IRA ONO is a multi-faceted visual
and performing artist well known in Hawai'i for his fresh and innovative
work. Ira is an artist who engages the viewer with a wide range of media
and subject matter. His work is said to have an "altar-like" quality.
His background includes study at the High School of Performing Arts inNew
York, with Rudolph Staffel at the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia, and
graduate work under a Max Beckman Scholarship at the Brooklyn Museum School.
A native New Yorker, he left the city in 1969 to explore the islands and
eventually settled in the village of Volcano. Ira's life in the Hawaiian
rain forest and his discipline inspired an impressive new body of work in
ceramic sculpture, masks, and dance. He has exhibited in galleries in Hawai'i
for over a decade and his pieces have found their way into important collections
in this country as well as Europe and Japan. Ira's masks reveal an elegant
restraint and his unique style is clearly derived from a rich mythical past.
Much of Ira's inspiration comes from living in a rain forest...
IRA ONO MASKS
On an island in the middle of
the sea comes a spirit and from
this spirit comes the work of
Ira Ono
How many masks do I wear?
One for each person I meet...
The masks come from no one
place but are a composite of all
my experiences living
in nature...
Like clouds floating in a calm
sky their creation comes to me
in visions each unique: each
bringing its own gift of power--
having no eyes they see...
saying no words they speak...
VOLCANO HAWAII
Several works by Ira Ono are available online. For more
information, click on the Garden Goddess to your left.
IRA ONO is a multi-faceted visual
and performing artist well known in Hawai'i for his fresh and innovative
work. Ira is an artist who engages the viewer with a wide range of media
and subject matter. His work is said to have an "altar-like" quality.
His background includes study at the High School of Performing Arts inNew
York, with Rudolph Staffel at the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia, and
graduate work under a Max Beckman Scholarship at the Brooklyn Museum School.
A native New Yorker, he left the city in 1969 to explore the islands and
eventually settled in the village of Volcano. Ira's life in the Hawaiian
rain forest and his discipline inspired an impressive new body of work in
ceramic sculpture, masks, and dance. He has exhibited in galleries in Hawai'i
for over a decade and his pieces have found their way into important collections
in this country as well as Europe and Japan. Ira's masks reveal an elegant
restraint and his unique style is clearly derived from a rich mythical past.
Much of Ira's inspiration comes from living in a rain forest...