About this Event
With deft manual skill and deep material knowledge, Kelly Akashi’s visual language emphasizes the impermanence of the natural world, recording and indexing fragmented moments in time. Her practice is characterized by a rigorous conceptual approach, yet the work is distinguished by a deep reverence for process. Always a student, Akashi continually studies new practices and physical techniques, including glass-blowing, flame-working, casting, candle-making, and stone carving.
Born in Los Angeles in 1983, she holds a BFA from Otis College of Art & Design, an MFA from the University of Southern California, and studied at the Städelschule in Frankfurt. Recent institutional solo exhibitions include the San Jose Museum of Art, Frye Art Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, Henry Art Gallery, SculptureCenter, and Galleria d’Arte Moderna di Milano, among others. Public commissions include a monumental installation for JFK International Airport’s New Terminal One, the Hyundai Terrace for the 2026 Whitney Biennial, an upcoming outdoor sculpture commission for Williams College Museum of Art, and projects with the Aspen Art Museum and the Clark Art Institute. She is the recipient of the 2024 Distinguished Women in the Arts Award from MOCA Los Angeles, as well as grants from the Trellis Art Fund, Andy Warhol Foundation, LACMA Art + Tech, Peter S. Reed Foundation, and Tieger Foundation. Akashi serves as Core Faculty in Grad Art at ArtCenter College of Design, and in 2025 was selected as an Artist in Residence at Pilchuck Glass School.
The Longenecker-Roth Artist in Residence Endowment was established in 2016 to extend Martha Longenecker-Roth's legacy as an artist and educator. In the spirit of her historic impact on the visual arts in both local and global communities, this endowment brings to the Visual Arts Department of UC San Diego artists of national and international stature who will inspire our students to broaden the scope, appeal, and range of art as well as incite exchange with the faculty, the campus community and local artists and audiences.
This program celebrates the life and legacy of Martha Longenecker-Roth, and her historic impact on the visual arts in San Diego and beyond. Martha’s passionate commitment to meaningful cross-cultural exchange, long before it became widely fashionable, led her to found the Mingei Art Museum and established its permanent home in San Diego’s Balboa Park. The stated mission of the museum–to bring the “art of the world, art of the people” to everyone–came from Martha’s own lived experience.
Through the Longenecker-Roth Artist in Residence program, the vision of art, culture and the world so dear to Martha will make a lasting impact on interdisciplinary art education in the Visual Arts Department at UC San Diego. As a lifelong learner, Martha Longenecker-Roth regularly attended exhibitions and lectures organized by and for UC San Diego faculty and students. She was fascinated by technology new and old, and believed in the importance of interdisciplinary education. Thus, it is our honor to host the residency program which will bring to campus artists whose practices are grounded in an understanding of the power of art to connect diverse peoples. It is toward this commitment to diverse traditions and cultural interconnectedness that the Longenecker-Roth Artist in Residence program is founded and inspired through the impact made to the visual arts through the life of Martha Longenecker-Roth.
Event venue & nearby stays
Visual Arts Facility, UC San Diego, 9475 Russell Ln., La Jolla, United States
Concerts, fests, parties, meetups — all the happenings, one place.