Miho Kanani Morinoue is a Hawaiʻi-based artist living in Hōlualoa. Raised by visual artists Hiroki and Setsuko Morinoue, she brings a rich background in both art and dance to her work. Miho enjoyed a decade-long career with Complexions Contemporary Ballet in NYC and has danced with renowned choreographers including Esse Aficionado, Lar Lubovitch, Lee Whitchel, and Neo Labos. She has also collaborated closely with choreographer Dwight Rhoden, serving as a rehearsal director and costume designer for dance companies across the mainland.

Her costume designs are represented in prominent companies such as Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Ballet Arizona, BalletMet, North Carolina Dance Theater, and Pittsburgh Ballet. Miho’s art is also featured in the collections of the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York and the State Foundation for Culture and the Arts in Hawaii.

Since returning to Hawaiʻi in 2006, Miho has dedicated her time to teaching dance and visual arts to local youth, working with the Donkey Mill Art Center (The Mill)—home of the Holualoa Foundation for Arts and Culture—and with Kona Dance and Performing Arts. Nearly 20 years later, she now serves as Program Director at The Mill, where she is committed to providing access to the arts, cultural education, and community dialogue.

MIHO KANANI MORINOUE

Standing in the Jungle
2024
Acrylic, mixed media on wood panel
48" x 60"
Part of the collection of the State Foundation for Arts and Culture's Arts in Public Places Program

The Art in Public Places (APP) Program acquires completed, portable works of art, and commissions artists to create works of art for specific locations. Works of art are displayed in over 640 sites statewide including schools, libraries, hospitals, airports, state office buildings, the State Capitol and at Capitol Modern (the Hawaiʻi State Art Museum). The APP Program also supports excellent arts education programming in schools during the school day, out-of-school arts education for pre-K students and lifelong learning for adults.