Dr. Toku's dissertation is entitled, "Spatial Presentation in Children's Drawings: Why do Japanese Children Draw in their Own Particular Ways?" She specializes in children's artistic and aesthetic development, and has extensive experience teaching children in Illinois. She has university teaching experience in multi-media drawing, introduction to art, art in elementary grades, and multi-media watercolor. In addition, Dr. Toku has been an editorial associate for Visual Arts Research, an international refereed reference journal in the visual arts. She has published articles in such journals as Art Education, made numerous presentations in children's aesthetic development, held exhibitions, and curated an exhibition on Japanese Kimono and Women's History in Bloomington, IL.
Artist's Statement
I strongly feel that art is the most important subject to think about
myself (my identity) where I am from and where I am going. I found that
art cannot exist by itself and is always related to other things. My philosophy
of art is that art is a window to look at other cultures, to understand
other values, and to find one's identity. I am also one who survives in
this unfarmiliar country through art since my artwork communicates better
than my mouth. Even though this world is unconsciously filled with much
bias, unfairness, and discrimination, art will tell us how to live in
this world since art can tell us what our identity is.
