WASHINGTON -- She was an appraiser for the White House on gifts Ronald Reagan and George Bush received from Japan and is the owner of a reputable gallery in Washington, D.C.
Teruko Okuda's Gallery Okuda International sits in Georgetown's Canal Square on busy M Street. For the nearly five years that it's been open, her gallery has been providing young Japanese artists with what is still too rare an opportunity to exhibit their work in the U.S. Okuda has also given American artists the chance to introduce their work at her gallery and at Tokyo's Daimaru Museum.
"I think I have been bringing Japanese sophistication to the U.S. through my gallery, while taking reputable contemporary American work to Japan," Okuda explains. "I'm most thrilled when the work is well received, sometimes to a degree that surprises the artists themselves."