Frank Okada

Frank Okada studied at the Leon Derbyshire School of Fine Art and Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle before going on to receive his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Cranbrook Academy of Art in 1957. He was awarded Whitney and Guggenheim fellowships as well as a Fulbright grant after graduation. After returning to Seattle he briefly opened the Seattle Studio School with fellow painter Bill Ivey and also worked as a commercial artist for the Boeing Company. He began teaching at the University of Oregon in 1969 where he worked until his death in 2000. His work can be found in corporate and museum collections throughout the Northwest including Seattle Art Museum, Portland Art Museum, and the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, Eugene. His work was the focus of solo exhibitions at the Whatcom Museum of Art, Portland Art Museum, and Cornish School of the Arts among others; the Museum of Northwest Art in La Conner, Washington held a posthumous retrospective of his work in 2005.

[source: Museum of Northwest Art & TAM files]