MEET KIYOMI AUPRI
THE DAWNING
Kiyomi Aupri Friedrich has always had a wanderer’s heart. Born in Japan and raised in California, she felt the draw of adventure even as a young girl. Eager to experience a life beyond school walls, she left high school three months before her graduation and took to the road, traveling throughout the U.S. and the world. After spending four years developing her business and entrepreneurial skills, Kiyomi started her first company, a gift shop, in Anza, California. When the call to move came again, she embarked on an incredibly successful journey telling stories in schools with her company, The Wisdom Tree.
TAKING ROOT
Kiyomi’s passion for storytelling grew out of a mission: to encourage children to embrace their cultures and accept their true selves. Born with roots in an ancient and illustrious Japanese family, Kiyomi’s background was more derided than celebrated throughout her childhood. That prejudice, along with a lack of support from those closest to her, could have shipwrecked her spirits and dashed her pride in her past.
Amazingly, the opposite happened. From the seemingly barren branch life handed her, her guiding principle blossomed: the conviction that we can take any hardship and turn it into something beautiful. Starting from a place of self-acceptance, we must always strive to make ourselves and those around us better. Knowing what it is to feel misunderstood, Kiyomi committed herself to understand others without judgment. From that extension of grace comes healing, both for oneself and others. Through The Wisdom Tree, Kiyomi spent many years encouraging children with this message.
THE AWAKENING
Unfortunately, when the economy crashed in 2009, it took The Wisdom Tree with it. With storytelling no longer a financially viable option, Kiyomi turned to construction art, and her identity as an artist – brewing for so long beneath the surface – emerged. With glass and mortar in hand, she began sculpting living spaces that, far from being merely decorated with art, are pieces of art themselves. Working with reclaimed materials, Kiyomi’s belief continues to shine through her work as she takes the worn, the discarded, and the unwanted and brings it back to life – a life infused with her own. Each piece she crafts carries the heritage of her explorations and the cultures she has come to love. One work draws its depth from hours spent diving in Mexico; another captures the briskness of skiing in the mountains; still another recalls the hushed grandeur of a Buddhist temple in Asia. All reflect deep curiosity and joy. For Kiyomi never dwells on the dark aspects of existence; she sits with them a while only to understand them and discern how to move forward into the light. All her artwork, tinged with mysticism and naturalism, reflects this movement.
I never dwell on the dark aspects of existence;
I sit with them for a while only to understand them
and discern how to move forward into the light.
Kiyomi Aupri
Creator & Artist
THE EVOLUTION
Kiyomi’s creative process is fundamentally organic; rather than planning a work from beginning to end, she starts with an idea and lets the art take over. This exploratory process hearkens back to her wandering days, when she closed her eyes, pointed to a map, and trusted in her next destination. Like that point on the map, the initial idea gives guidance to her art, but the final product is entirely shaped by its own life journey. Kiyomi has faith in this journey, and that faith is something she asks of her clients, as well, who communicate to her the story they wish to convey through art. Kiyomi then supplies the talent, but it is the art itself that crafts the final form. With this unique genesis, each piece of art tells its own story of growth, community, and love.
To honor the intimate and careful nature of her work, Kiyomi will only travel for a maximum of two major installations per year, which can take one to four months each to complete. She will craft smaller pieces from her workshop and studio at home in idyllic North Carolina.