Artists — Studio 7 Fine Arts
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Studio 7 Fine Arts
Hiroki Morinoue

Born in 1947, in Holualoa on the Island of Hawaii, Hiroki Morinoue received his BFA degree from the California College of Arts and Crafts (now CCA) in 1973. Traveling to Japan in 1976 through 1982, he studied sumi brush painting with Koh Ito Sensei and Japanese woodblock printmaking, Mokuhanga with Takashi Okubo Sensei.

Hiroki and Setsuko Morinoue established Studio 7 Fine Arts Gallery in November 1979, as the first and now longest standing contemporary art gallery in Hawaii. A humble space in a small village with a charmed history, the gallery holds an open-ended mission: to create and promote Contemporary Art.

For Hiroki the landscape of Hawaii, its light, rocks, skies, and water has deeply influenced his work alongside the aesthetic of Japanese arts, crafts and landscaped gardens, which is prevalent in his work. In all of Morinoue's work there is a compelling sense of place, curiosity and dialogue between the art and its viewer. He is a patient observer of nature, the rhythms of the ocean shoreline, the fluidity of lava flows, patterns of light on water, using symbols as suggestive messages and patterns from nature. He transcends these observations in various mediums, including watercolor, oil, acrylic and mix media paintings, monotypes, sculptures, photography, ceramics and Mokuhanga (Japanese woodblock prints).

Hiroki Morinoue has shown widely in the United States and Japan. He has completed several major public art commissions, including projects at the Honolulu Public Library, and for the Hawaii Convention Center in 1996-97 where he executed a 90 foot mural titled Mauka, Makai. His work can also be viewed at Pahoa High School Library and First Hawaiian Bank.

Morinoue's work is represented in the collections of The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu, The Honolulu Academy of Arts, The Hawaii State Foundation for Culture and the Arts, Neiman-Marcus in Honolulu & Chicago, Verizon Hawaii, Achenbach Foundation of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, The National Parks, Maryland, Ueno No Mori Museum, Tokyo, the Davis Museum at Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA. and many private commissions and collections.

In 1996 he was designated a Living Treasure of Hawaii by the Honpa Hongawanji Mission.

He is a co-founder and a volunteer artistic curator of Holualoa Foundation for Arts and Culture, a non-profit organization that offers art education and cultural activities to enrich the lives of people and the community since 1994.

In 1997, Hiroki Morinoue was the exhibit designer for the The Kona Coffee Story: Along the Hawai'i Belt Road. It took two years with many artists and local farmers to put this Kona Coffee history together. This exhibit toured the Hawaiian Islands, Japanese American National Museum in LA & Japanese Cultural Center in Sâo Paulo, Brazil. This joint production of the Japanese American National Museum and the Kona Japanese Civic Association, with major Kona community support was awarded a Certificate of Commendation by the American Association for State and Local History.

In 2014, Hiroki as lead artist created a stage set collaborating with artists Margaret Shields, Lindsay Lander, Setsuko Morinoue and Miho Morinoue for a modern dance choreographer Uri Sands titled Hikari by TU Dance, Saint Paul, MN. This work was originally commissioned by the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts for the TU Dance 10th Anniversary Concert, May 10, 2014

In 2017, Hiroki assisted his wife Setsuko in organizing the third International Mokuhanga Conference 2017, IMC2017. IMC2017 was held in Honolulu at the University of Hawaii, Manoa with exhibitions, presentations and demonstrations. A weeklong satellite program of classes, lectures and exhibitions at Donkey Mill Art Center followed this on the island of Hawai’i

Hiroki's most recent project with Sharks Ink, "Brazilian Rainforest" , 2018 along with all his work with Shark’s Ink has been acquired by the Davis Museum at Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA.

“Through time simple elements become syllables in compound expressions that evolve into complex systems of idea and form. The captured image proceeds, becoming an aspect of composition, then finally a module of pattern, a mark of history in an exposition of time, place and mind.

