Lonny Tomono studied fine arts at UH, Manoa, then sculpture at SFSU and San Jose State University. He expanded his knowledge while working with Japanese Temple carver Makoto Imai, then moved to Japan and apprenticed for ve years with Imai’s teacher, a fth generation temple builder. Tomono felt the pull to coalesce the sometimes contradictory values of Japanese traditional arts and Western contemporary arts into more personal creations. His primary output in recent years has been the bench form; elevating the pieces, through creative explorations, beyond functional furnishings. Tomono’s skills allow him to build on time-honored traditions joining them with contemporary aesthetics to form a new visual vocabulary.
