Bali Painting Artist I Nyoman Gunarsa Museum of Classical Balinese Painting Onwner

I Nyoman Gunarsa (1944, Banda, Klungkung, Bali) is a graduate of the Akademi Seni Rupa Indonesia (ASRI, Indonesian Academy of Fine Arts) in Yogyakarta, Central Java, where he also was a lecturer for many years. In 1970 he helped establish Sanggar Dewata Indonesia (Superior Indonesian Art Studio) for contemporary Indonesian art. Gunarsa was an invited artist for the "Art of Bali" exhibition at the East-West Centre in Honolulu, Haeaii, in 1988. He established the Museum Seni Lukis Kotemporer Indonesia (Museum of Contemporary Indonesian Painting) in Yogyakarta in 1989 and the Museum Seni Lukis Klasik Bali (Museum of Classical Balinese Painting) in Klungkung in 1994.

Gunarsa expressionistic style works feature offeirng, dancers, and wayang (Balinese puppets). Award: Dharma Kusuma (Bali, 1994). Collections: Museum Nasional (Jakarta, Indonesia), East-West Centre (Honolulu, Hawaii). Exhibitions: British Council (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 1971), Iternational Young Artists (New York, U.S.A., 1973), East-West Centre (Honolulu, 1988), Festival of Indonesia (U.S.A., 1990-1992), Gate Foundation (Amsterdam, Holland, 1993), Singapore Art Museum (1994), Museum Nasinal (Jakarta, 1995), Centre for Strategic and International Studies (Jakarta, 1996), Indonesia-Japan Friendship Festival (Morioka, Tokyo, 1997)

Louise Garrett Koke, Born: USA 1897
Arrived in Bali in 1936 as a young lady with her future husband Robert Koke. Currently she is well known more because of her and her husbands activity to build the first hotel in Kuta Beach, and latter published a book on the account titled 'Our Hotel In Bali'.

They had visited China and Japan and planned to continue their journey to India and Europe after a 'two restful months' in Bali. What happened was that they were in Bali for five years, and they only left the island because of the Japanese sweeping through southeast Asia in the World War II. Louise died in 1993 in the US, her ashes thrown to Kuta waters by her husband Robert as her previous wish.

Her drawings can be seen at Neka Museum Ubud.