As our world grows smaller, cultures collide and common languages emerge, integrating gods, demons, archetypes, and icons. Under the best circumstances, a lingua franca evolves a universal language derived from the distinctive attributes and unique subtleties of diverse languages. Hiroki Morinoue is the architect of such a language.”

~ William Zimmer Gallery

SEARCH THE HAWAII STATE FOUNDATION FOR ARTS AND CULTURE’S ART IN PUBLIC PLACES COLLECTION ONLINE CATALOG

The Art in Public Places Collection can be viewed online and searched by artist name, artwork title, type of media, and more: Search the Art in Public Places Collection. You can also search the Public Art Archive or the Locate Public Art web app for permanently installed artworks in the collection, such as sculptures at public buildings.

Artist Statement:

In my approach to my art, I tend to work from my consciousness. When working with mixed media or sculpture, I create forms that revolve around metaphoric relationships with a sense of time and space around each work, focusing on the negative space.

I am interested in how the objects relate to one another as people do, whether they complement, contrast, and feel supportive of one another. I keep working with the shape until I find the right relationship, a sense of harmony within and between the forms, and when the forms themselves seem to be having a conversation.

It’s a constant challenge for me to feel in balance with space, time, relationships, and nature. Through my work, I can express these dynamics in hopes of achieving a sense of tranquility and rootedness.

For functional wares, I think of intimate relationships from my hands to others.

I think of my functional ware shapes with a simple and inviting sensibility with their curves, weight, and thickness. I imagine what dishes might be served in it and whether the vessel invites me into a wonderful feast.

The Art in Public Places Collection can be viewed online and searched by artist name, artwork title, type of media, and more: Search the Art in Public Places Collection. You can also search the Public Art Archive or the Locate Public Art web app for permanently installed artworks in the collection, such as sculptures at public buildings.

Biography

Born in Kanagawa, Japan, Setsuko Watanabe began her interest in art through photography in high school. Later, it transformed into the love for fiber art in Kusaki and Roketsu-zome, a Japanese natural dye with wax resist. She moved to the Big Island of Hawaii and married Hiroki Morinoue in 1970. She began her journey with clay at the Kona Arts Center in Holualoa. Since then, her persistent interest and appreciation of various art media have led her to clay with paper, mixed-media painting, and printmaking in both 2D and 3D works. She is mainly self-taught by exploring and experimenting while taking many workshops throughout her career by well-established artists like Paulus Berensohn, Doug Casebeer, Robin Hopper, David Kuraoka, Ah Leon, Ken Little, Warren MacKenzie, Ken Matsuzaki, Gu Mei-Qun, Richard Notkin, Walter Ostrom, Esther Shimazu, Toshiko Takaezu, Peter Vandenberg for Ceramics & 3D, Karen Kunc, Joan Schulze, Robynn Smith, George Woollard for Printmaking & Mixed-media, Noriko Takamiya, Marilyn Wold, Tsuguo Yanai & Jiro Yonezawa for Fiber Arts/Basketry.

She has participated in numerous group shows in Japan, Hawaii, and the US Mainland and has received several awards for her clay works in both 2D and 3D, paintings, printmaking, and mixed media. Her works in private, public, and corporate collections include Hawai’i State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, Hawai’i State Art Museum (HiSAM), Honolulu Advertiser, First Hawaiian Banks in Honolulu, Kailua-Kona and Guam branches, Bank of Hawaii, Royal Hawaiian Hotel and Advanced Medical Nutrition in Hayward, California, and Onsen Ryokan “Yamaki” in Tochigi, Japan.

Hiroki and Setsuko Morinoue established Studio 7 Fine Arts Gallery in November 1979 as the first and now longest-standing contemporary art gallery in Hawaii. A humble space in a small village with a charmed history, the gallery holds an open-ended mission: to create and promote Contemporary Art.

She carries a visionary spirit and is one of the key-founding members of the Holualoa Foundation for Arts and Culture (HFAC), now known as Donkey Mill Art Center (DMAC), a nonprofit organization for arts and cultural education for all ages and abilities. She was a volunteer program director for over a decade and developed high-quality programs and classes for adults and children. One of the significant and signature programs she had developed was the Summer Art Experiences (SAE) for youth, and this teaching philosophy became the spine of the DMAC’s youth programs. She deeply believes in “Art is Living, Living is ART.”, She believes that Arts & Cultural Education support better lives and can build a better and safer environment and community to live in.

She continues to support as the Director Emeritus and holds a significant role as an advisor for the Board of Directors, teachers, staff, students, friends of HFAC and visitors. https://donkeymillartcenter.org/

She was the lead coordinator and vice-chair of the Local Committee of the International Mokuhanga Conference (IMC). She organized the third International Mokuhanga (Japanese woodblock printmaking) Conference in 2017 in Hawaii. It was the first time bringing IMC out of Japan.

The IMC 2017 Hawaii was held in Honolulu for four days at the East-West Conference Center and University of Hawaii at Manoa campus in Honolulu, Oahu, from Sept. 28 - Oct. 1. There was an International Juried Exhibition “Beauty of Mokuhanga: Discipline & Sensibility”, with keynote speakers Mayumi Oda, Richard Notkin, and Seiichi Kondo. She organized paper presentations, demonstrations, portfolio, and product showcases, followed by a week-long Satellite Program with three invited Mokuhanga artists at the Donkey Mill Art Center in Holualoa, Hawaii, from Oct. 3 - Oct. 8, 2017.

Her vision was to create a melting pot for Mokuhanga printmakers from around the world to gather and share new ways of utilizing this traditional technique and to revitalize and perpetuate the important role and responsibility of an artist and their art in society. http://2017.mokuhanga.org/

She believes building a culturally rich community will help make for a safe and peaceful global community and live as respectful citizens of the Earth.

Miho Kanani Morinoue is a Hawaii based artist living in Holualoa, Hawaii. Raised by two visual artists, Hiroki and Setsuko Morinoue and has an extensive background in both art and dance. She had a 10-year career with Complexions Contemporary Ballet Co. in NYC and has danced with Esse Aficionado, Lar Lubovich, Lee Whitchel and Neo Labos. On separate commissions she has collaborated closely with choreographer Dwight Rhoden, of Complexions Contemporary Ballet Co. as a rehearsal director and costume designer. Her costume designs are represented by, Complexions Contemporary Ballet Co., Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Oakland Ballet, Philadelphia Ballet, Ballet Arizona, Ballet Met, North Carolina Dance Theater, Pittsburgh Ballet, and many others. In 2014 she assisted her father in the set design for the dance piece titled Hikari. Hikari, was an Ordway-commissioned world premiere by choreographer Uri Sands of TU Dance Company in St. Paul, MN.

During her performance career she simultaneously worked on her visual art attentively. Many were small studies and sketches of her environment, Jazz clubs and abstract imagery. Then developing those ideas into larger paintings, mixed media, woodcuts, monotypes and scratched Plexiglas prints.

Making of a Flag, Jazz musicians untitled, Bliss, Falling Up was developed during her vigorous dance career. Her Sleep Series are small paintings of her colleagues while on tour in Europe and throughout the US in 2005. In 2006, she completed her first lithograph “The Cove” at Shark’s Ink. The Cove is a tour de force of drawing and imagination. Taking nearly a year to complete the drawing while touring with Complexions Contemporary Ballet Co. The Cove incorporates portraits of friends and family, Japanese mythology and Hawaiian settings. She then began evolving her Bedroom Series later developing the smaller scaled reductive woodcuts into large 48” X 60” paintings that was exhibited in 2010 through The Contemporary Museum at First Hawaiian Center, Honolulu, HI. She has also collaborated with her father Hiroki in creating the woodblock image for her family's coffee label 'Artist Proof'.

Her art can be found in the collections of the Library of Congress, DC, the Whitney Museum of American Art, NY and Davis Museum at Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA.

Since 2005 she has been a teaching artist for the Holualoa Foundation for Arts and Culture, also known as The Donkey Mill Art Center. Miho is currently the Youth and Adult Program Coordinator. She also shares her performance experience and is teaching at Kona Dance and Performing Arts.

Miho's lithograph "Deluvium" , 2018 was printed by Shark’s Ink and has been recently acquired by the Davis Museum at Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA

You may view her website for further details on her artwork, view dance images and costume designs.

http://mihomorinoue.com/home.html

Clayton Amemiya was born in Wahiwa on O‘ahu. He attended Punahou Academy and received a bachelor’s degree in Asian studies from the University of Hawai‘i-Mänoa.

Clayton was introduced to pottery while working at the U.S. Consulate in Okinawa in 1972, when he met Seisho Kuniyoshi who made Japanese tableware at the time. He spent every weekend for the next year at Kuniyoshi’s studio, not getting hands-on instruction, but learning through observation and viewing ceramics in museums, exhibitions and antique shops.

In 1975, Clayton spent six months assisting Kuniyoshi in building and firing the first of his anagama wood-fired kilns. He returned to Honolulu to finish a master’s degree in history, going back to Okinawa to study with Kuniyoshi numerous times. In 1979, Clayton and his family moved to Hilo.

In 1986, he enlisted Kuniyoshi’s help in building his own anagama kiln. Clayton’s anagama is essentially a 12-foot long tunnel, about 4½ feet tall and 4½ feet wide. Hot flames are drawn from one end of the tunnel to the other. Several factors determine the final look of each piece: the speed and intensity of the fire and how each piece is positioned in the kiln where the flying ashes vary the glaze so that no two pieces will look exactly the same. Even though it takes four days to tend the fire, the anagama allows Clayton to get much wider variations in glaze than he could with a gas kiln. He uses Big Island woods; ‘öhi‘a, keawe, koa and lichee, to fire his kiln.

Clayton Amemiya & Anagama technique click here

Please visit his website for more information https://amemiyaceramics.com/

Robert Corsair has had a colorful history of traveling the world. In 1972 he settled in Hawai’i and opened up a unique bookstore in Kailua Kona called Middle Earth. He is fond of 20th century art, French literature, jazz and culinary experiences that lure him to his annual visits to Paris. In his most recent years, Corsair has dedicated himself to printmaking and has produced an extensive body of woodcut prints at the Donkey Mill Art Center's Print Studio, under the guidance of Hiroki Morinoue where he began. For the past three years he attended the Atalier Bo Halbrik in Paris working on a series of etchings. For six years he has been a dedicated printmaker and his works can be found in both private and public collections such as The West Hawai’i Community Health Center, where their goal is to bring art to assist in healing their patience and staff. Corsair's prints capture the playful freedom of cubism, papier colle and abstract expressionism.

Please view our online shop to view more of his prints.

Artist Statement

I am a problem solver, often finding myself at a point apparently without exit. From there to succeed I must work at finding an entry. It is always a personal story and all of my work should be called the 'self-portrait'. I make images painting printing monotypes etc to ‘stay alive’ to express to myself and create the sense of being alive. C’est tout!

Where does it come from, this image this thought? I see myself as a conduit for impressions of this life on earth. There is a where in my work, there is a what in my work, so from time to time I make the image I see of myself appear in landscape, still life and occasionally a self-portrait.

Sometimes playfully I avoid any imagery, obscuring the where, what and who so as to be present, ‘To be alive’.

Studio work for me is everything. I start, stop, destroy and restart the process many times. For me, it is difficult to begin. I have had no art school training. This is why I search out a new location to work.