Sandra Honda (she/her) is a Japanese American visual artist and writer based on Kalapuyan land now known as Eugene, Oregon. She works to elevate less heard voices and stories by invoking historical, contemporary and social narratives. In 2018, she left her career as a speechwriter and scientist to redirect her focus toward using art and writing to interrogate what it means to be Asian and American in today’s America. Informed by the Japanese American experience of ethnically-based mass incarceration during World War II, her drawings, paintings, digital works, assemblages, and installations draw a historical throughline of anti-Asian activities in the U.S. from the 1800s to today. In 2022, she initiated a social practice focused on climate change in which she broadened her toolkit to include sculpture. This climate change-related work draws on her career addressing climate, ocean and science policy through her speechwriting work.
She often collaborates with Taiwanese composer and sound designer Mei-ling Lee to create interactive installations enriched by sound and lighting environments. Since moving to Eugene in 2018, Honda has exhibited (selected) in the Mayor’s Art Show (Eugene, 2020), Arts Northwest Biennial (Roseburg, 2021), Eugene’s Windowfront Exhibition (2022), Maude Kerns Art Center (Eugene, 2022), The Reser Center for the Arts (Beaverton, 2022), the University of Oregon Adele McMillan Gallery (EMU, 2023) and Walters Cultural Arts Center (Hillsboro, 2023). She is a recipient of grants from the Oregon Arts Commission (2022) and Lane County Cultural Commission (2024). She was the first artist selected for two consecutive years of residency at Pine Meadow Ranch Center for Arts and Agriculture (2022, 2023).
Honda was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, where her family relocated after their incarceration in America’s concentration camps (Pinedale, Tule Lake, and Minidoka) during World War II.
EXHIBITIONS
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2025 & ahead
HAPPENING NOW! Invisible Possibilities, The Reser Center for the Arts, Beaverton, Oregon, April 4-May 24, 2025.
April 19 - Artist Talk: "Embodying Paper"
May 2 - Love Over Hate: For Our Children - interactive First Friday installation with Eugene Printmakers
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Downtown Farmers' Market Pavillion, Eugene, OR, 2026
​Scalehouse Collective for the Arts, Bend, OR, July-August 2026
Umpqua Valley Arts, Roseburg, OR, Date TBD
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Community engagement: Love Over Hate, a collaborative interactive installation with Eugene Printmakers during the Lunar New Year celebration sponsored by Lane Arts Council and the Asian American Council of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, First Friday ArtWalk at the Downtown Farmers Market Pavillion, February 7, 2025.
2023
​Asian Celebration Art Exhibit, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, July 19-30, 2023
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PERFORMANCE
Healing Interrupted, with Mei-ling Lee, Walters Cultural Arts Center, Hillsboro, Oregon, February 7, 2023.
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TWO-PERSON EXHIBITION
re-member, Mika Aono & Sandra Honda, Walters Cultural Arts Center Gallery, Hillsboro, Oregon, February 7-March 24, 2023.
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SOLO EXHIBITION
Fault Lines: The Japanese American Experience (invited), Sandra Honda, University of Oregon Adell McMcillan Gallery, January 3-February 2, 2023.
2022
Invisibilia (invited), Sandra Honda, Mei-ling Lee & Jefferson Goolsby, The Reser Center for the Arts, Beaverton, Oregon, June 21-August 7, 2022.
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Asian/American Contemporary Women Artists (invited), Eugene Cultural Services Windowfront Exhibition, 224 W. Broadway, Eugene, OR, July 1 - November 14, 2022
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Salem on the Edge Gallery, group show guest artist, July 1-30, 2022
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Social Being, Kathleen Caprario, Sandra Honda, Mei-ling Lee, Charly Swing & Kerry Weeks, Maude Kerns Art Center, Eugene, Oregon, January 14 - February 11, 2022.
