MICHI ITAMI
PAINTER, PRINTMAKER, CERAMICIST
A TRIBUTE BY STEFANI MAR May, 2021
Sasayak II, 1980. Intaglio sugar-lift, step-byte, and aqua tint print on rag 17-5/8 x 21-1/2 inches
I met Michi Itami while she was sitting in a lithography class taught by her friend George Miyasaki at UC Berkeley. She already had been teaching etching at SF Art Institute several years, while I was a semi-formed undergrad. She was married, had two kids & lived in the Berkeley Hills; I was single, scraping by on work/study as a guard at the Berkeley Art Museum. Michi was frank, sensual and funny. Despite our differences in age and life circumstances, we hit it off, and enjoyed each other’s company.
Konmori, 1977. Etching with relief roll on rag paper 17-1/2 x 23-5/8 inches
Untitled, date unknown. Etching with relief roll on rag paper 17-5/8 x 21-5/8 inches
Untitled, date unknown. Ceramic, 23.5 × 7.5 × 6.5 inches
By the 80’s we had both moved to NYC. Michi quickly established herself in a loft in Soho and pursued a thriving teaching career at SUNY Stony Brook, and CUNY. We continued our on-going discussion of art, printmaking, race and politics. She generously offered her loft for a fund-raising party when we launched Artists for Jackson for Jesse Jackson’s 1988 presidential campaign. Later, she did the same for Godzilla, the Asian American Artist Network, hosting meetings in the 1990s. She had a flair for combining house party spirit with activism.
Untitled, 1988. Oil on canvas, 60 x 85.5 inches (diptych)
Me, 1997. Computer generated lithograph, 29.5 x 21.5 inches
I was awed by her embrace of digital printmaking, remarking on the “millions of colors” available through digital as one of the amazing attributes offered. She was not threatened by these technological developments as some were in the printmaking world. Michi saw how both old and new techniques could co-exist.
The Irony of Being American, 1992/1993. Computer generated 4-color lithograph, 36 × 51 inches
Her digital print series, “The Irony of Being American” address a condition so familiar to many Asian Americans. Never being quite accepted as American, we are put in a position of demanding it, as Viet That Nguyen’s Ms. Mori says in The Sympathizer, “You must claim America. America will not give itself to you.” To read her essay The irony of Being American go to: https://www.michi-itami.com/selected-essays
Untitled, ca. 1973. Intaglio on rag paper 17.75 x 22.5 inches
Now in her 80s, Michi still makes art every day, and can be found in her studio, cranking her press, making monoprints, and teaching her daughter and grandson the art and skill. She recently stated, “I’m living in the present”. Michi continues to show us the way.
