Judy Nakagawa’s sculptures address deeply personal themes such as grief, memory, and gratitude. Working primarily with materials like paper, wire, and natural fibers, she embraces their tactile and ephemeral qualities to explore broader existential questions. Her practice begins with curiosity, asking herself, “I wonder what would happen if?” From there, the process unfolds intuitively, with the materials guiding her. As the forms take shape, moments of rupture or error often lead to new directions, opening space for unexpected originality. Her work moves through cycles of construction, deconstruction, and reconstruction. 

Many of these themes reflect Nakagawa’s experience and heritage as a Japanese Canadian. Raised in a household shaped by Japanese culture and Buddhist traditions, she uses art as a way to navigate identity within the broader Canadian context. Her use of non-permanent materials such as paper and fabric reinforces a sense of impermanence. Wire, bendable yet resilient, becomes a metaphor for strength found in fragility. Nakagawa’s practice speaks to the beauty of imperfection and the deep interconnectedness of the human experience.
She was recently commissioned to create a marquee sculpture for the CHEO Dream of a Lifetime Home and will present a solo exhibition this fall at the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum.

Judy Nakagawa began studying sculpture at the Corcoran School of Art & Design in Washington, D.C., in 1998, and in 2002 was awarded the Berthold Schmutzhart Award for sculpture. In 2001, she had a solo show in downtown Washington's National Press Club Building. In 2004 she moved to Vancouver and had solo shows at the Japanese Canadian National Museum in Burnaby, the Murakami Boatworks building in Richmond, B.C., and the Visual Space Gallery in Vancouver. Nakagawa has participated in numerous group shows and has created large commissioned works for two theatrical installations.