Miho Sawada

Miso Sawada (1944–2023) was a Japanese Canadian sculptor, who moved between Japan and Canada.

Born in Osaka, she received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Kyoto City College of Art in 1967. However, finding the prevailing ethos of the Japanese art world difficult for non-traditional artists, especially women, she emigrated to Canada in 1968. In 1969 she studied at the New School of Art in Toronto and exhibited in the Annual Exhibition of Ontario Society of Artists.

Sawade focused on large scale installations as well as Corten steel sculptures. Starting in 1974 Sawada exhibited in across Canada (Toronto, Hamilton, London, & Vancouver) as well as the United States and Japan

Many of her commissioned pieces can be seen in public spaces in Canada, the United States and Japan.

Thought her career, Sawada explored the indivisibility of time and space, and of the place of humans within that concept. Her view was that each of her installations and sculptures were completed by the presence of the viewers, who are essential to the function of the piece.

Miho Sawada also taught at Ontario College of Art (now OCAD University), University of Western Ontario, University of Guelph, and Pennsylvania State University.

A year after being diagnosed with stomach cancer she died in Toronto in 2023.