About Me
I was born in Hawaii and grew up in Nu’uanu Valley, which is in Honolulu, on the island of O’ahu.
Members of my father’s family immigrated from Japan to Hawaii four generations back, and my mother’s family relocated from Germany and Europe to North America in the late 1800’s.
I spent much of my childhood, and continued throughout adulthood, to explore the forests and mountains of O’ahu and the Big Island of Hawai’i. From older generations and hiking companions I learned facts and fictions about the flora, fauna and geography of the islands. As a teenager I spent summers working in the volcano area of the Big Island and this experience has had a profound influence on my later work as an artist.
After attending university in California and Iowa, I moved to England to teach fine art, and was subsequently involved in setting up Phoenix Arts Association (now Phoenix Art Space) in Brighton, where I currently have a studio and was until March 2020 running the main gallery exhibitions programme.
I have continued to travel ‘home’ from England to Hawaii as much as possible, and in doing so I am able to observe the subtle and dramatic changes within this unique place over a lifetime. Although separated in time and space from my formative years, the distance between my two dwelling places serves to intensify and distil certain memories in a way that nourishes my art.
Much of my autobiography (fact and fiction) can be found in the artwork.