White Dove

About the Book

Artistic Studies • Northern Virginia Art Home Study telecast for one year • Torpedo Factory Art League School for Watercolor for three years and ongoing • North Light Art School home study correspondence for three years Galleries, Exhibitions, and Works • Torpedo Factory Art League School Student Art Show (1993–1994) • Alexandria Virginia Seniors Art Show (1995) • Torpedo Factory Art League Patron Art Show (1997–present) • Reston Community Art Show (1997) • Border’s Bookstore and Café Gallery (1998) • Silver Spring Maryland Community Center Art Show (1998) • Benton Harbor Gallery of Fine Arts, Benton Harbor, Michigan (9/27–10/26/07) • The Neely House Artopia, Jackson, Tennessee (3/17–4/14/07) • South Haven Memorial Library, South Haven, Michigan (12/2006–2/28/2007) • City of Takoma Municipal Government Center, Takoma Park, Maryland (1/9–3/5/2014) Book Illustrations Covers and interior illustrations for the following: • “Hidden Compass: Hunting the Shadows Beneath” (2012) by Raven Bearwolf • “Eclectic Journey: Crooked Keys, Excerpts, and Epitaph, (2013) by Raven Bearwolf • “Crooked Keys: Truth, Lies, and Alibis” (2014) by Raven Bearwolf Membership Member of the National Museum Women in the Arts since 1998

About the Author

I was born in 1930 as the only child to Yoshitaro Sakurai and Shin Yanagisawa in Tokyo, Japan. Not having any other siblings, my childhood was very lonely. My dolls kept me company and helped form my future artistic ideas and images. I attended the Nakahara Elementary School, Chofu Private High School for Girls, and Jesen Junior College. After World War II, I began working for the Quarter Master Company in Shinagawa, Japan. There I met my husband and married on St. Patrick’s Day in 1952. As a U.S. war bride, I came to Benton Harbor, Michigan, in autumn of 1952, where I made history as the town’s first war bride. While a spouse of a U.S. soldier until he retired, I traveled all over the United States and two times to Germany. After thirty years of marriage, my husband passed away in 1982, and I started painting shortly afterward to forget my loneliness and pain. I began my artistic studies at the Art League School of Washington, D.C. I started in oils and switched to watercolors and have had several moderately successful art shows and selling of my work. Recently, I have started a series in acrylic. God has given me the artistic talent to paint his beautiful creations. I express my happiness or sadness through my work. I continue to paint as a form of self-expression and to show people the world of beauty that God, the greatest artist, created. Painting gives me the enjoyment to share my artistic talents with the world.