Mariko Ushido began expressing herself with art at age 5, taking up figurative drawing, graduating to painting by age 8. During her early years, she acquired acute observational skills useful for discerning subtle nuances within human expression, which she captured in her art by applying slight variations in color, anatomical position, and background mood.

 

Accentuating this sense of human communication through her art, Mariko was an early admirer of noted female Japanese comic artists such as Masumi Moriwaki, and Moto Hagio. More recently, the artist has taken further instruction in pencil, pastel, acrylics, and notably, the technique of East African modern batik painting, as instructed by noted African-Canadian artist David Kibuuka.

 

The unique painterly qualities of this contemporary fine art medium--distinct and separate from traditional batik dying originating in Indonesia--allow this artist the full range of color, composition, and visual impact normally reserved for oils and acrylics. Mariko has made full use of this potent medium for her most recent works, which benefit from her extraordinary sense of placement, proportion, space, color, and mood.