 His more subtle works often combine traditional Japanese woodblock printing with impressions of the incarceration camps, taken from both his own youthful memories and passages from the diary that his grandmother Toku kept for many years.While continuing to teach at the University of Kansas, Shimomura gradually became one of the most recognized artists in America, amassing awards and exhibition in most of the country's major museums and arts institutions.Since his retirement from teaching in 2004, he has continued painting, speaking, and exhibiting.