Saturdays Honolulu Pop-Up

My latest series, Liminal Thresholds, sprouted from the concept of liminality and the Japanese word for dawn, AKEBONO—AKE: opening, light. BONO, which comes from the word OBOROKE: subtlety, a faint feeling, a hint of consciousness. Liminal Thresholds is an attempt at grasping that which exists between complete darkness and the opening of light. It prodded me to observe places and spaces that acted as a portal to the unexplainable feeling of interconnectedness; cosmic events, microworlds in a handful of sand, the deep silence of the ocean, gardening, and moments before awakeness where dreams feel just a little too real. Softening the boundary between dreamstate and our perceived reality by shifting the perspective on darkness from emptiness or nothingness to an expansive birthplace of potential, this series explores the process of birthing expression from the deepest cosmos within us. - @kanonodreamportal

Kano Watanabe is a multi-media creative based in Maui, who primarily works with wood as her canvas. Her work incorporates found materials-old wrapping paper, beach trash, and other random items-collected in hopes of restoring life and beauty to them once again. Drawing on her multicultural experience from her birth in Japan and childhood in Hawaii, her work blends eastern patterns and elements with concepts of aloha aina. With the belief that “art is the pured expression of a soul—a visual language that exposes unique truths behind each individual’s thoughts, feelings, and perspectives-her work not only represents her values in the waking world, but also the deepest parts of a dreamy, spiritual world.