Driven by a passion for Native Culture stories, legends and mythology, fine art carver, Keoni, re-imagines wood as woven and beaded basketry. Using sharpened steel, fire, inks, and organic dyes, he creates story-driven artwork illusions entirely by-hand/freehand with Sugar Maple as his canvas. Keoni is nationally recognized and twice a Smithsonian artist (2020 and 2021), a 2019 CM Russell Museum artist; as a SOFA-Chicago exhibitor, Fine Craft Artist of the Year/ACA, and is a three-time award winner at the Jackson Hole Western Design Conference. The artist was a 2018 inductee into the “By Western Hands” artisans’ guild; and is regularly featured in Tier I national, juried art events at venues such as: the Philadelphia Art Museum Fine Craft Show, Architectural Digest Design show/NYC, SOFA-Chicago, and in cities such as Scottsdale, Ft. Worth, Jackson Hole, Denver, Park City, and Albuquerque, among others.
