'At that point,' Oda recalls, 'it almost felt like, 'It's not time to paint goddesses anymore; it's time to become one.''

Oda worked as a bridge between progressive organizations in Japan and North America, drumming up support for anti-nuclear campaigns. 'We stopped plutonium shipments, which is what we were against,' she says, conceding that the broader problems of nuclear contamination and proliferation are much harder to overturn.

But, Oda says, she began to feel unfulfilled. She had not painted in years, and instead of creating something, she felt like her life was being defined by what she was working against. She eventually opted for a different form of activism, a quieter variety more rooted in everyday life. She moved to Hawaii, where she now holds month-long classes twice a year for students interested in herbal healing. She grows organic vegetables, herbs, and fruits-and she's painting again.

'I thought that maybe if I show some positive vision,' Oda says, 'someone will say, 'Oh, this is beautiful; this is the way to live.''

Peppered with vivid stories and lush prints, Mayumi Oda's most recent book, I Opened the Gate, Laughing: An Inner Journey (Chronicle Books, 2002), tells the story of how her creativity was renewed through the sacred space of a garden.

Anjula Razdan is assistant editor of Utne Reader.