Nara Wood was born in northern California in 1976. Her
childhood was spent on a small remote island in the Lau
group of Fiji. There, she received a comprehensive and
unconventional education, focusing on the cultural and
religious history of the world in addition to her regular
curriculum. Since then, Nara has spent her time residing
as close as possible to water—in California, New York,
and Hawaii—and this movement toward the horizon, in the
presence of water, is visible in many of her paintings.
Nara has spent the last 15 years in the self-guided study
and practice of art, with painting as her constant focus.
The spontaneity and vigor of her aesthetic passion has led
her to explore mediums from web and magazine design,
to theatrical make-up and set design, to oil and watercolor
painting. She has attended several art classes at Santa
Rosa Junior and Yuba Colleges. Her former tutors include
sculptor Peter Lennon, miniaturist Linda Oppenheimer,
and painter Lydia DePole—who first introduced her to
watercolor. In 1996 she began a two-year study in art
conservation, caring for and cataloguing a large private
collection of East Indian, Oriental, and Disney art.
childhood was spent on a small remote island in the Lau
group of Fiji. There, she received a comprehensive and
unconventional education, focusing on the cultural and
religious history of the world in addition to her regular
curriculum. Since then, Nara has spent her time residing
as close as possible to water—in California, New York,
and Hawaii—and this movement toward the horizon, in the
presence of water, is visible in many of her paintings.
Nara has spent the last 15 years in the self-guided study
and practice of art, with painting as her constant focus.
The spontaneity and vigor of her aesthetic passion has led
her to explore mediums from web and magazine design,
to theatrical make-up and set design, to oil and watercolor
painting. She has attended several art classes at Santa
Rosa Junior and Yuba Colleges. Her former tutors include
sculptor Peter Lennon, miniaturist Linda Oppenheimer,
and painter Lydia DePole—who first introduced her to
watercolor. In 1996 she began a two-year study in art
conservation, caring for and cataloguing a large private
collection of East Indian, Oriental, and Disney art.
While attending high school in northern California, Nara chronicled the story of her grandparents’
incarceration in the Japanese internment camps of World War II and an interest in her Japanese-
American heritage grew suddenly and naturally from that. She studied the great masters of
Oriental painting, gaining an understanding of traditional brushwork and the approach to space
and line. Her artistry became clarified in the Japanese aesthetic with sumi ink and watercolor as
her medium.
Nara studied for three years under Sensei Shuko Kobayashi in the Sogetsu school of ikebana
beginning in 1997. Sculptural forms in the arrangement of flowers began to translate into the
play of spatial relationships and positive and negative space in her paintings. This symbiosis
continues today in a current series of ikebana still-life watercolors.
Since 2000, Nara has painted watercolor and ink landscapes on silk. She has recently been
focused on a series depicting views that explore the presence and path of water. Jeff Polson,
master goldsmith and woodworker collaborates with her, framing the pieces in exotic hardwoods
accented with sterling silver hardware.
In the last two years, she has taken part in a number of shows and charitable auctions at the
Sebastopol Center for the Arts in her present hometown of Sebastopol, California. This summer
her work was shown at the “Giri: Giving Back…Going Forward” exhibit at the Gualala Arts
Center in Gualala, California, a celebration of contributions to Japanese-American arts and
culture. In October her work was in the Marin Society of Artists national exhibition at the Marin
Art and Garden Center in Ross, California.
incarceration in the Japanese internment camps of World War II and an interest in her Japanese-
American heritage grew suddenly and naturally from that. She studied the great masters of
Oriental painting, gaining an understanding of traditional brushwork and the approach to space
and line. Her artistry became clarified in the Japanese aesthetic with sumi ink and watercolor as
her medium.
Nara studied for three years under Sensei Shuko Kobayashi in the Sogetsu school of ikebana
beginning in 1997. Sculptural forms in the arrangement of flowers began to translate into the
play of spatial relationships and positive and negative space in her paintings. This symbiosis
continues today in a current series of ikebana still-life watercolors.
Since 2000, Nara has painted watercolor and ink landscapes on silk. She has recently been
focused on a series depicting views that explore the presence and path of water. Jeff Polson,
master goldsmith and woodworker collaborates with her, framing the pieces in exotic hardwoods
accented with sterling silver hardware.
In the last two years, she has taken part in a number of shows and charitable auctions at the
Sebastopol Center for the Arts in her present hometown of Sebastopol, California. This summer
her work was shown at the “Giri: Giving Back…Going Forward” exhibit at the Gualala Arts
Center in Gualala, California, a celebration of contributions to Japanese-American arts and
culture. In October her work was in the Marin Society of Artists national exhibition at the Marin
Art and Garden Center in Ross, California.
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