Artist Biography

Teruko Nimura (b. 1978, based in University Place, Washington) creates drawings, sculptures, site specific installations, pottery, public artworks and multi-layered community engagement projects that invite discovery and introspection through experiential connection. Her Japanese and Filipino cultural heritage is a foundational lens for her explorations of collective memory and trauma, identity, motherhood, and the climate crisis. Her work considers the body and its presence within the contextual specifics of the spaces they inhabit. With repetition, multiples, and labor as a gesture of love, she celebrates the flaws and vulnerabilities of objects made by hand.  An emphasis on process and a fascination with the felt language of diverse and humble materials resonates throughout her multi-disciplinary practice.

Teruko received her BFA from San Francisco Art Institute and her MFA from UT Austin. She has exhibited in the U.S., Mexico, and Canada. She was an OX-Bow School of Art Fellow, a mentee artist in the Austin’s LaunchPAD (Public Art Duo) program for emerging public artists, featured in the 2017 TX Biennial, and the New York City Highline’s multi-city exhibition  “New Monuments for New Cities”. Since relocating to Washington she was a Tacoma PARC (Public Art Reaching Community) artist,  featured in the  2021 Bellevue Bellwether Arts Festival, the 2023 BIMA Spotlight Juried Exhibition and “Scanning the Room” at Vashon Center for the Arts. She was a nominated artist for Tacoma’s “Artists in the Archives”, a 2023 Rockland Artist Resident,  and will serve as Artist in Residence for Tacoma’s Environmental Services from 2024-25.