Nana Takano (b. 2000, Gunma, Japan) is an artist who graduated with a Bachelor’s in Studio Art from Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, USA. She was born and raised in the countryside of Gunma, Japan, and went to study abroad when she was fifteen years old. She has been studying abroad for over seven years in the United States. During this time she attended Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire for three years. Her mother, being a photographer, has led Takano to be interested in art since she was young. In college, she explored the mediums of printmaking, digital media, sculptures, and handmade papers. Now Takano is pursuing an MFA in Book Art at the University of Iowa at the Center for the Book.

My current art depicts Japanese culture through an Americanized lens. I am intrigued to create artwork that allows the audiences to have self-reflection on their feelings, and experiences at the same point of their lifetime. Japanese text in my artwork is essential. It is not represented directly, but abstractly for the English audience. What is beautiful about this is it leads the audience to feel the shapes of the language and draws attention to the story of the art that I am creating. I primarily work with paper instruction artwork. In addition, I am exploring letterpress, silk screen print, and book bindings to create additional elements for my artist practice here at UICB.