Megumi Otsubo

was born in California on Evacuation Day and spent her first three years in an internment camp in the Arizona desert with her parents, older sister and extended family.  In 1945 the family was moved to Cleveland, Ohio.  Eventually they were able to return to California.

Awarded a full scholarship to Stanford University, Megumi took courses in color, figure drawing, painting and art history at Stanford’s campuses in Palo Alto, California and Florence, Italy.  She holds a degree from Stanford in American Literature.

After marriage and children took her to Kansas she and her husband started a company developing seven mobile home parks.  Megumi also continued her artistic pursuits studying photography, painting, block printing and creative writing at Wichita State University and the Wichita Center for the Arts.  In 1978 her husband sustained serious brain injuries in an auto accident and Megumi took over the responsibilities of family and business.

In 2008 Megumi sold her share of the company and started house construction on forty acres of pinyon and juniper in the red rock country of southern Utah.  She lives with her cinnamon chow in a house inspired by the landscape and powered by the sun.  Her home, she says, is her largest canvas.

Megumi is now a part of the thriving art community of Cedar City.   She paints regularly with her plein air group and is a signature member of the Southern Utah Watercolor Society.  Her work is represented by Artisans Art Gallery and she is a board member of the Braithwaite Art Gallery at Southern Utah University.

As a member of the Community Engagement Committee she helped launch the building of the Southern Utah Museum of Art.  This multi-million dollar facility has broken ground and is scheduled to open in 2016.