Laura Kina

Laura Kina is an artist, independent curator, and scholar whose research focuses on Asian American art and critical mixed race studies. She is an Associate Professor of Art, Media and Design at DePaul University. She earned her MFA from the school of the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2001, where she studied under noted painters Kerry James Marshall and Phyllis Bramson, and her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1994, where she studied with painters Michiko Itatani and the late Chicago Imagist Ray Yoshida. Born in Riverside, California to an Okinawan father from Hawai'i and a Spanish/Anglo mother from the Pacific Northwest, Kina was raised in Poulsbo, WA and currently lives and works in Chicago, IL. Her work has shown nationally in the US and internationally in India and is represented in Miami, FL by Diana Lowenstein Fine Arts. Her solo shows include: Sugar (Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, 2010), A Many-Splendored Thing (Gene Siskel Film Center, Chicago, IL 2010), Aloha Dreams and Hapa Soap Operas (Diana Lowenstein Fine Arts, Miami, FL 2007 and 2003), and Loving (Grand Projects, New Haven, CT 2006).

Education
M.F.A. 2001  Studio Art University of Illinois at Chicago
B.F.A. 1994 Painting The School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Grants and Awards
2011 The National Endowment for the Arts Art Works grant to DePaul University to support the exhibition War Baby/Love Child Mixed Race Asian American Art, Primary Investigator, awarded $39,000 January 2012-January 2014
Elizabeth Firestone Graham Foundation to support the publication of War Baby/Love Child Mixed Race Asian American Art, Primary Investigator, awarded $10,000 2011-2012

Solo Exhibitions
2010 Sugar, Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, IL
2010 A Many Splendored Thing, Gene Siskel Film Center, Chicago, IL curated by Larry Lee of the Foundation for Asian American Independent Media in conjunction with the 15^th annual Asian American Showcase film festival
2007 Aloha Dreams, Diana Lowenstein Fine Arts, Miami, FL
2006 Loving, Grand Projects, New Haven, CT
2007 Loving,Roosevelt University in conjunction with the Loving Day conference, Chicago, IL
2008 Loving,Sinclair Community College, Dayton, OH
2010 Loving, DePaul University Center for Intercultural Programs in conjunction with the Critical Mixed Race Studies conference, Chicago, IL
2003 Hapa Soap Operas, Diana Lowenstein Fine Arts, Miami, FL

Two Person Exhibitions
2011 Indigo: Laura Kina and Shelly Jyoti, Diana Lowenstein Fine Arts, Miami, FL
2011 Indigo: Laura Kina and Shelly Jyoti, ArtXchange, Seattle, WA
2010 Indigo: New works by Shelly Jyoti and Laura Kina, Nehru Art Centre, Mumbai, India
2009 Indigo: New works by Shelly Jyoti and Laura Kina, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, India
2009 Indigo: New works by Shelly Jyoti and Laura Kina (Preview), RedEarth Gallery, Baroda, Gujarat, India

Group Exhibitions
2012 Ways of Making: Painting, Governors State University, University Park, IL
2010 BamBUDDHAead!, portage ART space, Chicago, IL
2010 Selected of the Selected, 18^th annual juried art exhibition contemporary art, Korean Cultural Center, Los Angeles.
Jurors: Christine Y. Kim, Alma Ruiz, David Pagel
2010 Embracing Ambiguities: Faces of the Future, Cal State Fullerton Main Gallery, Fullerton, CA
2007-2008 The New Authentics: Artists of the Post-Jewish Generation, The Rose Art Museum of Brandeis University, Waltham, MA./ Spertus Museum, Chicago, IL. Curator: Staci Boris

Publications
2013 (forthcoming) Kina, Laura and Wei Ming Dariotis. War Baby/Love Child: Mixed Race Asian American Art (University of Washington Press, 2013)
2011 Cover art for Modeling Citizenship: Jewish and Asian American Writing by Cathy J. Schlund-Vials (Temple University Press, 2011). Invited by Cathy J. Schlund-Vials, Director of Asian American Studies and Assistant Professor of English and Asian American Studies University of Connecticut Storrs.
2010 ”Pursue Justice…But How?”  ZEEK: A Jewish Journal of Thought and Culture. Winter 2010. Cover image and p.62-65.
2010 Kina, Laura. “Half Yellla: Embracing Ethno-racial Ambiguity.” Embracing Ambiguities: Faces of the Future (exhibition catalogue). Cal State Fullerton University, Fullerton Main Art Gallery, 2010.

Curatorial
2013-2014 (forthcoming) Co-curator War Baby/Love Child: Mixed Race Asian American Art, DePaul University Art Museum (April 26-June 30, 2013) / The Wing Luke Museum of the Pacific American Experience (August 9, 2013-January 9, 2014)

Related Professional Experience
2007- present Associate Professor Art, Media, & Design and Vincent DePaul Professor DePaul University and American Studies, Global Asian Studies, and Women and Gender Studies affiliated faculty member
2011-present Founding and managing co-editor Journal of Critical Mixed Race Studies, UC Santa Barbara
2011 National Endowment for the Arts, Art Works Grant Museums panel member, Washington D.C. November 15-17, 2011
2011-present Board Member Japanese American Service Committee, Chicago, IL
2010-present Board Member MAVIN Foundation, Seattle, WA
2009-present Midwest Representative Diasporic Asian Arts Network