Volcano Art Center Featured Artists

Andrews, T.R. “Mudshark”

T.R. “Mudshark” Andrews grew up in Detroit and Flint, Michigan and moved to California in 1968 where he attended Rio Hondo College in Whittier, CA while working as a lab assistant mixing glazes, firing kilns, and beginning to make pottery. He then completed his LEARN MORE >>

Asato, Charlene

Charlene Asato became interested in bookbinding 25 years ago while learning calligraphy in the San Francisco Bay Area. Since 2003 back in her hometown of Hawai’i, she has focused on incorporating her art pursuits into her artist books. She creates these art books LEARN MORE >>

Barker, Phan Nguyen

Phan was born in a Catholic Village north of Hanoi, and went south with her family at the time of partition in l954. She came to the United States in l969. For many years she did not want to return to Vietnam because in her mind it was a place of death and LEARN MORE >>

Joan Blackshear

Blackshear, Joan

Born on the island of Hawaii, Joan Shipman Blackshear has an island family history dating back four generations. The seeds of her art were sown early while playing hide and seek among Banyan roots, torch ginger, and wild orchids. Upon obtaining a degree in LEARN MORE >>

Rebecca Charon

Charon, Rebecca Rosen

Rebecca Rosen Charon has her BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. Moving to Hawai’i in 1996, she found inspiration and the right environment to further her art. Rebecca has a love for color, and likes juxtaposing realism with freer, LEARN MORE >>

Jelena Clay

Clay, Jelena

Jelena clay is a mixed media artist that resides in Hilo on the Island of Hawaii. She is the daughter of Serbian emigrants and was raised in Saratoga, California. At 20 years old she relocated to the islands and has called it home since. Jelena works primarily with LEARN MORE >>

Louis Denolfo

Denolfo, Louis (“Louie the Fish”)

Louie the Fish boasts a 30 year career as a carver of bone and pearl shell fishhooks and exquisitely detailed fish, turtles, and other marine life as pendants. He has lived and worked in Hawai’i, Samoa, Fiji, and New Zealand, and has been a major influence on the LEARN MORE >>

Patti Pease Johnson

Johnson, Patti Pease

Patti Pease Johnson grew up in a family of 10 in rural Minnesota. “As a teenager, my mom took me to art classes with her and we also enjoyed much family camping throughout my childhood. I'm very grateful to my parents for instilling the art of noticing nature's LEARN MORE >>

Kamohoali’i, Micah

Kumu Hula Micah Kamohoaliʻi is the Cultural Director for the Waimea Hawaiian Homesteaders’ Association and is an accomplished and a renowned Kumu Hula of Hālau Nā Kīpuʻupuʻu. His hālau is rooted in the Hawaiian culture and language while immersed in the traditions LEARN MORE >>

Kanetake, Ione

Ione was born in Hilo and raised in Menlo Park, CA. She graduated from San Jose State University with a B.A. in art and industrial art design. She returned to Hilo in 1972. Ione describes how she began making slippers and what it took to make a business out of LEARN MORE >>

Lambert, Jeka

To Jeka beading is a spiritual practice. The process of stitching each tiny bead is itself a form of meditation. She approaches her work very intuitively. Starting with an idea, Jeka makes some of the component pieces she thinks are needed to execute that idea. She LEARN MORE >>

McCann, Mika

Self-taught artist Mika McCann has explored fiber arts since she was a child. Born and raised in Tokyo, Japan, Mika mastered in formal Japanese flower arrangement, a tradition she carries into her fiber art. Mika’s work, which she strives to keep simple, ranges from LEARN MORE >>

Moses, Laura

Laura moved here permanently in 2001. Self-taught, her early influences were the textiles and scents of Hawaii. Her work is basically fabric collage. Large and small textile potpourri scented wall hanging cards are created by sewing layers of fabrics which feature a LEARN MORE >>

Omori, Lorna

These lei po`o (hatbands) and kupe`e (scrunchies) are based on the traditional Hawaiian haku. Each one is made of pellon, a synthetic fiber made mostly of durable polyester. The materials is cut into strips, then the flower and leaf shapes are die-cut and dyed LEARN MORE >>

Sarasohn, Rachel Hope

Transplanted to Hawai`i in 1989, Rachel established a palm frond basket business, selling baskets at art galleries and craft shows until...a friend handed her a gourd. A completely new world, with almost unlimited possibilities for design and color, unfolded...and LEARN MORE >>

Yim, Jody (Specialty Papers)

Specialty Papers reflect the essence of Hawai'i in handmade papers. Our unique papers are created in Hawai'i by combining recycled everyday paper and locally-found elements. The sheets are naturally dried in the Hawaiian sun, then fashioned into notecards, photo LEARN MORE >>