Nicole Ishii

Nicole’s artwork is an embodiment of how she views the world. With bright, warm colors, Nicole captures memories of love, happiness, and her playful curiosity either on canvas through painting or printmaking or on screen through digital work and photography. She often starts by referencing a picture on her camera roll, usually a moment from traveling or from her island home of Hawaii. Inspired by her Native Hawaiian background, Nicole focuses on creating artwork that aims to educate the public about the Hawaiian people authentically without the frills of coconut-bra hula dancers or gimmicky luaus. Her theme for the show is “Mālama ʻĀina,” which means to care for the land. Essentially, Hawaiians believe that if you care for the land both physically and spiritually, the land will in turn care for you. Kānaka (man) and ʻāina (land) need each other to survive and are inseparably connected and interdependent to one another.