Betty Kano

(American | Japanese, born 1944)

San Francisco Bay area artist, teacher, and writer Betty Kano creates paintings that explore political consciousness and spiritual identity.

Kano was born in Japan and moved to California with her family as a young child. While in college in the 1960s, she became an activist in support of the Free Speech Movement. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in painting from San Francisco State College in 1967, and completed her Master of Fine Arts degree at University of California, Berkeley, in 1978. She is a lecturer at San Francisco State University, and she co-founded the Asian American Women Artists Association (AAWAA).