Carolee Okamoto

Artist Statement

My creative design aesthetics tend to lean into my Japanese ancestral culture - Wabi Sabi, Zen philosophy and symbolism, Sumi-e, Washi, Japan's organic shapes and textural landscapes. These ancestral inclinations moved me more deeply into the ancient world of encaustic. I consider myself a poet as well as an emerging visual artist. My work often melds words into visual imageries and abstracts, whether layered within or placed alongside in textual accompaniment. Both art forms tend to influence one another.

My creative work is also greatly influenced by my family's Japanese American history and experiences, notably their incarceration during WWII and subsequent intergenerational trauma that resulted from these life-altering events. Both my parents were young adults living a typical American life in California before their incarceration in Poston, AZ (Dad) and Jerome, AR (Mom).