Author: Tina Lia

Every three years, the Maui Arts & Cultural Center’s gallery holds one of the most fascinating exhibits on island. The Schaefer Portrait Challenge is a juried exhibition that gives viewers a moving glimpse into the many unique people here in Hawaii. Since 2003, artists throughout the state have been challenged to create works that truly capture the inner spirit of their friends, family, neighbors, mentors, and even themselves through portraiture. This year’s show features fifty-seven talented artists from five islands.

Gallery visitors can get a real feeling of connection with the community by taking the time to explore each portrait and reading the artists’ statements about what inspired them.

Edd Tokarz Harnas’ “What Grande Could Mean” is an oil painting of Roland, a man who “embraces a stylish and tasteful lifestyle that is overlooked today” by enjoying his corporate coffee in a vintage porcelain teacup with coordinated china, teapot, and linens.

“The Ancient Reptilian Man” by Patrizia Arroyo paints the story of her neighbor, kahuna Ed Kaiwi’s travels into the spirit world. Kaiwi is caretaker of the sacred birthing temple, Anahola Heiau, on Kauai.

Amanda C. Scott’s “Lady of the Forgotten Forest” is a beautiful painting of a longtime friend of the artist. “I dreamed of how to interpose her in the world I imagined she truly belonged in,” Scott describes.

In the center of one gallery area is Ingrid Fregeau’s earthware ceramic piece “Long Live Love, Portrait of Rainbow.” The artist explains that her friend, Rainbow, embodies unconditional love that “shines through him, and bathes all around him with joy and warmth.”

Lynette Pradiga chose her husband as the subject of her piece titled “My Power Washer of Love,” describing him as her “favorite person in the world.” Sadly, it is also noted that he passed away just weeks prior to the exhibit opening.

Several self-portraits can be seen throughout the gallery. Bon Moore’s “The Song That I Hear” is an intriguing combination of clay, coconut fiber, and the artist’s own hair. “When I am working with these materials,” she says, “I feel connected to nature.”

“From the Ground Up” is a mixed media self-portrait by Jennifer J. Stephens that conveys her challenges through life. She says, “I chose this medium to connect these physical elements from my surroundings and my youth, while portraying the continual process of my own growth.”

Penny Nichols’ “Self Portrait with Too Much Information” is a collage of raw emotion that communicates the artist’s personal experience with parental alienation and the transformative power of art in her life. “The creative process has helped me heal from something that appeared a hopeless tragedy,” she says.

The 2018 Schaefer Portrait Challenge runs from January 16th through March 18th at the MACC’s Schaefer International Gallery. The exhibit is free and open to the public Tuesdays through Saturdays from 10am-5pm (closed on Sunday, March 4th). Viewers can vote for their favorite piece now through March 7th, and the winning artist will receive the Marian Freeman People’s Choice Award of $5,000. For more information about the show, visit the MACC website.

Saturday’s 32nd Annual Waldorf Holiday Faire was a great way to get into the spirit of the season. The faire was first started in 1985 and has become a fun yearly tradition. Folks from all over the island made their way Upcountry to spend the day shopping, eating, and enjoying the festive activities. Tents, classrooms, and outside areas were set up throughout the campus, giving it the feel of a Christmas village. With live entertainment, food booths, a silent auction and more, this was such a charming event that gave the community a way to support Waldorf school and its programs.

Artists and vendors offered locally and internationally made gifts and goods. Lots of original shopping ideas could be found, with everything from jewelry to artwork, clothing, pottery, toys, and plenty of one of a kind handmade items. There were also several unique holiday decorations, wreaths, and plants.

The “Holiday Cafe” offered a nice selection of locally made options with lots of vegetarian foods. Some of the choices this year included burgers, pad thai, poke bowls, handmade pasta, and fresh lemonade.

The Silent Auction had a wide range of interesting items, and 100% of the proceeds went directly to the Waldorf School’s Tuition Assistance Program.

My favorite spot is always the Bake Shoppe. So many tasty treats to choose from…cookies, candies, cakes…even vegan and gluten free goodies.

This year’s entertainment featured students and local musicians. Onstage were hula, Japanese dance, live music, and of course Christmas songs. Throughout the faire, there were also plenty of keiki and family activities like holiday crafts, candle dipping, a puppet show, and face painting. Best of all, it was a zero waste event! Manned areas for separating and composting rubbish and recyclables were organized by Kokua Hawaii Foundation’s Plastic Free Hawaii.

The Haleakala Waldorf School’s Holiday Faire is held every year, usually on the first Saturday in December. This year’s admission was $3 with free entry for children under twelve. If you get the chance to visit Upcountry next season, don’t miss this festive Maui holiday event. For more info, visit the Waldorf Maui website.

