arts Network
Eric Firestone Gallery, New York, NY
In the Presence of - Collective Histories of the Asian American Women Artists Association
Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, CA
Reshaping the Narrative: California Perspectives
Mills College Art Museum, Oakland, CA
2022
Open Circle, An Exhibition Dedicated to Belonging, Self and Community Care,
Lindsay Dirkx Brown Gallery, San Ramon, CA
2016
Water and the Sounding Sirens, Tea Roots Exhibition,
Sherwood Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2013
Speak Your Peace,
SOMArts Main Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2012
SheRose of Our Time, A Tribute to the First Lady, Michelle Obama,
Joyce Gordon Gallery, Oakland, CA
The Future Is Now, Asian America on its Own Terms, 15th Annual Asian American Festival,
SOMArts Main Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2009-2010
An Idea Called Tomorrow,
California African American Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Ashe!
Avenue 50 Studios, Los Angeles, CA
2008
10 Billboards. 10 Artists. 10 Countries. Imagine Peace. Seeing Peace: Artists Collaborate with the United Nations,
Opened in San Francisco, CA
2006
Bay Area Abstraction: A Current View,
Triton Museum of Art, Santa Clara, CA
2005
Full Circle: Betty Nobue Kano and Nancy Hom, APICC Festival,
SOMArts Main Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2004
(S)kinship: African American and Asian American Connections,
SOMArts Main Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Issho/Together: Japanese American/Japanese National Artists in America, 1941- present,
Meridian Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2003
25 Years of Heart and Struggle, (incl. Live Painting Performance)
Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts, San Francisco, CA
War & Silence,
Kearny Street Workshop, SomArts Main Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Association of Asian American Studies Conference,
Cathedral Hill Hotel, San Francisco, CA
2000
Local Color: Selections from the di Rosa Collection,
Sun Gallery, Hayward, CA
Nikkei 2000 Conference,
Miyako Hotel, San Francisco, CA
1998
In the Wind: Betty Kano & Tomoko Murakami,
Asia Resource Gallery, Oakland, CA
1997
Estardantes,
Marta Palau, curator, Tijuana Cultural Center, Tijuana, Mexico
Impressions: Contemporary Asian Artist Prints,
Brandywine Workshop, Center for the Visual Arts, Philadelphia, PA
1996
Faces of Home,
Oliver Art Center, California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland, CA
1994
Odun de Odun de,
Oliver Art Center, California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland, CA
Painting: Asian American Perspectives,
Marjorie Barrick Museum, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV, and Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, NV
1993
The Art We Love to Hate, Jennifer Heath, curator,
Chicano Humanities & Art Council, Denver, CO, and Zoller Gallery, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, and other touring (Pomegranate Artbooks)
Time Echoes, Asian American Women Artists,
C. N. Gorman Museum, University of California at Davis, Davis, CA
New World Order III,
The Curio Shop, Godzilla, Artists Space, New York, NY
1993
Betty Kano/Brian Tripp,
Berkeley Store Gallery, Berkeley, CA
Hopi Prophecy, “Resistance 500,” Installation,
Addison Street Windows, Berkeley, CA
A Voice of Peace and Reason,
Browsing Formal Gallery, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA
Visiting Artists Program: 20th Anniversary Show,
CU Galleries, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO
1991
Fourth Havana Biennial,
Museo de Bellas Arts, Havana, Cuba
Rooms for the Dead, “Executive Order,” Installation,
Mission Cultural Center, San Francisco, CA
Salad Bar Presents: History, Truth or Consequences,
San Francisco State University Art Gallery, San Francisco, CA and Richmond Art Center, Richmond, CA
1990
Betty Kano, Ake Grudtz, Leon Dockery,
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Rental Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Flags,
Walter McBean Gallery, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA
1989
Painting Forum,
Euphrat Gallery, De Anza College, Cupertino, CA
Homeland: A Palestinian Quest,
Minor Injury Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
Art Against Apartheid 1989 Exhibition,
Wesbeth Gallery, New York, NY
1988 – 1992
Echoes Through Time,
EPCOT Center, Orlando, FL
1988
Peter Selz Selects, Peter Selz, curator,
Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, CA
1987
Emerging Asian American Artists, George Rivera, curator,
Triton Museum of Art, Santa Clara, CA
New Abstractions in the West,
Pritchard Art Gallery, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID
Betty Kano & Enrique Chagoya – Social Narratives: An Exploration in Content,
Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, CA
1986
Saludo al Pueblo de Nicaragua,
Casa Gallery, San Francisco, CA and State Museum, Managua, Nicaragua
1985
Traditions Transformed,
Oakland Museum of Art, Oakland, CA and Doizaki Gallery, Japanese American Community Cultural Center, Los Angeles, CA
Chain Reaction,
SF Arts Commission Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1984
Japan Ima Festival, Rolando Castellon, curator,
Mary Porter Sesnon Gallery, University of California at Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA
May I Have Your Attention, Please?
Wing Luke Museum, Seattle, WA
1983
Elegant Miniatures from San Francisco and Kyoto, Tom Marioni, curator,
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA and Belco House, Kyoto, Japan
Betty Kano and Clay Jensen,
Bruce Velick Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Betty Kano & Al Rice,
Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, CA
1982
Betty Kano/Jerry Concha,
TransAmerica Pyramid Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Gump’s Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1981
Betty Kano/Cornelia Schultz,
Falkirk Community Cultural Center, San Rafael, CA
Beyond Words, Josine Ianco-Starrels, juror, Award,
San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, San Jose, CA
1980
Painting Annual, Award,
Richmond Art Center, Richmond, CA
American Artists,
Fukuoka Municipal Museum, Fukuoka, Japan
1979
Expo California,
Sacramento, CA
3-Person Exhibit,
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Rental Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1978
Aesthetics of Graffiti, Rolando Castellon, curator,
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
M.F.A. Candidates,
University Art Museum, University of California, Berkeley, CA
1977
Six East Bay Painters, George Neubert, curator,
Oakland Museum of Art, Oakland, CA
Crocker-Kingsley Annual,
E. B. Crocker Gallery, Sacramento, CA
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2010-2011
Sushi Aka Tombo, San Francisco, CA
2008
Triton Museum of Art, Santa Clara, CA
1996
Visual Arts Gallery, University of Illinois at Springfield, IL
1994
Plaza Gallery, Bank of America World Headquarters, San Francisco, CA
1993
All The Earth Is Red In Cuba, Installation, Mary Porter Sesnon Gallery, University of California at Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA
1984
UPB Gallery (University Press Books), Berkeley, CA
1982
Ron Salgado/Downtown Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1980
Allrich Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1978
Richmond Art Center, San Francisco Arts Festival Solo Exhibition Award, Richmond, CA
Videos & Media
BETTY NOBUE KANO
Mar 19, 2025
“Japanese American artist and activist, Betty Nobue Kano”
Berkeley Historical Society & Museum
Dec 11, 2010
“Betty Nobue Kano Asian American Art and Activism”
jdocena
Jun 12, 2024
“Pass It On - Episode 1: Birth of A Movement - Kim Anno, Betty Nobue Kano, & Flo Oy Wong”
Asian American Women Artists Association
