Biography
Setsuko Watanabe Morinoue is a Japanese-American artist born in Kanagawa, Japan, who lives and works in Holualoa on the Big Island of Hawaii. Her interest in art began through photography in high school, which later transformed into a love for fiber art in kusaki and roketsu-zome, a Japanese natural dye with wax resist technique. She moved to the Big Island of Hawaii and married artist Hiroki Morinoue in 1970.
Setsuko began her journey with clay at the Kona Arts Center in Holualoa, and her persistent interest in various art media has led her to work across clay with paper, mixed-media painting, and printmaking in both two-dimensional and three-dimensional forms. She is one of the key founding members of the Holualoa Foundation for Arts and Culture (HFAC), now known as Donkey Mill Art Center (DMAC), a nonprofit organization for arts and cultural education. She served as volunteer program director for over a decade, developing high-quality programs for adults and children, including the signature Summer Art Experiences (SAE) for youth.
In 2017, she organized a week-long Satellite Program with three invited mokuhanga artists at the Donkey Mill Art Center, realizing her vision to create a gathering place for mokuhanga printmakers from around the world to share new ways of utilizing this traditional technique. Her work was featured in the 'Enduring Impressions: Contemporary Woodblock Prints' exhibition at the Honolulu Museum of Art (2025) and Portland Japanese Garden (2026). She is represented by Studio 7 Fine Arts in Holualoa.
Key Facts
- Nationality
- 🇺🇸United States
- Movement
- Contemporary Mokuhanga
Frequently Asked Questions
Setsuko Watanabe Morinoue is a Japanese-American artist born in Kanagawa, Japan, who lives and works in Holualoa on the Big Island of Hawaii. Her interest in art began through photography in high school, which later transformed into a love for fiber art in kusaki and roketsu-zome, a Japanese natural dye with wax resist technique. She moved to the Big Island of Hawaii and married artist Hiroki Morinoue in 1970.
Setsuko 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.
Setsuko 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.