Japanese-American Artist Aki Kano paints herself, loved ones, and family members, exploring the complexities of relationships, personalities, and everyday lives. Kano’s watercolor paintings explore the beauty in ordinary, fleeting moments, using painting to draw attention to the quiet, unexpected beauty that often goes unnoticed.

Kano lives and works in Katonah, New York. She earned her BFA from the University of Michigan School of Art and Design and an Associate’s Degree in Fashion Design from the Fashion Institute of Technology in NYC. You may recognize her work from a six-page-long demo editorial in International Artist Magazine written about her watercolors titled “Ephemeral Moments” in 2024. Well-known amongst realist painters and lovers, she is the President of the American Artists Professional League. In 2025, Kano’s self-portrait “Tête-à-Tête” was shortlisted in the Ruth Borchard Self Portrait Prize competition and was exhibited at the Russell Cotes Museum in the UK. Previously, Kano has served as a juror for the prestigious Spain-based Almenara Art Prize Competition since 2024.