When We Come to Paint

Dates:
May 21 – August 14, 2026

Time: 
9:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. (last entrance at 3:00 p.m.)

Location: 
The Kampong (4013 South Douglas Road, Miami FL 33133)

The Kampong is proud to present When We Come to Paint, a multigenerational dialogue by artist Kit Pancoast Nagamura that pairs her parents’ artistic legacy with her own layered works of botanical observation.

Kit Pancoast Nagamura spent the first four years of her life at The Kampong as the great granddaughter of famed plant explorer David Fairchild. She grew up among a family of artists in a place that nurtured creativity and a love for nature. Kit’s mother Hélène Muller Pancoast, was a talented Japanese-style woodblock print artist who co-foundedThe Bakehouse Art Complex. Nagamura’s father, Lester Collins Pancoast, was a well-known AIA awarded architect, landscape designer, and inventive watercolorist.

Nagamura grew up making prints with her mother, and at times painting alongside her father. Nagamura initially turned to journalism, and later haiku poetry, finding expressiveness in words. While enrolled at Brown University, Nagamura simultaneously studied at Rhode Island School of Design, and did illustrations for magazines and book covers. She completed a fellowship through IBM where she travelled to Japan to research and interview famous artists, including Kusama Yayoi, Yoko Tadanori, and Taro Okamoto.

Nagamura has exhibited in Tokyo, Osaka, and various other cities in Japan. The works on show at The Kampong will include samples of her parents’ creations and feature a series of paintings created expressly for this show.  Artworks range from botanical subjects to those that incorporate calligraphy, layers of Edo-era washi paper, historical maps, and light itself.