Kiriko Watanabe
Kiriko Watanabe is a curator, writer, and art critic who has been an influential member of the arts and architecture community on British Columbia’s west coast for the better part of two decades. Kiriko is currently serving as the Gail & Stephen A. Jarislowsky Chief Curator at the Audain Art Museum in Whistler, British Columbia. Prior to her move to the Audain, she served as the Assistant Curator at the West Vancouver Art Museum. Alongside curator Darrin Morrison, Kiriko played a pivotal role in the revitalization of the Museum and in shaping an award-winning focus on West Coast Modern architecture and design, including the 2006 launch of the annual West Coast Modern Home Tour.
Born and raised in Japan, Kiriko relocated to Vancouver and enrolled in studies at the University of British Columbia, graduating with a Master of Arts in Curatorial Studies. In 2003, she took up the role of Assistant Curator at the West Vancouver Art Museum (then known as the West Vancouver Museum). With a particular interest in the visual culture and mid-century modernist traditions of BC, Kiriko dedicated herself to catalyzing a renewed awareness of the history and legacy of West Coast Modernism. For her efforts, she was awarded the 2010 Metro Vancouver RAIC Advocate of Architecture Award of Excellence. During this time, her curatorial projects and publications included Selwyn Pullan: Photographing Mid-Century West Coast Modernism (2012), Ukiyoe Spectacular: Japanese Woodblock Prints from the 1800s (2014), From the Inside Out: Integrating Art and Architecture on the West Coast (2015), We All Drew, Always: Bill, Frank, David Mayrs (2017), and Selwyn Pullan: What’s Lost (2018). As Assistant Curator at the West Vancouver Museum, Kiriko was also central to establishing the West Coast Modern Home Tour as a beloved annual event. Each summer since 2006, five homes of significance to the culture of modernism in West Vancouver has been selected for a day of public tours, showcasing over 70 homes and thousands of participants over its 20 year run.
2016 saw the opening of the new Audain Art Museum in Whistler, designed by Patkau Architects. In 2018, Kiriko took up the position of Gail & Stephen A. Jarislowsky Curator and in 2026 was elevated to the position of Chief Curator. During this time, she has curated exhibitions such as Emily Carr: Fresh Seeing – French Modernism and the West Coast (2019) with co-curator Dr. Kathryn Bridge, Out of Control: The Concrete Art of Skateboarding (2022) in collaboration with Dr. Partik Andersson, Manabu Ikeda: Flowers from the Wreckage (2023), and Otherwise Disregarded (2024). Furthermore, Kiriko has overseen traveling exhibitions including Riopelle: The Call of Northern Landscapes and Indigenous Cultures and Tom Thomson: North Star, and is responsible for the preservation and management of the Audain’s permanent collection.
Kiriko Watanabe is a member of the West Coast Modern League’s Board of Directors.
