16 Facts About Frank Okada

Frank Sumio Okada was an American Abstract Expressionist painter, mainly active in the Pacific Northwest.

Frank Okada taught art at the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon from 1969 to 1999.

Frank Sumio Okada was born in Seattle, Washington in 1931.

Frank Okada was the youngest of four brothers, and had two younger sisters.

Charlie Frank Okada was in the all-Nisei 442nd Regimental Combat Team, along with an older foster brother who was killed in action in Italy.

Frank Okada began a lifelong infatuation with jazz music, haunting the record stores and live venues of Seattle's Jackson Street, which was two blocks from the Pacific Hotel, where he lived with his family.

Frank Okada was drafted in the United States Army for just under two years, including several months at an evacuation hospital in South Korea during the Korean War near the Pusan area.

Frank Okada was associated with the Brata Gallery, where he showed regularly, and was profiled in a 'new talent' issue of Art in America magazine.

Frank Okada shared a studio space with friend and fellow painter William Ivey in the rough-hewn Pioneer Square section of downtown Seattle.

Frank Okada's work became increasingly popular, with solo exhibitions in the Northwest and group shows in the US, France, and Japan.

Shortly after retiring from the University, Frank Okada underwent surgery for cancer.

Frank Okada died at Sacred Heart Hospital in Eugene on October 30,2000, at age 69.

Frank Okada was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1967, a Fulbright Fellowship in 1959 and a Whitney Fellowship in 1957.

Frank Okada had several solo exhibitions at regional institutions, including the Whatcom County Museum of Art, Bellingham, Washington, Portland Art Museum, Oregon, and Tacoma Art Museum, Washington.

Frank Okada was represented by the Laura Russo Gallery in Portland, and the Greg Kucera Gallery in Seattle.

Works by Frank Okada are included in the collections of the Philbrook Museum, the Museum of Northwestern Art in La Conner, Washington, Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, Washington; the Portland Art Museum; SAFECO Insurance Company, Seattle; the Seattle Art Museum; Swedish Medical Center, Seattle; the Tacoma Art Museum, Washington; the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, in Eugene, Oregon; the Whatcom Museum in Bellingham, Washington; and many others.