Noted Maui artist and educator Edmund MK Enomoto, whose ceramic sculptures are part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum collection, died August 3 at Kaiser Moanalua Medical Center. He was 78.

The funeral was held Monday at the Ballard Family Mortuary, where mail to his family will be received, and burial took place at the Makawao Veterans Cemetery.

Enomoto was born on January 16, 1946, in Puunene, Maui. He attended Holy Rosary School in Paia and graduated from Kamehameha School for Boys in 1964. He earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts with a concentration in graphic design from the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, California in 1968.

The following year, Enomoto married his high school sweetheart, Catherine Anne Kekoa Enomoto, a now-retired writer for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and Maui News. The couple moved to Fort Knox, Kentucky, where Edmund was stationed as a U.S. Army illustrator and won the first annual Armed Forces Art Show.

Returning to Hawaii, he became art director at Kaizawa Advertising in 1972 and designed iconic logos for Hawaiian Host Chocolates, The Mind’s Eye Interiors and Duty Free Shoppers. Enomoto, who held a teaching certificate from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, became head of the art department and athletic director at St. Andrew’s Priory School in Honolulu, retiring in 1997.

After returning to Maui and settling in Kula, Enomoto worked for a decade at King Kekaulike High School, teaching ceramics, drawing and painting before retiring in 2011.

His artwork has won awards for best artist in the Hawai’i Craftsmen and Raku Ho’olaule’a competitions, and eight of his sculptures are in the collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. In 1987, the Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawaii honored Enomoto as a “Living Treasure of Hawaii” for his contributions as a ceramicist. At age 41, he was one of the youngest artists ever to receive this award.

More recently, Enomoto is one of 11 artists featured in the “Maui Strong: Art for Hope” exhibit at the county’s Lahaina Recovery Center at the Lahaina Gateway shopping center. The title of his new woodblock print, “Lele Rising,” refers to Lahaina’s ancient name, according to exhibit materials, and also to the Hawaiian word for jumping, flying or floating. A jumping whale is a metaphor for Lahaina’s rise or rebuilding.

In addition to his art, Enomoto was an avid hee (octopus) freediver and outrigger canoe paddler who also enjoyed cooking and farming. He was the founding coach of the Mullet Volleyball Club and co-founder of the Hawaiian Canoe Club’s recreational paddling program.

In addition to his wife, Enomoto is survived by his daughter Elisabeth Lehua Enomoto, his son Edmund Honu Enomoto, a brother, Andrew Enomoto, and his granddaughter Kamalani Hue Enomoto.