Spearheading the efforts to restore the historic Volcano House, originally constructed in 1877, Boone Morrison was instrumental in registering the building under the National Historic Registry and the eventual founding of the gallery space that is Volcano Art Center. Serving as the architect for the restoration project in addition to heading up the carpentry crew, it was decided to carry out the project using nineteenth-centuruy tools and techniques. “That meant felling trees in the forest, bringing in the raw logs into the site, hewing the logs with ax and adze.”
In addition, Boone has been a recognized fine arts photographer in Hawaii for more than 40 years. From 1966 to 1971 he was a student of Ansel Adams, for whom he later worked as an instructor at the Yosemite Photography Workshops.
He has exhibited widely in Hawai`i and on the US Mainland and in 1979 was named a Master Artist of Hawai`i by the Honolulu Academy of Arts. He has taught fine arts photography at the University of Hawai`i at Manoa, and the University of Hawai`i at Hilo, as well as for the Volcano Art Center.
In 1974 he founded the Volcano Art Center and was its Executive Director for the following ten years. Boone’s home and studio are in Volcano Village, where he continues his work as a licensed Architect.