Hiroko Cannon’s exhibition aptly titled Life With Wings, is an homage to the region’s local bird and plant life, now on view post-security within Concourse B through Summer 2025.
Hiroko Cannon is a notable and celebrated regional artist producing finely detailed watercolor paintings which have been reproduced and printed at a large scale for this exhibition. She has spent years honing her craft and gaining intimate knowledge of the birds, insects, small animals, and plants of Northeast Oregon and Washington State. Cannon is known for her accuracy in portraying birds in their various plumages in the correct season and habitat.
Cannon studied illustration and fine art in Osaka, Japan, and worked there as a graphic designer, creating illustrations for department stores. After immigrating to the United States in 1987 she continued to produce freelance work for Women’s magazines in Japan, producing illustrations and writing articles about life in Pendleton, Oregon. After taking a break to raise her children, her passion returned to her skillful painting practice.
A deep knowledge gained by observation is evident in all of Cannon’s images and the garden that surrounds her North Hill home provides much insight into her process.
“It’s like climbing a mountain because the mountain is there. I look at something and my hand starts moving.”
Cannon’s backyard is a miniature oasis for birds, thick with the native plants they love. Every plant, bundle of twigs, solitary bee house, and feeder is beautifully situated, simply because it’s the best way to attract the wide variety of birds and pollinators that inhabit the garden’s design.
Curious admirers of Cannon’s paintings often ask about the sizes of her brushes since the detail in the work seems to rival the actual feathers and leaves that inspire her through the thousands of tiny brushstrokes. Hiroko’s careful precision never detracts from the artistry or elegance of her work. Her paintings capture a point of view that is uniquely hers—whimsical while remaining realistic, as she portrays her deep reverence for the beauty of our natural surroundings.
In conjunction with this exhibition, limited edition prints of the exhibited works are available for sale. For more information and purchase inquiries, please visit Pendelton Center for the Arts or email director@pendletonarts.org.
Hiroko Cannon lives and works in Pendelton, Oregon. She started with anime as a youngster and studied European Art History, Oil & Watercolor Painting, and Graphic Design at Osaka Kohgei High School Fine Art in Osaka, Japan. Cannon also studied Human Figure Drawing and Watercolor Painting at the esteemed Setsu Nagasawa Seminar in Tokyo, Japan. Her work has been exhibited in Osaka, Japan, as well as is in Oregon, Washington State, and Maryland in the US.
In October 2015, Cannon had her first formal solo exhibit in Pendleton Center for the Art’s East Oregonian Gallery, supported in part by the Oregon Cultural Trust.