Welcome to the Masumi Hayashi Foundation, dedicated to elevating and preserving the artistic legacy of Dr. Masumi Hayashi (1945-2006). Dr. Hayashi was an American, visionary, fine art photographer born in the United States, during WWII, who achieved great success at home and abroad with her signature format, the panoramic photo collage.
Dr. Hayashi also taught photography at Cleveland State University for over 25 years, where she was a tenured professor, and won numerous distinctions including the Cleveland Art Prize, and was recognized as a Fulbright Scholar by the US Government.
Since Masumi passed in 2006, there are many people who have together spent countless hours working hard to care for the artwork that Dr. Masumi Hayashi created, keeping it safely preserved and stored, to keep it in the public eye, to get it framed, and exhibited, to get it published in magazines and books, to maintain the web properties of Dr. Hayashi, or to have it reproduced and enlarged in public spaces.
In order to formally recognize this work and to help manifest resources to get these tasks done, I, Dean Keesey, son of Masumi Hayashi, have formally petitioned for 501(c)(3), non-profit charity status, as the Masumi Hayashi Foundation. This will enable us to accept charitable donations.
While the process can take many more months, our official date of recognition will be Dec. 15, 2017, when the IRS determination comes through.
This website will be the public face of the Masumi Hayashi Foundation, moving forward, and posts here should also appear on our Facebook page