I love textiles, because of my grandmother, Honey. She taught me cross-stitch and that was just the beginning. I had my first Singer sewing machine at 10 and made clothes for my Barbie and myself, unfortunately. I have learned many inspiring creative techniques to use on and with textiles from wonderful quilters and textile artists. I love with working with textiles.
I spend a part of each year working as a Teaching Artist of Hawaii, bringing visual arts to elementary & high school students in my community which I am so happy to do.
Aloha,
I work on paper, textiles, and wood. I have lived on Hawai`i island on the slope of Mauna Loa since 1973. I am originally from Birmingham, Alabama.
My family has farmed coffee and orchids for most of those years in South Kona. I started drawing at 3 years old on a chalkboard and asking my Mom why my eyes didn’t stay slanted even though I pulled them back, she really didn’t know where I had gotten that idea from.
My work has a strong Japanese influence because of my interest of sumi-e, Japanese ink painting which I was introduced to at 8 years old. I bought my first sumi-e supplies at 14, at 22 came to Hawai’i where I met and studied sumi-e with Sensei Koh Itoh of Kanazawa. I went on to study sumi-e in Japan and roketsuzome (Japanese batik) with Betsy Sterling Benjamin in the U.S.
Ellen Crocker
