Ben Norris (artist)

He was born in Redlands, California, in 1910 into a middle-class Quaker family that traced its roots, on his mother's side, to the Mayflower and to combatants at the Battle of Bunker Hill.

As an active participant in the California Watercolor School, he had the opportunity to work closely with landscape artist Thomas Craig (1906–1969).

They became friends and in 1936, at Craig's suggestion, Norris accepted the position of first art teacher at the Kamehameha School for Boys in Honolulu.

After a year, he joined the art department at the University of Hawaiʻi as an associate professor, and also took printmaking courses from a colleague.

[2] He is best known for his watercolor landscapes (such as The Other Edge of the Clearing) and abstract compositions with a strong Japanese influence, such as Shadow Play.