Nora Akino’s landscapes connect the viewer to an inner place of calm and joy. She works primarily from memory rather than relying on photos or sketches. She focuses on the feelings that a particular setting evoked rather than factual details. Akino hopes the hospital visitor’s response to her artwork might be “like a deep breath, an interval when the concerns and demands of the day recede for a moment and allow the person to be in the moment, seeing and feeling what is in front of them and responding to it freely and openly.”