Art Nomura is an Artist and a Professor in Film/TV Production in the School of Film and Television at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles since 1990.
Nomura currently focuses his teaching on senior and graduate film/video projects and the innovative uses of media, including Trans- and 360° media. He has worked as a painter, sculptor, potter, filmmaker, and New Media artist. Many of his works have themes directly connected to the Asian American experience. Nomura has taught media production throughout Southern California since 1981.
From 1981-1985 he co-managed the Video Annex of the Long Beach Museum of Art. From 1985 – 1990 he directed video art production in Studio Art at the University of California, Irvine. He has taught film/video production, editing, screenwriting, computer animation, and film history in Portugal, Italy, Germany, and New Zealand. In 2003 Nomura received a Fulbright Research Scholar Grant to live in Japan and shoot his documentary Finding Home. Art Nomura was born in Manzanar Concentration Camp, California, grew up in black south Los Angeles, white Orange County, and brown East Los Angeles. He is a Vietnam-era veteran, married to performing artist Mary Daval, and is father to three unique children. Watching (2011) Watching is a single channel installation that compels reflection on the relationship between the ‘watched’ and the ‘watcher’. In a world rife with transmitted images, the mundane and catastrophic vie for our attention. The constant deluge de-sensitizes until the hierarchy of importance disintegrates. Is it possible to reclaim the discernment necessary for a conscious existence? Or are we doomed to passively and unconsciously consume whatever images appear before us? From computer-assisted surveillance to traffic cams, to global disaster coverage, the simple pleasure of people watching has morphed beyond innocence into an activity designed to monitor, control, de-sensitize, and suppress.Utilizing a combination of pre-recorded and live imagery, Watching summarizes reality through the use of nine (9) simultaneous video streams. The sound design for Watching was created by Rodger Pardee. See photos of Watching here.
The Wheel and the Cross: Meditation on Suffering and Redemption (2010) is 90 minute performance work for music, dance, film/art installation and interactive video. This work sets out to frame a dialog between the Christian and Buddhist perspectives on human suffering and to affirm—through integrated music, dance, film/art installation, interactive video, and a web-site keyed to the work-in-progress——their essential kinship. Collaborators included, composer Paul Humphreys, documentary maker Luis Proenca, choreographer Sri Susilowati, and new media artist Art Nomura. Photos of the production can be seen here.
Corridor (2009) is a three channel interactive video installation. Kiss, Marathon, and Graveyard symbolize the beginning, middle, and end of life. It distills what has already been converted, by media and reflection, into the past. The corridor itself – designed to surround the viewer in transit – reminds us that we are all only travelers through this time and place. Sound design created by Rodger Pardee. View photos from a trial exhibition of Corridor at the University of New Orleans here.
Voices of the Way (2008) "Voices of the Way" is an evening of multimedia performance works inspired by three of the earth's great sacred traditions. Through textsthat honor the spiritualities of Taoism, Buddhism, and Christianity,"Voices" also affirms the prospect of harmony among all faith traditionsand cultures. Featured ensembles include South Bay Women's Chorus, New Voices Chamber Chorus, LMU Gamelan––Kembang Atangi, and Sri Dance Company. Featured individual performers include Jessica Tunick, soprano, Trevor Berens, piano, Elaine Humphreys-Cook, harp, and
Karl Snider, music director. Choreography by Sri Susilowati; art/film installation by Luis Proença and Art Nomura; live video direction by Art Nomura; original music by Paul Humphreys. For information on a DVD of the event, please click here.
What Goes Around Comes Around (2007) Each of the five words: What – Goes –Around – Comes –Around (WGACA) of the project’s title was used to inspire the production of a short experimental video cycle shot on a digital still camera (point-and-shoot) and a video cell phone. The length of each of the five sections is two minutes. The theme reflects the karmic nature of the phrase and is expressed in literal and abstract ways. Each section is designed to both stand-alone and integrate with the others into a meaningful whole. The subject matter for each creation is determined through an inner process of meditation on the five elements of the Chinese/Japanese/Indian zodiac (wood, fire, earth, metal, and water) combined with the external stimulation of immersion in places theretofore unvisited by the filmmaker.
