Roy Kenzie Kiyooka

Roy Kenzie Kiyooka (1926–1994) was a painter, photographer, musician, and poet, whose legacy is still profoundly felt in artistic and literary circles of the Northwest Coast. He was a second generation Japanese Canadian, born in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan in 1926. Kiyooka studied at the Provincial Institute of Technology and Art (now named the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology and Art). A regular participant in the Emma Lake Artists’ Workshops in the 1950s in Saskatchewan, Kiyooka moved to Vancouver in the 1960s and taught at the Vancouver School of Art (now Emily Carr University of Art + Design), where he explored various modes of abstraction. His visual artwork included paintings, sculpture, film, and photographs. During his career he taught at a number of universities including the University of British Columbia. Kiyooka was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1978.