Minako Yoshino is a Japanese artist based in New York City. She is a painter and sculptor, working in oil, mixed media and marble in the traditional and contemporary styles. Through it, Ms.Yoshino portrays natural forces moving seamlessly between the personal realm and the universal. She attempts to convey a sense of complete and simple acceptance of our connectedness and identification with all things in the universe.
Ms.Yoshino has shown her work both in the US and internationally, and is endeavoring to reach a greater audience with whom to share her vision of peace and universal connectedness. She is the recipient of several art awards, including the National Sculpture Society's Scholarship for the Best Young Artist 2004. In 2006 she became the first Japanese Sculptor in 113 years to be awarded the honorable mention for her marble sculpture "Awaken" by the International Professional Woman Artist Organization:NPO Pen & Brush, based in New York City.
Since her time here in New York she has had the honor and privilage of participating in the restoration and beautification of one of the worlds greatest cities. Her 7 ft painting and poem, "The Earth and Humanity" was shown at the United Nations NGO: Earth Society annual award show in the United Nations plaza hotel in 2005. In 2001 she worked on the world first department store built in 1846 -The Sun Bulding- matching the colors of different types of stone in order to restore the outer walls. In 2006 she finished the restoration of 12 statues that were each 9 feet high on the Hearst Tower Project, breathing life back into sculptures from 1928. Ms.Yoshino believes that the purpose of restoration is to bring the past into the future.
In a letter of recommendation, The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City stated, "All of her artwork demonstrates a remarkable combination of originality merged with a highly refined and sophisticated technical skill."