“A work of art is the soul inhaling the colors of passion and getting drunk on the vibrations of diffused light” — Carole Rae Watanabe
During her time in San Francisco, Carole created the Apprentice Alliance (a non-profit organization dedicated to placing apprentices with masters in all fields of endeavor).
Carole’s rich diverse and colorful journey has included completing a Bachelor of Fine Arts at CCAC in Oakland, studying and weaving with indigenous Guatemalan natives on the shores of Lake Attitlan, establishing and directing the first fiber arts gallery in the United States called Carole Rae Fiber Center in the Galleria Design Center in San Francisco.
She went on to study traditional Japanese papermaking in a paper making village in Aichi-ken, Japan creating large paper sculptures to sell and market in various galleries around the United States and in Japan.
For the past 28 years, she directed her own art school L’Art Vivant in Soreze, a rural French village, as well as creating her own art gallery in Collioure on the Mediterranean where Matisse painted.
Carole’s legacy as an artist, author and teacher has included mentoring 20 women weekly as part of her “Life as Art” classes known as Art Heaven.
Currently, she enjoys life as a retired artist between her home in Sebastopol and Princeville, Hawai’i.