Every year during the holiday season, Maui’s Hui No‛eau Visual Arts Center presents their festive boutique of artwork, crafts and handmade gifts. The historic Kaluanui Estate’s gallery space is decorated like an island style winter wonderland with its beautifully designed display of lights, trees, and treasures. If you’re looking for unique, locally made finds, the Hui is a great place to shop. Proceeds from the annual sale support the Hui No‛eau’s mission of unlocking creativity through arts education and preserving the history of Kaluanui.

In the seasonal shop, you’ll find a delightful assortment of ornaments and decorations.

There are also many lovely jewelry pieces in a wide range of styles.

A variety of gifts made by Maui’s talented artists are featured, with everything from paintings to prints to clothing and more.

Don’t miss the paper gown display created by Maui designer Koa Johnson of Kojo Couture and Ry-n Shimabuku.

The Hui No‛eau’s annual holiday boutique is open daily from 9am-4pm through December 24th. On Wednesday, November 29th the Hui will host their “First Night” event, a special evening opening of shopping, music, and celebration. Over the next few weeks, the Hui is also offering fun holiday art workshops with themes like ornament making, card printing, and wrapping paper printing. There will also be three Pop-Up Night Market events on December 6th, 13th, and 20th featuring family friendly entertainment, a Keiki Holiday Workshop, and a special appearance by Santa. For more info, visit their website at huinoeau.com.

Over 250 youth were a part of the Hui No‛eau Visual Arts Center’s summer arts program this year. With weekly themes covering various styles and subjects, the nine week Camp Kaluanui offered a chance for participants to work with a team of experienced artists, learning new skills and mediums for expressing their imaginations. The 2017 Youth Exhibition at the Hui No‛eau showcases the creative works of some of Maui’s youngest talents.

Claudio Marchetti’s Paper Flowers from the Sea study inspired the use of recycled paper and textured layers symbolic of the ocean environment. Imagery was based on botanical drawings of sea anemones by German Botanist/Artist Ernst Haeckel.

Maria Dougherty’s Polynesian Art project taught tribal design, repeating patterns, and oil pastel blending to ages 8-11.

Students learned about artist Louise Nevelson’s abstract expressionism style of using abandoned objects to create sculptures. Teaching Artist Katie Peterson encouraged each young artist to find their own narrative, and the final pieces were spray-painted in a uniform color similar to Nevelson’s work.

An interactive activity table invited gallery viewers to create their own works of art by coloring coffee filters and crafting them into butterflies to be hung on the Hui wall.

“Watch  your colors move!…Let’s soar into the next century…”

More advanced projects included Tania Arens’ Adventurous Printmaking Exploration, a teaching of the process of drypoint etching using plexiglass. Collaborative artist Kelly Foss showed students how to draw their own faces, and the portraits were then transferred to the plexiplates for printing.

Visiting Artists David & Andrea Peterson’s enameling workshop demonstrated the use of powdered glass sifted onto copper shapes and fired in a hot kiln. Layers, masking, and scratching were used to make unique patterns.

Emilia De Castro’s “The New Wave” project was a study in Japanese artist Hokusai’s woodblock print “The Wave.” Students painted their own interpretations with acrylic on canvas.

The 2017 Youth Exhibition is a fun look at the creative abilities of Maui’s bright young artists. The show runs through August 24th, and the gallery is open daily from 9am-4pm. For more info, visit the Hui No‛eau website.

 

 

One hundred years ago, celebrated architect C.W. Dickey designed the historic Kaluanui Estate for Harry and Ethel Baldwin. Now the site of Maui’s Hui No‛eau Visual Arts Center, the iconic property is being honored this year with the Kaluanui Centennial 10×10 Exhibition, a juried gallery showing of 100 selected works. Artists were challenged to create two-dimensional and three-dimensional pieces that fit within a defined space of ten inches (10″x10″x10″).

With artwork in a variety of mediums – from painting to photography to ceramics and more, this gallery exhibit is a delightful look at the many ways creative minds interpret the ten inch space.

Several paintings line the walls, and the imagery of island life is a featured theme.

Three-dimensional works include sculptural pieces, ceramics, and glass.

Photography is given new life through the use of inventive design.

Mixed media and collage add a whimsical feel to the gallery.

Kaluanui is celebrated through artistic works inspired by the estate.

The Kaluanui Centennial 10×10 Exhibition is a colorful celebration of the artistic community’s appreciation for the historic charms of the Hui No‛eau’s iconic property. The show runs through Saturday, July 22nd and the gallery is open daily from 9am to 4pm.

The Hui will also be hosting a Kaluanui Centennial Celebration on Saturday, July 22nd from 10am to 2pm. The event will feature a family friendly day with tours of the property and art studios, interactive artist demos, local food trucks, and entertainment. For more info, visit their website huinoeau.com.

