Naomi Sugino

By Victoria Belle-Miller • Photos by Jennifer Kettler

It was an average day for local artist Naomi Sugino. But as she sat in her office and prepared for her next art class, she received a phone call. It was Marie Hunter, manager of the Office of Cultural Affairs, calling to tell Sugino that her entry, “After the Rain,” an oil painting of a Ninth Street alley, was chosen as the 2009 commemorative poster for the city of Columbia.

Sugino was surprised when she heard the news but excited. “I was very tickled,” she said with a smile, adding that she felt honored because of her respect for previous contest winners. She was asked to keep quiet until the poster unveiling party; keeping her win a secret was the hardest part of the good news.

Originally from Japan, Sugino moved to Columbia in 1986. As an artist for more than 15 years, she is known for her representational oil paintings and figure drawings. She is also known in the community as an associate professor of art at Columbia College. In this role, she continually learns from her students and advises them to let their everyday surroundings inspire them. Sugino gleans inspiration from her environment, her friends and her colleagues.

Sugino creates art in a way that allows the viewer to be easily led through the work. “I think everybody looks at different paintings or sculptures and sees something different,” she said. “I want the viewer to go through the painting, but I don’t necessarily expect them to (see) the painting exactly how I see the painting.”

“After the Rain,” the winning contest entry, took Sugino about a month and a half to complete. It reflects a Columbia alley after a rainfall. “(It is a) one-point perspective, which is a really simple but very effective way to lead the viewer into the painting,” Sugino said. She used muted colors, a signature style of hers, as well as different shapes and planes.

Sugino chose this painting, in particular, to enter because it was specific to Columbia, and she knew the downtown alley would be easily recognizable. She said she wanted to take something that many might view as ordinary and show it from a more interesting perspective. “It really depicted Columbia,” said Rene Heider, contest judge and Deck the Walls owner. “When you look at it, you can identify with it.”

The winning poster is sold at Deck the Walls every year, and Heider said it generally sells well. Some people have even made a tradition of collecting each annual poster. A commemorative poster has been produced every year since 1992, according to Hunter. The poster and party began as fundraisers for the Festival of the Arts, which sought to raise awareness about the Office of Cultural Affairs. After a decline in participation and revenue, the festival was discontinued this year, but the poster contest remained. “We felt like we could maintain the commemorative poster as a successful stand-alone event,” Hunter said.

Out of the 74 contest entries, Sugino’s work caught the judges’ eyes this year. “It’s a bit of a challenge because there’s lots of good art, lots of good things to choose from,” Heider said of the judging process. She went on to explain what made Sugino’s piece stand out. “We like the use of color and the format in which it was painted.”

The poster contest is designed to celebrate local arts and artists. “The nature of the event really gives us a wonderful opportunity to highlight one individual’s work,” Hunter said. “We hope that through the poster we are introducing that artist to a larger audience.” After winning the 2009 Missouri Arts Award and now Columbia’s poster contest, Sugino has definitely become more prominent in the area.

“Alley,” another of Sugino’s paintings, was the winning piece for the 2009 Missouri Arts Award. The painting of an alley in Hermann, Mo., also uses one-point perspective and depth. Naturally modest, Sugino was surprised when she learned she had won the award. The contest did not require artists to enter anything, and her work was chosen out of 50 other artists. Laughing, she said, “I thought it was a prank call.”

In the past, Sugino’s art consisted of cityscapes, landscapes and self-portraits, but now Sugino is working on a new project. “I’m working on a series of interior space … in a vertical format,” she said. Sugino plans on doing charcoal and oil paintings of the environments of her family and friends. “I’m trying to personalize it as much as I can so that it is very specific other than just the generic interior.”

In this next phase of her career, Sugino is sure to impress.