Biography
Miho Kanani Morinoue is a Hawaii-based visual artist and arts educator who lives and works in Holualoa on the Big Island of Hawaii. Raised by two visual artists, Hiroki and Setsuko Morinoue, she grew up immersed in art and dance, eventually pursuing a career that bridges both disciplines.
Before focusing on visual art, Morinoue had a ten-year career with Complexions Contemporary Ballet Co. in New York City, and her costume designs have been represented by numerous prestigious dance companies including the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Oakland Ballet, Philadelphia Ballet, Ballet Arizona, Ballet Met, North Carolina Dance Theater, and Pittsburgh Ballet.
As a printmaker, Morinoue works in lithography and mokuhanga, continuing her family's tradition of Japanese woodblock printing that her father Hiroki Morinoue has championed in Hawaii for decades. Her lithograph 'Deluvium' (2018), printed by Shark's Ink, was acquired by the Davis Museum at Wellesley College. Her art can also be found in the collections of the Library of Congress, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Davis Museum at Wellesley College.
Since 2005, she has been a teaching artist for the Holualoa Foundation for Arts and Culture, also known as the Donkey Mill Art Center, where she is currently the Youth and Adult Program Coordinator. She is one of the co-founders of Donkey Mill Art Center (established 2001). Her work is represented by Studio 7 Fine Arts in Holualoa and was featured in the 'Enduring Impressions: Contemporary Woodblock Prints' exhibition at the Honolulu Museum of Art (2025) and Portland Japanese Garden (2026).
Key Facts
- Nationality
- 🇺🇸United States
- Movement
- Contemporary Mokuhanga
- Subjects
- Lithograph
- Works Indexed
- 2
Frequently Asked Questions
Miho Kanani Morinoue is a Hawaii-based visual artist and arts educator who lives and works in Holualoa on the Big Island of Hawaii. Raised by two visual artists, Hiroki and Setsuko Morinoue, she grew up immersed in art and dance, eventually pursuing a career that bridges both disciplines.
Miho Morinoue's work was shaped by the Contemporary Mokuhanga tradition in Japanese woodblock printmaking. Contemporary Mokuhanga: Contemporary mokuhanga (literally "wood-block print") encompasses artists working from approximately 1970 to the present who continue or reinvent traditional Japanese woodblock printing techniques.
Miho Morinoue's prints frequently feature lithograph.
Miho Morinoue is a contemporary printmaker working in the mokuhanga (Japanese woodblock) tradition. Their work contributes to the living tradition of Japanese woodblock printing. Prices for contemporary mokuhanga prints range from $100 for smaller works to $1,500 for major compositions. Most prints sell in the $180–$600 range. The global mokuhanga community has been growing, with increasing exhibition opportunities and collector interest. Contemporary mokuhanga represents an affordable entry point for collectors.
