Series II. Tomie Arai Artwork, 1970-2010, inclusive

This series contains materials created and accumulated by Arai on the research, production, and exhibition of her artwork, as well as her involvement in the Asian American arts community in New York. The overlap in her artwork and activism is often apparent in the art theme, her projects, and where the works are shown.

Arai's large collection of exhibition catalogues and ephemera by Asian artists in this series spans the 1970s to the 2000s and not only shows artists active during this timeframe but also the themes that were popular during various decades, as well as which New York galleries and museums were representing and showing their work.

This series also contains a comprehensive collection of Arai's own exhibition catalogues, announcements, fliers, and related correspondence dating from 1970 to 2000s which shows the volume of projects she was involved with from year to year. The correspondence especially illustrates the work involved to promote herself and her art, apply for funding, plan exhibitions, loan out artworks, and network with galleries and institutions. Projects of note include Double Happiness and Mi Familia Mi Comunidad and Renewal, which was commissioned for the African Burial Ground National Monument.

Work files, publications, and posters related to Arai's printmaking and illustration work date from the 1970s to the 1990s, mostly for local New York organizations including Cityarts, Basement Workshop, and Chinatown Health Clinic. These posters are often multi-lingual, depending on the organization. Publications containing Arai's work include Heresies, Upfront, and East Village Review. Arai also illustrated a children's book China's Bravest Girl, and this series contains correspondence, reviews, promotional material as well as the book.

Throughout her career, Arai was the recipient of many residencies and fellowships to fund the progress of her art and related projects. This series includes files for Goddard-Riverside Community Center, New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA), MoMA PS 1, MacDowell Colony, and Cummington Artist Colony and usually contain correspondence, applications, project reports, and event announcements. Material related to her 1998 Artist in Residency with the New York University Asian/Pacific/American Institute are also in this series.