Born and raised in Honolulu, Dena Nakahashi has had an appreciation for the arts and loved drawing and painting for as long as she can remember.
She studied art at Kapi’olani Community College while working at the Koa gallery, before moving to the Big Island in 2009, enrolling in the University of Hawai’i at Hilo to continue her studies and received her BA in fine art, with a minor in history.
Dena is inspired by the many landscapes and diverse ecological biomes of the Big Island, how they are constantly changing, and how that change is reflected across ourselves, in the past, and in the future.
Every animal, plant, place, and person has a story, a perspective, a truth to explore—We just have to sit still and be brave enough to explore it.
Dena lives in Volcano Village with her husband Rob, her two boys Conrad and Charlie, and her two cats Nora and Dora.