Kea Tawana

Kea Tawana (c.1935 - Aug. 4 2016) was a Japanese-American artist known for creating the Ark, a ship built from salvaged wood in a vacant lot in Newark, New Jersey’s Central Ward. The Ark was unfinished when it was condemned and dismantled in 1987. Tawana’s Ark is an example of visionary art and vernacular architecture.
Photographer Camilo José Vergara called Tawana “the only folk artist in the Eastern United States to have built a work comparable in scope and conception to the famous Watts Towers of Los Angeles.” Didi Barrett of the Museum of American Folk Art called Tawana and the Ark “compelling symbols of hope and human potential in a community that has suffered a troubled past.” Lynda Hartigan, former chief curator of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, called Tawana’s work “genuinely original, uncommercialized, and straight from the heart and mind...”

Kea Tawana was born circa 1935 in Japan, the second of three siblings. Her mother and sister died during World War II. Tawana and her brother moved with their father, an American, to the United States in 1947. Her father died in a displaced persons camp, leaving her homeless by age 12. Tawana lived as an itinerant worker, finding acceptance primarily in the African American community. In 1953, Tawana freighthopped to Newark, New Jersey, where she found work in construction and theater lighting. She also worked in a shipyard in Brooklyn, New York. She died on August 4., 2016 in Port Jervis NJ.

Tawana began construction of her Ark on August 8, 1982, using wood salvaged from abandoned buildings, connected with mortise and tenon joints. The ship’s frame was 86 feet long, 20 feet wide, and 28 feet high. Intended as both sculpture and a seaworthy vessel, the Ark’s bulkhead was reinforced with iron and contained five waterproof compartments. She intended to christen the Ark the AKE Matsu Kaisha (Red Pine). Tawana was evicted in 1986, after the vacant lot she occupied was purchased by the New Community Corporation, forcing her to single-handedly move the Ark to the parking lot of the adjacent Humanity Baptist Church.

Public opinion of Tawana’s work was mixed. While she drew praise from local residents and art critics, Tawana’s opposition to urban renewal put her at odds with elected officials. A spokesperson for Mayor Sharpe James also expressed discomfort with her androgynous gender identity. Though no structural flaws were cited, the Newark Department of Engineering condemned the Ark as unsafe and ordered its demolition. Tawana went to court, where her lawyer defended the Ark as a work of art and as free speech. After a temporary injunction, Tawana agreed to demolish the Ark, a process which she completed in the summer of 1988.