Born in 1941 in Japan. While pursuing Graduate Degree at the Tokyo University of the Arts, she received a French Government Scholarship to study at L’Ecole National Supérieure des Beaux-Art, Paris between 1966 and 1968.  In 1969 she moved to New York then she attended to Art Student League of New York through 1970 (Merit Scholarship), where she is now a lifetime member.  

Ms. Sawano had many invitational exhibitions: The National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington DC, L’Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris, Meguro Museum, Tokyo Metropolitan Museum, Kiyoharushirakaba Museum, Yoshii Gallery, and Nihonbashi Takashimaya Art Gallery in Japan, Gerald Peters Gallery in New York, Casa Lamm Centro de Cultura, Mexico City, Marrakech Museum and the Bibliotheque H.R.H. Prince Bandar Bin Sultan in Morocco, Stenhardt conservatory Exhibition Gallery Brooklyn Botanic Gardens, NY, the Zimmerli Art Museum in New Jersey, Art at CGIS, Harvard University, MA. and many more. Mizue’s works have many permanent collections, or public works displayed all over the world including commissioned murals in Morocco and paintings at Columbia University, Harvard, and Rutgers University. Previously her works have been displayed at the Grand Ballroom of The Waldorf-Astoria, as well as in the Twin Towers in New York, and have won numerous awards going back to 1953 when she won the Gold prize for Contemporary Students Oil Painting Exhibition, sponsored by Mainichi Newspaper and held at Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum.