Lauren Okano, Artist/Calligrapher
Painting has become a lifeline for Lauren Okano, combining her passion for East and West artistic expression. Early childhood memories are filled with fond recollections of playing with paint in her mother's kitchen in Brooklyn, New York, as well as clay in the basement of the Museum of Modern Art. Some 30 years later and now residing in Hawaii, things have come full circle for Lauren. Her love for the arts has evolved into a profession. Lauren now teaches painting and clay to children at Hanahau'oli School and The Honolulu Academy of Arts. She encourages others to search for new possibilities through artistic expression, to find the infinite within the finite limits of art and to transform the ordinary into the extraordinary.
Lauren received her formal art training from The Cooper Union School of Art and Architecture in New York City where she immersed herself in the intricacies of painting and Western calligraphy. It was at an art show at the Japan Society in New York where she became captivated by the power and beauty of the black and white form that emerges when painting and calligraphy harmoniously become one. She was inspired to explore this newfound connection and began studying painting and Japanese calligraphy from a master calligrapher and National Treasure in Japan. These teachings awakened a new freedom to explore in depth, the beauty of line and form in space.
"A stroke in Japanese calligraphy, even a straight line, has a distinct beginning, middle, and an end, each creating definite articulations,” says Lauren. “Although my brushstrokes appear spontaneous, each stroke is an accumulation of hundreds of decisions. In a sense, my artwork is like that brushstroke, whether it is at its beginning, middle or end, I strive toward creating a unique articulation."
Her works, in oil, tempera and sumi ink are an endless exploration of dynamic color combinations, lines, bold forms and a celebration of eastern and western influences. To see her artwork is to feel her spirit.
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