CLAUDIA COONEN'S work is inspired by "nature, the flora and fauna,                marine life - I guess you could count surfers as marine life -                and primitive art and ritual."   Her earliest education came through her architect father and seamstress mother. Showing an early interest in art, she attended the California College of Arts & Crafts in ceramics and diversified into photography, basketry, and textiles. She was also a scholarship student at the San Francisco Academy of Art. Her travels have taken her around the North American continent from Canada to Mexico, and to Europe and the South Pacific. She has studied with world-renown teachers in a variety of disciplines: master basket weavers, Japanese kimono masters, and a range of textile artists. She continues to explore and experiment in many different mediums. After settling in Hawai'i in 1971, she raised her family and ran a bromeliad nursery on the Big Island, while receiving a certificate in horticulture from a correspondence school in Canada. Claudia's works can be found at the Maui Crafts Guild, Village Galleries-Contemporary, Kaukini Ranch Gallery, Hui No'eau Gift Shop, Lahaina Arts Society, Olas, and Kula Lodge. 225 Kane Road Haiku, Hawaii 96708 PHONE/FAX: 808-572-0461 EMAIL: studio@surface-designs.com