Artist, writer, and speaker Makoto Fujimura will talk about the importance of cultivating a “cultural soil” in which art and the humanities take root during the fall Geneva Lecture.

The lecture, held in Philips Hall Auditorium at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 18, is free and open to the public.

Fujimura will show slides of his recent art projects as well as discuss the International Arts Movement, which he began in 1992 to “wrestle deeply with issues of art, faith, and humanity.”

An international advocate for the arts, Fujimura was a presidential appointee to the National Council on the Arts from 2003 to 2009.

His work is exhibited at galleries around the world, including Dillon Gallery (New York), Sato Museum (Tokyo), The Contemporary Museum of Tokyo, Tokyo National University of Fine Arts Museum and Oxford House, and Taiku Place (Hong Kong). He has painted live on stage at New York’s legendary Carnegie Hall as part of an ongoing collaboration with composer and percussionist Susie Ibarra.

A popular speaker, Fujimura has lectured at numerous conferences and universities. His second book,Refractions: A Journey of Faith, Art and Culture, is a collection of essays bringing together people of all backgrounds in conversation and meditation on culture, art, and humanity.

Founded in 1976, the purpose of the Geneva Lecture Series is to demonstrate the continuing relevance of the Judeo-Christian message to the life of the mind. To date, more than 70 nationally and internationally renowned speakers have been invited to speak at the University of Iowa.