Born and raised in Kailua, Oahu, Dawn is an artist, nature lover and mother of two.

From a young age, art was an important part of her life. Starting art classes at the age of 5, Dawn threw on a wheel for the first time at only 7 years old and was doing things such as screen printing and stained glass not much later. Throughout her teens she continued to grow and explore in any and all art forms, it seemed like Dawn was always making something. Her passion for the arts took her off island to earn her BFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in affiliation with Tufts University where she thrived and became an award winning graduate.

An avid surfer and hiker, Dawn naturally draws inspiration from the island she grew up on and the ocean surrounding it. It’s no surprise when she creates the shores she plays in, the surfers she watches and the flowers she forages appear as the main characters in her work.

Not only does she love the island she grew up on, Dawn cares for it by trying whenever possible to reduce, reuse and recycle. This lifestyle appropriately translates into her art making process. Whether it’s an old table headed to the dump, a palm frond destined for the wood chipper or someone’s unwanted old canvases and supplies, Dawn makes an effort to use materials which would otherwise end up in a landfill.

Dawn’s recent work combines her love of the islands, and their flower giving culture, with her ambition in reusing materials. So often on special occasions in Hawaii people are gifted beautiful lei which, once wilted, end up being thrown away. By dissembling the lei and pressing the flowers, she is able to incorporate them into her paintings giving the otherwise discarded objects permanence.