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2021
2021 Artworks Northwest Biennial Exhibit, June 11-August 20, 2021. Umpqua Valley Arts Association uvarts.com, Roseburg, Oregon, juried selection 2021 (Grace Kook-Anderson, juror)
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Asian Celebration Fine Art Exhibit, May 7-July 7, 2021, 856 Willamette St., Eugene, Oregon
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ArtCity Studios on Broadway @ Eugene Airport, Main Terminal, October 26, 2020 - January 20, 2021
2020
Mayor's Art Show, juried selection 2020, City of Eugene, Oregon, August 7-September 8, 2020 ​
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A Change of Space (online fundraiser and members show) Maude Kerns Art Center mkartscenter.org, April 13-May 15, 2020
2019
Emerald Print Exchange Group Show, Emerald Art Center, Springfield, OR, November 2019
Emerald Print Exchange Group Show, Sequoia Gallery, Hillsboro, Oregon, October 2019
Plein Air Painters of Lane County Group Show, Saginaw Vineyards, Saginaw, OR, Summer 2019
2018
Mixed Media & More!, Group Show, May 26-28 - Yellow Barn Studio & Gallery, Glen Echo Park, Glen Echo, MD
Transient Moments, Group Show, April 7-27- Culture Coffee Too, 300 Riggs Rd NE, Washington, DC 20011
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2017
Interlude, 4-person show, New Masters Art Gallery, Rockville, MD
7th Annual Yellow Barn Drawing Show, Yellow Barn Gallery and Studio, Glen Echo, MD
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2016
Honorable Mention, Yellow Barn Annual Holiday Members Show (juried), Glen Echo, MD, Honorable Mention Award for "Blue Nude" (2016)
Students of J.Jordan Bruns, November 5-6, 2016, Yellow Barn Studio and Gallery at Glen Echo Park, Glen Echo, Maryland
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2015
Juried Selecton "Plated," Washington ArtWorks, Rockville, Maryland
Students of Gavin Glakas, October 30-November 1, 2015, Yellow Barn Studio and Gallery at Glen Echo Park, Glen Echo, Maryland
A Show of Summer, group show, Summer 2015 Compass Atelier, Rockville, Maryland
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2014
Rising Tide. Students of Glen Kessler, Washington Art Works, Rockville, Maryland
Women's Club of Potomac Art Show and Sale, Potomac, Maryland
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Colored Pencil
2006 Juried Selection, "Colored Pencil," Colored Pencil Society of America, DC Chapter,
Chestertown Art League, Chestertown, Maryland
2004 Juried Selection, "Colored Pencil Society of America, DC Chapter,"
Strathmore Mansion, North Bethesda, Maryland
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RESIDENCIES
2022 & 2023 Pine Meadows Ranch Center for Arts & Agriculture, Sisters, Oregon
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GRANTS
2024 Lane County Cultural Commission Grant
2022 Oregon Arts Commission, Career Opportunity Grant, 2022
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TALKS
2025 "Embodying Paper," Reser Center for the Arts, Artist Talk in conjunction with exhibition, Beaverton, Oregon
"artXscience: Finding Meaning, Oregon State University, 15th Annual Pacific Northwest Water Symposium, April 23, 2025
2023 "From Silence to Activism: One Artist's Journey," Minidoka Pilgrimage 2023, Hunt, Idaho
2022 "Invisibilia Book Discussion," The Reser Center for the Arts, Beaverton, Oregon
2022 "Invisibilia: Artist Talk," The Reser Center for the Arts, Beaverton, Oregon
2022 "Invisibilia: Artist Q&A," The Reser Center for the Arts, Beaverton, Oregon
2022 "Social Being Artist Panel," Maude Kerns Art Center, Eugene, Oregon
2021 "Social Justice in the Visual Arts," panel discussion, Maude Kerns Art Center, Eugene Oregon
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COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
2023 Workshop leader, Oregon State University SMILE Program, handcasting workshops for middle and high school students (STEAM programming), April 4-5, 11-12, & 18-19, 2023 at Western Oregon University, Monmouth, OR
2022 Juror, Lane Community College High School Art Exhibition 2022, Eugene, OR
2021 Judge, Lake Oswego Festival of the Arts 2021, Lake Oswego, OR
2021 Juror, Mayor's Art Show 2021, Eugene, OR
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PROFESSIONAL DUTIES
2023-24 Sitka Center for Art and Ecology Youth Education Advisory Committee
2023-24 Pine Meadow Ranch Center for Arts and Agriculture Committee
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PUBLICATION
Artworks Northwest Biennial (2021), Umpqua Valley Arts, Roseburg, OR, Grace-Kook Anderson, curator
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CRITICAL WRITING ABOUT ART
Critical MAS: Sandra Honda on "Inevitable Transitions" by Kum-Ja Lee Eugene Contemporary Art blog, August 13, 2020, http://www.eugenecontemporaryart.com/critical-mas-2020-curators-choice/
Critical MAS: Sandra Honda on Josh Sands' "Breathe, Step, Arrive." Eugene Contemporary Art blog, August 29, 2019, http://www.eugenecontemporaryart.com/critical-mas-sandra-honda-on-josh-sands-breathe-step-arrive/
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PRESS
"Erasing Boundaries Through Art," Nugget News, October 20, 2023.
"Storytelling & Historical Narrative in Visual Art," HillsboroArts Magazine, Winter 2023.
Cathy Carroll, "Interactive Art: Hands on the Land," Roundhouse Foundation News & Highlights, November 2022.
Beth Sorenson, "Loss, Memory and Connection at the Reser," Oregon Artswatch, July 2022
Mary Bell, "Women’s Perspectives on Display, Maude Kerns Art Center Hosts ‘Social Being’,' March 14, 2022, doublesidedmedia.com.
Sandy Brown Jensen, “Intriguing, Intelligent, Interactive Installations: “Social Being” at Maude Kerns Art Center," VizCity, KLCC (NPR affiliate station), 2022. https://www.klcc.org/show/viz-city/2022-02-02/intriguing-intelligent-interactive-installations-social-being-at-maude-kerns-art-center
Matthew Denis, "Eugene Cultural Services' 2021 Visual Arts Week promises to be a creative extravaganza," The Register Guard, 2021.
Sandy Brown Jensen, “Mono no aware”: Asian Celebration Storefront Art and "Discoveries" at the Karin Clarke Gallery, VizCity, KLCC (NPR affiliate station), 2021. https://www.klcc.org/post/mono-no-aware-asian-celebration-storefront-art-and-discoveries-karin-clarke-gallery
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PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
Asian American Women Artists Association (San Francisco), member