Mari Ichimasu

Pen, paper and acoustic guitar.
Since discovering the joy of creating stories, with these simple tools in her early teens, expressing indescribable sensations or feelings through art and music became an indispensable part of her life.
Soon after moving to Seattle, she started creating zines, and paintings and also played music in a couple of bands such like Poop Attack! and Rats in the Grass )
Fur Coats And Backpacks is a series of traveling cat portraits with their poems. Over a decade, she painted countless furry backpackers with watercolors based on sudden inspirations, impulses, and encounters as they continued their unique journeys with various stories. This whimsical collection, now a book from Chin Music Press, takes us out into the world and lets us feel the wind blowing through each traveling soul.
2014 Artist Trust fellowship
Interview by kobo Gallery, Seattle (2022)