Pegge Hopper was born in Oakland, CA. She studied painting at the Los Angeles Art Center College of Design. In 1956 she worked in New York for Raymond Loewy Associates. Living in Milan, Italy from 1961-1963, she was an illustrator for laRinascente. Pegge came to Honolulu in 1963 and was an art director for a local agency. After visiting the State Archives and seeing old photographs of native Hawaiians she was inspired to start painting again. Her gallery opened in 1983 in Honolulu’s Historic Chinatown.