Stepping into the Piero Resta: Illuminatus exhibition at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center’s Schaefer International Gallery, I had no idea what to expect. I’d seen images of his colorful artwork and had some knowledge of his eccentric life on Maui, but did not anticipate being so moved by this beautiful tribute to a very fascinating and talented man. Resta’s art pieces were displayed in deliberate sections throughout the gallery, with each area embodying a different time in his creative life. Beginning with his youth and weaving around the walls to his final days on Maui, this installation was so well-thought-out and clearly pieced together with genuine love for the artist, I found myself with tears in my eyes by the end.

“This retrospective exhibition honors Maui artist Piero Resta (1940-2015) whose life was infused with passion as a celestial navigator between natural and mythological worlds,” the story begins. With a prolific mix of drawings, paintings, and sculptural works, Resta’s legacy lives on in his visual storytelling.

Born in Voghera in Northern Italy, Resta studied at the Institute of Leonardo Da Vinci in Rome. The inspiration for much of his artwork grew from these early days surrounded by Roman culture, architecture, sculpture and fresco paintings. In 1963, he moved to New York’s Chelsea District and became a fashion photographer. During this time, he was fully immersed in the creative culture of 1960’s New York. Resta was involved in experimental filmmaking, became a part of the poetry scene along with Allen Ginsberg, and worked with artists at Andy Warhol’s Silver Factory.

He moved to Bolinas, California in the 1970s and started a theater company, integrating live performances and gatherings with poetry, music, visual arts and film. There he lived as a nomad and explored hallucinatory indulgences, finding freedom and self-discovery in his youth.

Moving to Maui in 1978, Resta continued to live as an adventurer, starting off in a jungle hale in Huelo, then moving around the islands on a catamaran, and later relocating to Paia where he created his own art scene with Piero’s Garden Cafe, which included a studio and gallery space. His artwork shifted from drawing to painting during this period, with a style that fused symbolism with imaginative narratives. Figurative works were inspired by his many friends, models, and muses.

In 1991, he moved to Kaupo on the slopes of East Maui. Resta became immersed in Hawaiian culture and was further influenced by the island’s natural world. He created an artists’ sanctuary here, “Villa Tamarinda,” where he produced several pieces and collaborations themed around the cosmos and mythology. His style evolved to include more three-dimensional works in wood, stone, bronze, fountains, and architecture. Paintings became more abstract and tactile, merging spiritual transcendence with celestial imagery.

Inspired by Homer’s Odyssey, the central piece of the exhibit is Resta’s wall-sized acrylic on canvas, “Epica.”

With mediums from wood to bronze, and mixed infusions of natural elements such as sand, the artist’s versatility was ever evolving.

Piero Resta was diagnosed with cancer in 2013. In his final years, he continued the creative journey with contemplative works that expressed his pathway towards healing through acceptance of the coming transformation, rebirth, and the afterlife. His art took on a new energy with a harmony of light and darkness and a focus on the portals and doorways of the cosmos. Embracing mortality, awareness, and a graceful ability to be in the moment exemplified the life of a true artistic visionary.

The exhibit closes with a poignant homage…

Piero Resta took his last physical breath on September 8, 2015. Just before this happened, he said:

“my last breath will be an ocean.”

The Piero Resta: Illuminatus exhibition at the MACC’s Schaefer International Gallery runs through July 16th, 2017 from 10am-5pm Tuesdays through Sundays. For more information, visit the MACC website.

On August 25, 1916, the “Organic Act” establishing the National Park Service was signed. This new federal bureau was given the responsibility of protecting our country’s national parks and monuments. 2016 marks the 100 year celebration of this act honoring the importance of conserving the scenic beauty, wildlife, and historical significance of our parks system.

To commemorate the occasion, the Maui Arts and Cultural Center (MACC) is presenting the Hawaii National Parks 2016 Centennial Juried Exhibition in the Schaefer International Gallery. The show runs from August 30th through November 6th, 2016 and features a selection of works submitted by artists across the country. The gallery exhibit showcases artwork that reflects the deep appreciation we have for our parks and monuments in Hawaii…the wonders of nature and the cultural meaning they hold as well as the memories we create on our travels.

Several pieces in the show evoke the imagery and power of Hawaii’s volcanoes. Lee Plevney’s “Lava Tubes – Breathing Holes for the Earth’s Soul” is a triptych of white stoneware vessels symbolizing the energy of Maui’s Haleakala. The artist’s process includes shaping the ridges of thrown stoneware, envisioning the forms of cooling lava. “I live each day within the shadow of Haleakala,” she says, “The lava tubes I create signify that I, and my ohana, remain connected to the soul of this island. We walk the hills and valleys of Haleakala. We did one hundred years ago and will one hundred years from now.”

