Akihiko Miyoshi: Artist and Teacher

Akihiko Miyoski is a multimedia artist working in the field of photography and digital media art as well as a professor of art at Reed College. He has been acknowledged for his outstanding art contributions with several awards like being  the International Award Winner of Fellowship 12 at The Silver Eye Center for Photography. 

Outside of his artistic endeavors Akihiko Miyoski is well known and respected for many other things, including of course his teaching credits and his background in computer science in which he has many publications on the subject including the Implementation and Evaluation of Real-Time Java Threads.

What really attracted me to Akihiko Miyoski for this project is how he is choosing to tell stories and create art in a world where technology is creeping its way into every part of our life, even art. Miyoski is exploring how traditional art can be infused with modern technology and how technology is able to be used for new forms of art creation, like coding for example which he uses to make some of his work. 

My main interest in talking to him was uncovering not only how he found himself an artist and a full time teacher, but also how he found his inspiration for his artistic experiments. When I got the chance to interview him I learned many things about him and his journey, but I also learned things applicable to most anyone interested in multimedia expression.

I asked him first about his process of creation to which I got a surprising response, he said that he had no “specific process” that he followed at all. It was clear that Akihiko Miyoski made and did what he wanted when he wanted to do it, always open to a change of plan or direction.

This was also the case when I asked him about if he ever imagined himself on a different career path or pursuing any other form of artistic expression. His response to this was that he had many career paths along the way to where he is right now, the biggest being that of a computer scientist, which he went to school for for many years.

When I asked him about what drew him to being a teacher he said “Teaching allows me to be in constant dialog with art. By interacting with students who make different kinds of art, I also think about art in ways I would not have otherwise”. Besides this just being a wholesome quote about a teacher always learning from his students, it also highlights that when it comes to making something you're always learning new things about how to approach it and how to think about it.  It could be writing for a blog, making a documentary, or photographing the world, no matter what it is you have never perfected your craft. 

I wrapped up the interview by asking how he found himself making what he does and how he got a taste for that specific style, to this he said “I moved and traveled a lot. I went to museums wherever I found myself. I suppose it is similar to eating food from different cultures when you travel. Art is also a different way of encountering different cultures”. Yet another very insightful notion, comparing artistic expression with one's taste in food, and how you have to expose yourself to other perspectives to grow and let them inform what you do. 

After my conversation with Akihiko Miyoski I realized something that was also reflected in what has been said by the guest speakers we have had in class this semester, that there is no one path when it comes to this field. While on the surface it appears like a bit of a gamble and even a little scary that there is no one path that can assure success. But an important thing to remember is something that was reflected in my interview with Akihiko Miyoski as well as the many guest speakers. That they were all committed and passionate about what they were doing no matter what, and eventually they found themselves doing what they love, so maybe there is a secret to scusess.