Masumi Hayashi (photographer) facts for kids

Dr. Masumi Hayashi (September 3, 1945 – August 17, 2006) was an American photographer and artist. She taught art at Cleveland State University in Cleveland, Ohio, for 24 years. Masumi Hayashi was known for her amazing "panoramic photo-collages." These are like huge photo puzzles made from many smaller pictures.

She won many awards for her art. These included the Cleveland Arts Prize and several Ohio Arts Council awards. She also received a Fulbright fellowship. Her work was recognized by the National Endowment for the Arts and other groups.

Masumi Hayashi: An Amazing Artist

Masumi Hayashi created over 200 large photo-collages. She took many photos from different angles using a tripod. Then, she carefully put them together to create a wide, often 360-degree view.

Her art often showed important places. She photographed sites like World War II internment camps. These were places where Japanese-Americans were held. She also photographed old industrial areas and places needing environmental cleanup. Other subjects included abandoned prisons, military sites, and sacred buildings.

In 2004, she started Masumimuseum.com. This website is an online collection of her artworks. It helps people around the world see her unique creations.

Where You Can See Her Art

Masumi Hayashi's artworks are displayed in many famous museums. You can find them at the International Center of Photography in New York City. Her art is also in the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography in Japan.

Other museums include the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The Victoria and Albert Museum in London also has her pieces. In 2007, several museums held big shows to honor her work. These shows helped people understand her art. They explored how her art thought about fairness, war, and nature.

Her Early Life and Education

Masumi Hayashi was born in 1945 in the Gila River War Relocation Center. This was a camp in Rivers, Arizona. It was one of the places where Japanese-Americans were sent during World War II. This happened after Executive Order 9066 was signed. The Gila River camp was located on the Gila River Indian Reservation.

Hayashi grew up in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles. She went to Jordan High School. As a teenager, she helped her parents at their store, Village Market. She later studied at UCLA. She then went to Florida State University in Tallahassee. There, she earned her bachelor's degree in 1975 and her Master of Fine Arts degree in 1977.

Teaching and Awards

In 1982, Masumi Hayashi started teaching photography at Cleveland State University. She became a full professor in 1996. During her time at the university, she won many important awards.

She received an Arts Midwest, NEA fellowship in 1987. In 1997, she got a Civil Liberties Educational Fund research fellowship. She also earned a Fulbright Grant in 2003. The Ohio Arts Council gave her Individual Artist Fellowships three times. In 1994, she was honored with the Cleveland Arts Prize for Visual Arts.

Her Unique Art Style

Masumi Hayashi is best known for her amazing panoramic photo-collages. She used many small color photographs, often 4-by-6-inch prints. She put them together like tiles in a mosaic. Many of her large artworks used over one hundred smaller photos. The finished collage could show a 360-degree view or even more.

Much of her work looked at places that were socially important. These included prisons, relocation camps, and environmental cleanup sites. Later in her career, she became very interested in sacred places. She traveled to India and other parts of Asia to photograph spiritual sites.

Remembering Masumi Hayashi

Masumi Hayashi passed away on August 17, 2006, in Cleveland, Ohio. She was a beloved artist and teacher. Her unique art continues to inspire many people. She is remembered for her powerful photo-collages and her dedication to art. She is survived by her son, Dean Keesey, her daughter, Lisa Takata, her brother, Seigo, and four sisters: Connie, Amy, Nancy, and Joanne.