Inspired by native patterns and symbols, Rebecca Rosen Charon has been creating abstract works on silks and on canvas for many years. Earning her BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia and moving to Hawai’i in 1996, she found the right environment to continue her pursuit of the arts.
Rebecca has a love for color and likes juxtaposing realism with freer, more stylized elements. Her designs are a visual language similar to that of many aboriginal cultures whose way of communicating is in the form of symbols and patterns used on textiles, tattoos, and ceramics. In Hawai’i, she has explored the Hawaiian symbols of kapa, tattoos, and petroglyphs, incorporating them with her own language into her work.
Some years ago, local potter Ann Rathbun asked her to collaborate. “I design the piece and carve the image while using Ann’s expertise and experience to get advice on how to produce the work. She throws the pot and glazes it. The concepts themselves are the same as in all my work.”
She has been working as a freelance Graphic Designer while also continuing to produce fine art.