Digital Mandala (1994) Multi-faceted depiction of the inner and outer cosmos using non-fictional imagery.
Features ground-breaking work with COSA (now Adobe) After Effects software. Currently being updated into a HDTV presentation entitled, Digital Mandala, Redux.
Finding Home (2006), a 52 minute documentary, was sponsored by a 2003-04 Fulbright Research Grant. Nomura spent the fall/winter of 2003 in Japan capturing visuals and conducting interviews for this project. Finding Home is about Japanese Americans who have decided to live in Japan rather than America.
A partial listing of his creative work includes:
New Media
9 Hours Ahead (2000) An unconventional examination of a few differences between California and Germany.
Buckaroo Boy (1996) Experimental autobiography on the coming-of-age of a Japanese American boy in the 50’s and 60's. It humorously explores the influence of TV cowboys and other mainstream heroes on minorities’self-identity and the possible connections between the Japanese and Native American Indians.
Asian Pacific American Heritage Promos (1994) A series of eight, 60
second spots highlighting the culture and members of the Korean,
Vietnamese, Japanese, Chinese, Samoan, Cambodian, Thai, and Filipino
communities.
Aired throughout the month of May, 1994 as part of the celebration of
Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.
Produced for Channel 28, KCET, Los Angeles.
Getting Along (1992) An experimental look at racism and its roots. This
award-winning video (Atlanta Video
Festival) is included in over 100 university collections nationwide.
A Conversation With Six Artists (1992) Segment produced for`The Works',
an arts magazine and video cafe, for Channel 28, KCET, Los Angeles,
1992.
Features writer Janet Sternberg, actor Shishir Kurup, actresses Diane
Rodriguez and Joyce Guy, director Jose Luis Valenzuela, and art activist
Milton Simpson. 1993 Los Angeles Area EMMY nomination
las palmas de los angeles (1989) A poetic documentary
about the palm trees of Southern California.
Fire and Ashes (1989) A documentary about the destruction of a series of paintings by ritual dance and fire in the California desert. Features Korean artist, Sonia Hahn.
Wok Like A Man (1987) A music video with substance that explores the reasons for immigration/immigrant experience thru the lives of three generations of Chinese Americans.
John (1986) About men named John.
3 Wishes (1982) Asks the question of people between the ages of 6 - 81, `If you could have three wishes, what would they be?'
Refugees from Laos: A Hill Tribe in West Oakland
(1981) About the enculturation of the Mien from Laos, as they resettle
in a California ghetto after the Vietnam war.
Narrative
Lotusland (1991) The first-ever pilot for a TV drama series that
features non-stereotypical Asian American characters and stories.
Producer, Writer, Editor.
Experimental (single channel)
Dance Videos (in collaboration with Mary Daval)
include:
5 Dances for Small Spaces (1990) Five dances choreographed and performed
by Mary Daval. Settings include a chair, a doorway, inside a car mirror,
a phone booth, and a three-step staircase.
Windfall (1988) Three dancers interpret the movement of bicycle wheels
and wind turbines against a backdrop of cars and traffic.
Seascape (1984) Dancers in a post-modern indoor setting bathe in the
light of an electronic sun. One decides not to conform.
Depot Duet (1983) A solo performance by Mary Daval in Union Station, Los
Angeles. A metaphor for the highs and lows of traveling. Nominated for a
Los Angeles area EMMY.
Haute Flash (1982) Two high fashion sequin-clad mannequins come to life
in a futuristic setting.
Other Experimental
Tortoise and the Hare (1991) An interpretation of the classic tale told
with digital tools using a Beta version of Adobe Premeire.
Interactive
Home (1999) Interactive CD-Rom and web-based project on the notion of
`home’. A collaboration of seventeen artists from around the nation.
Produced by Annette Barbier and Drew Browning.
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