Jave Gakumei Yoshimoto is an artist and educator of multi-cultural background. He was born in Japan to Chinese parents and immigrated to California at a young age.   Yoshimoto has since traveled and lived in various states, which influenced his artistic practice.  He believes in creating art works that are socially conscious and true to his authentic self.  

Yoshimoto has received his Bachelors of Art from University of California Santa Barbara in Studio Art, his Post-baccalaureate Certificate in Painting and Drawing and Masters of Art in Art Therapy at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and his Masters of Fine Arts in Painting at Syracuse University.

He is a recipient of the 2015 Joan Mitchell Foundation’s Painter’s and Sculptor’s grant, which he used to travel to Nepal and Lesvos Island in Greece to research on the topics on human crisis, survival and resilience. He has been featured in numerous publications such as Huffington Post, Chicago Tribune, New American Paintings, Guernica Magazine, among others. He received a letter of recognition from the United Nations, and exhibited his works nationally and internationally. 

He has been artist in residence at various residencies across the U.S., including Vermont Studio Center, Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts, Jentel, Tulsa Artist Fellowship, Joan Mitchell Foundation among others, as well as a residency in Nepal at the Marpha Foundation.

Yoshimoto is currently an assistant professor of arts and foundations coordinator at University of Nebraska at Omaha.