About

My name is Alice Yumi Sinzato, I am a Brazilian visual artist, fashion designer and educator currently based in the United States. I consider my Brazilian identity and Japanese heritage as sources of inspiration for my aesthetic sensibility.

I work in many different mediums like painting, collage, and clothing. My main interests are landscape, the relationship of body with objects and the environment, and symbolism.

In my collages, I turn magazine cut-outs into imaginary scenes and places. This abstraction of the landscape also appears in illustrations and paintings.

CONTACT: sinzato.alice@gmail.com

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alice-yumi/

Instagram: @aliceartthings @aliceyumisinzato

EXHIBITS AND EVENTS

2024

Invited as jury member for Buffalo State University 17th annual Fashion Show - “True Delusion”

2023

Boneyard Arts Festival - exhibit with Elis Artz

Grant funded workshop on Japanese Fashion at Buffalo State University

2022

Juried Art Exhibit at Western New York Artists Group

Women Artists’ Night - Boneyard Arts Festival

Kokeshi dolls customized by local artists for Japan House’s fundraising event

Art workshop at Portuguese Language Connection – 100 ANOS DA SEMANA BRASILEIRA DE ARTE MODERNA DE 1922 (University event, workshop done in collaboration with Patricia and Kinsey Fitzgerald, Gonzalo Pinilla, Patricia Leon Quecan)

2021

In Between, The Places We Meet - Alice Yumi Sinzato and Sara Grace Cofield, with the support of Art Coop the Urbana Arts Grant Program (November - Urbana, IL)

Featured artist at The Recreation Club’s Pop-up Market (September - Champaign, IL)

MTDART featured artist (June-July - Champaign, IL)

2020

December: featured shop at online portal Misfit Market CU and artwork sold at The Little Red Hut in Urbana, IL

Exhibit in Tokyo, Japan at Porko Cafe Gallery (August and September)

Featured artist for Fall at The Collective Magazine (October)

Etsy shop launch: AliceArtThings on Etsy and Instagram

2018

Costume designs for two dance pieces at the 2018 Dance at Illinois event by ACDA (American College Dance Association). “In the Fullness Thereof” - choreographed by Endalyn Taylor and “Where we’re going” - choreographed by Krystal Collins

2017

MTDART featured artist (Champaign, IL)

Me, Myself and I, collective juried exhibition (Champaign, IL)

2016

Paper Trails, collective juried exhibition (Champaign, IL)

2009-2014

Entremostras Art Fair (Florianopolis, 2014)

Arquivo, collective exhibit (Florianopolis, 2014)

Duna Art Fair (Florianopolis, 2013)

Santa Catarina Fashion & Culture exhibit (Florianopolis, 2013)

Bunka Festival Exhibit (Tokyo, 2012)

Undergraduate Fashion Show (Florianopolis, 2010)

Santa Catarina Contemporary Fashion (Balneario Camboriu, 2010)

Project Ponto Zero for emerging designers (Sao Paulo, 2009)

AWARDS AND GRANTS

2023 Grant by Buffalo State University for a lecture/workshop on Japanese Fashion

2021 Grant by the Urbana Arts & Culture Program, to fund the exhibit ‘In Between, The Places We Meet’

2012 Full scholarship by the Japan International Cooperation Agency to a one-year course at the Bunka Fashion College

2008 Selected as Youth Leader by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Leaders were selected for their contributions to fostering Japanese culture in Brazil. To commemorate the Japanese Immigration Centennial in Brazil, leaders were invited to a 10-day cultural exchange trip to Japan.

WORK

2024

Adjunct lecturer at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, teaching a remote course called Introduction to Japanese Fashion.

Adjunct faculty at Genesee Community College, teaching Fashion Illustration

2023

Adjunct lecturer at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, teaching a remote course called Introduction to Japanese Fashion.

2019-2022

Projects with Susan Becker: creation of class materials and resources for online classes in Fashion Design for the University of Illinois. Classes in croqui drawing, draping and experimental fashion.

2018

Costumes for the Counterpoint Project by Endalyn Taylor and Patrick Earl Hammie. Performed on May 31st at the Schomburg Center in New York.

Costumes for February Dance by the Dance Department of the University of Illinois (choreographies by Endalyn Taylor and Krystal Collins)

2015

Adjunct professor for Costume History at the Fashion Design undergraduate course, at the University of Brusque, Brazil

2010-2015

Teaching assistant for Fashion Drawing at the University of Santa Catarina, Brazil (2011)

Freelance fashion design and trend research for Akomplice Clothing Balaclava Studio and Brix Jeans

Costume designs for Japanese drumming group Shimadaiko

EDUCATION

2015 - Master’s degree in Visual Arts - Contemporary Artistic Processes (University of Santa Catarina, Brazil)

2013 - Garment Creation Specialization Course (Bunka Fukusou Gakuen, Japan)

2011 - Bachelor’s degree in Fashion Design (University of Santa Catarina, Brazil)

WRITINGS

Alice in Nipoland: blog I wrote about my year of study abroad in Japan (written in Portuguese)

Relations between fashion and art: new possibilities from the Japanese avant-garde fashion (Bachelor’s thesis in Fashion Design, written in Portuguese)

MA, the interstitial void (academic article written for Revista Ciclos, in Portuguese)

Interstitial Void: the space of body and clothing (Master’s thesis in Visual Arts, written in Portuguese)

Between Silence and Gesture: an interview with Alberto Heller (interview by Alice Yumi Sinzato and Euclides da Cunha Neto)

Body Meets Dress, Dress Meets Body (book chapter co-authored with Regina Melim)