Yukiyo Nagata

Yukiyo Nagata was born and raised in a commuter town outside Tokyo, where she developed a deep love for art that led her to study fine arts at Musashino Art University. In 1993, she relocated to New York City, earning a degree in graphic design from Queens College in 1996 and building a career as a corporate graphic designer for nearly two decades.

The COVID-19 pandemic became a catalyst for profound transformation. Working at a thrift shop run by a non-profit supporting incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women, Yukiyo witnessed the overwhelming volume of daily donations, a stark reminder of our consumption-driven culture. She began salvaging unsellable textiles and objects, transforming discarded materials into handcrafted goods.

In 2023, Yukiyo founded Scrap Artisan, a boutique craft business working exclusively with recycled and reclaimed materials. A year later, she shifted from craft to fine art, focusing on religiously themed artwork. After decades of struggling with depression, Yukiyo found relief through a profound encounter with God several years earlier, and Catholicism has since become central to her life.

Today, Yukiyo creates fabric appliqué artwork and mixed media pieces depicting Gospel narratives and Catholic traditions. Drawing inspiration from Christian iconography and European medieval art traditions, her work explores themes of redemption, resurrection, and divine mercy: concepts embodied not only in her imagery but in her very materials, as discarded objects are given new life and purpose.