Art Project
A Letter to the Earth from Beatrix
Allan Bank, The National Trust, Grasmere
Season 1:
Soft Opening: 16/03/2022 - 22/09/2022
Hard Opening: 23/09/2022 - 15/12/2022
Season 2:
27/05/2023 - 29/10/2023
"A Letter to the Earth from Beatrix" is my solo art project, commissioned by the National Trust and supported by Arts Council England, held at Allan Bank in Grasmere, UK, in 2022. The project, which was the largest solo project to date, featured two large-scale murals painted directly onto the interior walls of Allan Bank—one a portrait of Beatrix Potter, the other a venerable old ash tree—alongside a series of animal portraits inspired by Beatrix Potter’s rich and multifaceted legacy.
This project centres on Allan Bank—a site steeped in legacy, once home to William Wordsworth, Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley, and Eleanor Rawnsley, all passionate advocates for preserving the Lake District. Beatrix Potter, inspired by their vision, carried it forward through her life’s work. "A Letter to the Earth from Beatrix" became both tribute and dialogue, bridging past and present, art and conservation. The project continued into a second year, deepening its resonance with the place and its legacy.
Wordsworth, Rawnsley & Lake District
Rydal Mount, Ambleside
14/8/2021 - 30/09/2021
2020 is a significant year for the English Lake District, marking the 250th anniversary of William Wordsworth's birth and the centenary of Hardwicke Drummond Rawnsley's death. Wordsworth, the renowned Romantic Poet Laureate, and Rawnsley, an Anglican priest and co-founder of the National Trust, were instrumental in championing the conservation of the Lake District's natural beauty. To commemorate this important year, I embarked on a new art project titled "Wordsworth, Rawnsley and Lake District," supported by the Arts Council England Emergency Response Fund, culminating in my solo exhibition at Rydal Mount in 2021.
Conversation with Ruskin
Blue Gallery, Brantwood, Coniston
08/08/2019 - 17/11/2019
The Ruskin, Lancaster University, Lancaster
23/01/2020 - 28/02/2020
2019 marked the 200th anniversary of John Ruskin’s birth. A towering figure in Victorian England, Ruskin was an artist, critic, writer, social thinker, and Oxford professor. He championed the Gothic Revival and laid the ideological groundwork for the Pre-Raphaelites and the Arts and Crafts Movement. To celebrate this commemoration, I organised my solo art project "Conversation with Ruskin".
Central to the exhibition was a portrait of Ruskin rendered in a horizontal double-vision style, creating a dimensional illusion that evokes another realm. This technique was intended to heighten the mystery of human existence and provoke contemplation on the divide between visible and invisible, physical and spiritual—concepts unique to humanity. Complementing the portrait was a series of nature-themed works, inspired by Ruskin’s belief in learning from nature as a foundation for artistic practice. The project was held at Brantwood in Coniston—Ruskin’s final home—and at The Ruskin, Lancaster University’s academic centre dedicated to his legacy, supported by Arts Council England.
Wordsworth and Bashō: Walking Poets
Itami City Art Museum Kakimori Bunko, Hyogo, Japan
17/09/2016 – 03/11/2016
The special exhibition Wordsworth and Bashō: Walking Poets, curated by Wordsworth Grasmere and The Walk, was held at the Itami City Art Museum Kakimori Bunko in Hyogo, Japan. This cross-cultural showcase united original manuscripts from two national literary figures—William Wordsworth of England and Matsuo Bashō of Japan—alongside works by more than twenty contemporary artists from both countries.
For this occasion, I created a quadriptych portrait depicting these iconic poets in silent dialogue, facing one another as if communing beyond the boundaries of time and space. The piece marked my first direct engagement with the Japanese traditional art form Fusuma-e—paintings on sliding doors—inviting a meditative interplay between classical aesthetics and contemporary interpretation.
Kakimori Bunko is a museum-library for the Kakimori Collection, one of the world's three major collections of haiku poetry and painting, including original manuscripts of Matsuo Bashō.
I Wandered...
A Celebration of the 200th Anniversary of the Publication of William Wordsworth’s ‘Daffodil’ Poem
Rydal Mount, Ambleside
11/04/2015 - 31/08/2015
The project was held at Rydal Mount to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the final publication of William Wordsworth’s iconic poem I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud. In response, I created a new series of works exploring the theme of daffodils, including a diptych portrait of Wordsworth titled Daffodils (Diptych). This piece marked my first foray into portraying historical figures and proved to be the most challenging work of the series.
The exhibition received wide media coverage, both locally and nationally, with features in the Westmorland Gazette, BBC Radio Cumbria, and The Independent, which spotlighted the diptych with the headline: “Artist unveils first portrait of Wordsworth in 200 years.”
The Way I See
Sugar Sotre Gallery, Brewery Arts Centre, Kendal
19/07/2013 - 27/09/2013
Japan House Gallery, Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation, London
24/10/2013 - 13/12/2013
This project explores the meaning of portraiture in contemporary art through a series of twelve diptychs. Inspired by the ancient diptych format—later adopted in Christian culture as portable altarpieces—each work pairs two vertically aligned images.
One panel features individuals I personally encountered in the Lake District; the other presents a symbolic depiction of the overwhelming majority—those who have not been, are not, and likely will never be portrayed. These are represented through a series of fallen leaves found locally, each rendered with care and intention. These leaves evoke anonymity and transience, standing in contrast to the historical privilege of those traditionally portrayed, often figures of status or means. By placing these two realms side by side, I seek to dissolve the hierarchy of representation and invite open-ended dialogue from my everyday perspective as the artist.
The project debuted in 2013 with support from Arts Council England, touring the Brewery Arts Centre in Kendal and the Japan House Gallery at the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation in London.
Natural Poetry
Rydal Mount, Ambleside
04/11/2005 - 28/11/2005
The project “Natural Poetry” was organized as an art collaboration with contemporary poet Gary Boswell and young cellist Yoshika Masuda in 2005 at Rydal Mount, the historic home of Poet Laureate William Wordsworth, where he resided for 37 years. Through this project, I sought to explore potential communication with the great poet of the past, who cherished the Lake District––a place I had recently begun to call home with my family. Although it marked a humble beginning to my artistic journey in the UK, this project was undeniably a milestone after more than two decades of silence since my solo show in Aoyama, Tokyo, in 1989.
I endeavoured to create a series of works as if writing poems, contemplating the potential creative synergy between literature and visual art. This series was the first I produced using my original brush hatching method with Japanese sumi ink and acrylic. Furthermore, this project marked my initial attempt at artistic intervention in historical estates, moving beyond the confines of traditional white cube galleries.