William Worcester has been visiting our national parks for many years and says, “They truly are America’s best idea.” His blown, carved and sandblasted glass piece is titled “Geologists Dream.” Along with being a talented glassworks artist, Worcester is trained as an Oceanographer. A fascination with earth science fueled his creative process. “This piece inspired by Volcanoes National Park conveys the feeling of an active volcanic island,” he explains. It was created with layers of molten glass and glass powders, a sandblasted surface and vent, and a lava-like stream of dyed hemp with red twine in the center.

Wilma Nakamura’s mixed media “Gesture Tinged With Awe” is a collection of 100 postcards reflecting the power of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Using imagery of Pele’s tears (volcanic glass lava drops) along with ink drawings and handwritten memories, she describes her experience as a child viewing the eruption of Kilauea Iki. “Pele is part of my DNA,” says Nakamura, “Inhaling her dust, tuning my ears to the sonic roar, squinting my eyes to take in the orange white hot lava, taming my fear of being in close proximity to her and accepting that the ground under my feet often moved…This piece is grounded in memory. Five weeks in November 1959 at the Park.”

Sacred land is given reverence through creative expression. Jacob Medina’s “Pu‘uhonua O Honaunau” is an acrylic, enamel and birch panel piece named for the national park on the island of Hawaii’s Kona Coast. In ancient times, Pu‘uhonua O Honaunau was a place of refuge, a sanctuary of peace and forgiveness. It is a protected site today, and visitors travel to the park to feel Hawaii’s mana. “I chose Pu‘uhonua O Honoaunau for its unique blend of natural and cultural resources where the idyllic Hawaiian landscape is made sacred by human influence,” Medina says, “The power of this site inspired me to use bold line work and exaggerated colors that highlight the significance of this historic place.”

A disturbing time in U.S. history is chronicled through artwork focusing on the Honouliuli Internment Camp. From 1943 to 1946, Honouliuli held over 300 Japanese-American internees along with close to 4,000 prisoners of war. Surrounded by barbed wire fencing, the 160 acre site was located in an isolated deep gulch near Waipahu on Oahu. Japanese-American internees nicknamed it Jigoku-Dani, or “Hell Valley.” This was the largest and longest-operating of several internment camps in the state of Hawaii, and the only site built specifically for prolonged detention. Honouliuli Internment Camp became a national monument in 2015.

Delro Rosco’s “Freedom for the Captives” mixed media painting draws inspiration from the monument. The artist’s imagery includes muted colors and rough textures pierced by barbed wire. Rosco describes the work’s creation, “Being aware of the hurt from the injustices that were caused by the internment of Japanese-American citizens during WWII, my hope was to capture a sense of place, the pain of imprisonment, brokenness, and a desire for healing, hope and freedom from bondages for all those affected by this dark part of our history.”

Kathy Yoshihara’s “We Cannot Bury the Past” is a combination of clay, glazes, and computer generated decals on fused glass. With a playful artistry, Yoshihara conveys a stark reminder of the unjust circumstances faced by both adults and children during the war. “Although this piece is from a child’s perspective, the effects were no less damaging,” she says, “The camps forever altered the Issei and Nisei’s perspectives and lives, which was passed down to future generations. We were taught to live a life of Gaman.” (Gaman: Enduring the seemingly unbearable with patience and dignity)

Rounding the walls of the gallery, we’re brought back to a celebration of the islands’ natural beauty with artwork focusing on plants, trees and wildlife in our parks. Marie Ritzman’s “Endangered or Extinct Hawaiian Forest Birds” is a ceramic sculpture with a clever construct. Ritzman explains, “Through the work of the National Parks, the endangered forest birds survive. See them depicted in this nest of porcelain clay, painted underglazes on porcelain eggs.” Some of the native birds featured include the ‘O‘o, the ‘I‘iwi, and the ‘Elepaio.

Shaun Fleming’s “Haleakala Rising” is a handcrafted Koa wood cabinet inspired by the slopes of Haleakala National Park where the native trees grow. Fleming describes a deeper connection to the source of her work, “The Koa wood from which this cabinet was constructed came from a very old dying tree. Our family salvaged it many years ago, hauling it out of the mountain, milling, drying, and finally fabricating it. It now has a new life. I feel blessed to have had this gift to work with as it sparks a fire in my heart.”

The Hawaii National Parks 2016 Centennial Juried Exhibition offers fascinating insights into the parks system. In addition to the artwork and informative placards throughout the gallery, a glass enclosure holds an official park ranger uniform along with descriptions of the birds and insects at Haleakala.

Open through November 6, 2016, this exhibit is a must-see collection of works reflecting the significance of Hawaii’s history and our natural world. To learn more about the gallery showing and our parks system, visit the MACC exhibit page and the National Park Service website.