GROVE CITY, Pa. – Renowned Japanese artist Makoto Fujimura will deliver two talks on March 18 as the final lecturer in Grove City College’s Humanities Speakers Series. The lecture series seeks to bring outstanding scholars and artists to the College to talk about important, timely subjects relating to the humanities core.

Fujimura’s first lecture, titled “Transgressing in Love: The Aesthetics of Jesus,” is set for 4 p.m. in Sticht Auditorium in the Hall of Arts and Letters. The second, “The Calling of the Artist,” will be at 7 p.m. in the Pew Recital Hall in the Pew Fine Arts Center. This is Fujimura’s first visit to the College. Both lectures are free and open to the public.

Among his many projects, Fujimura is known for creating the TriBeCa Temporary project, which gave artists a place to display 9/11-inspired artwork. He is also the author of “Refractions: A Journey of Art, Faith and Culture” and founder of The International Arts Movement, which hosts a major conference in New York City every February that attracts notable speakers and performers.

Fujimura’s work has been seen in solo, group and museum exhibitions throughout the world, including New York, Philadelphia, Osaka and Tokyo. His works are in the art form of “nihonga” – a Japanese style of painting with course hand-ground mineral pigments on handmade paper. He combines this technique with a traditional approach to abstract formalism to produce works which have a dense visual texture as well as a powerful formal design.

As a result of 20 years of work as a successful artist in Japan and the U.S., Fujimura has become a voice of bi-cultural authority on the nature and cultural assessment of beauty, by both creating it and exploring its forms. He was selected as a presidential appointee to the National Council of the Arts. Noted artist and critic Robert Kushner said, “The idea of forging a new kind of art, about hope, healing, redemption, refuge, while maintaining visual sophistication and intellectual integrity is a growing movement, one which finds Fujimura’s work at the vanguard.” His works are displayed in galleries around the world.

As an undergraduate Fujimura attended Bucknell University, then went on to earn an M.F.A. form Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music. He is a frequent lecturer at colleges and universities such as Cornell University, Rhode Island School of Design, New York University, Gordon College, Messiah College, Bethel College and Bucknell University.