Rose Hirano came to Canada in 1972. She studied at University of Western Ontario and worked in Medical Microbiology after graduating.
She has been keenly aware of her passion for the arts in her teens. The opportunity came later in life. She started to paint after moving to Cochrane, Ontario in 1981. Living in a small town of 5,000 in the North was inspiring. However, it was also a daunting experience, due to the lack of peer groups and resources. She took weekend workshops with visiting artists in Timmins and Kirkland Lake. She soon came to realize that the real learning occurs outside classrooms: through constant introspection to explore the right vehicles to express her ideas.
Her early watercolours, while resonating with the simplicity of northern landscape, recorded only what she saw. She soon felt that it was not sufficient. The move to Brantford in 1991 gave her the opportunity to step back, re-evaluate and refocus. She came to realize and empower the desire to express what she thinks and feels.
She eventually finds her ‘voice’ in printmaking: each one of her work is like a page from her visual journal – entries of personal contemplations and social issues using images instead of words.
She now works almost exclusively in reduction woodcut, a multi-inking process, printing from light to dark values using a single piece of wood. Each image averages ten to twelve colour layers. She has come to embrace this methodical and meditative process.
Hirano regularly exhibits her work in solo and juried exhibitions. She founded the annual Art Studio Tour in the Brantford area. She sat on the Brantford’s Glenhyrst Art Gallery of Brant Board of Directors for 10 years, and served a 4-year term on the Creative Art Advisory Board at Mohawk College in Hamilton.
She moved to Richmond Hill, Ontario in 2007 and maintains a Gallery/Studio in the Village Core.
Collections:
Her works are in private & corporate collections
Timmins Museum National Exhibition Centre
Government of Ontario
City of Brantford
Wilfrid Laurier University
Wescast of Brantford.
Exhibitions:
One-Person Exhibitions:
2008 Toronto Outdoor Exhibition
2007 Toronto Outdoor Exhibition - Printmaking Award
2007 Glenhyrst Art Gallery of Brant
2004-2008 Toronto Art Expo
2006 Carnegie Gallery
2006 Lighthouse Festival Gallery
2001-2006 Brant Studio Tour
2005 Glenhyrst Cottage Gallery, Brantford
2005 Carnegie Gallery, Dundas
1995 Rosewood Gallery, Brantford
1991 Le Centre Regional de Loisirs Culturels in Kapuskasing
1990 Le Conseil des Arts de Hearst
1989 Timmins Museum: A National Exhibition Centre
Group Exhibitions:
2008 World Washi Summit Exhibition at Latitude 44 Gallery, 2900 Dundas West, Toronto
2008 Juried Print Exhibition, John Aird Gallery, Toronto
2007 Juried Print Exhibition, John Aird Gallery, Toronto - Honourable Mention
2006 Juried Exhibition, Thames Art Gallery Chatham Cultural Centre
2005 Carnegie Gallery 25th Anniversary Members Exhibition
2005 Carnegie Gallery, "First Editions" - Juried Printmaking Exhibition
2004 Juried Exhibition, Glenhyrst Art Gallery of Brant
1992-2004 Annual Brantford Visual Art Guild Exhibitions
1999-2004 Small Works- Annual Exhibition, CarnegieGallery, Dundas
2003 Juried Exhibition, Glenhyrst Art Gallery of Brant
2002 Juried Exhibition, Glenhyrst Art Gallery of Brant
2001 Juried Exhibition, Glenhyrst Art Gallery of Brant
2000 Juried Exhibition, Thames Art Gallery, Chatham
2000 Brantford Guilds Exhibition, Glenhyrst Art Gallery of Brant
1998 Juried Exhibition-Visual Arts Centre of Clarington, Bowmanville - Honourable Mention
1999 ‘Aboveground’- Organized by the Hamilton Regional Art Council
1997 Juried Exhibition -Lambton Art Gallery, Sarnia
1997 Brantford Potters Guild / Brant Visual Art Guild Exhibition at Glenhyrst Art Gallery of Brant
1997 Public Hanging - Hamilton Regional Art Council
1996 Designer Crafts '96 -Carnegie Gallery – co-organized by the Carnegie Gallery and The Hamilton Region Arts Council
1995 Brantford Potters' Guild at Glenhyrst Art Gallery of Brant
1992 'Earth, Hand & Fire' - Brantford Potters Guild at Glenhyrst Art Gallery of Brant
1992 Juried Exhibition -Glenhyrst Art Gallery of Brant
1991 Jurried Exhibition -Glenhyrst Art Gallery of Brant
1984-90 The Annual Cochrane Art Exhibition
1988 Juried Exhibition -The Timmins Museum: A National Exhibition Centre.
1987 The Northern Ontario Art Association's 20th Graphic Show - Honorable Mention
1987 Juried Exhibtion -The Timmins Museum: A National Exhibition Centre - Honarable Mention
1985 The Northern Ontario Art Association 18th Graphic Show
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