Art Scene
Riding a wave of arts at the Hale'iwa festival

By Derek Paiva
Advertiser Staff Writer

The arts take many forms, and the Hale'iwa Arts Festival explores as many as possible. A stage will offer dance and music (the scenes above are from previous performances) in addition to the creations of painters, sculptors, glass blowers and other artists. Hale'iwa Arts Festival 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday Hale'iwa Beach Park Free admission 637-2277

Make any sense? It will.

The 4-year-old North Shore nonprofit art organization's similarly aged and monikered annual arts showcase at Hale'iwa Beach Park is more than just a place for the creative among us to sell work. It's also a celebration of the endless permutations of art and artists, and an outdoor classroom for learning a little more about the two.

Both the festival and nonprofit were founded to nurture fine arts and cultural programs on the North Shore, and to support the work of area artists. Still, the weekend's participating artists come from all over O'ahu, the Neighbor Islands and even the Mainland.

"I think we've got one of the best locations in the world for an arts festival," said executive director Gary Anderson. "We're right on the beach in Hale'iwa ... and it's just the most beautiful site."

Exhibiting artists are juried into each year's event by a festival committee that pores over submissions of original art, slides and photos, rating each work on artistic merit. This year's collection of 60 exhibitors includes painters, sculptors, jewelry makers, woodworkers, glass blowers, printmakers and even an ipu (gourd) maker. And that's just a handful.

"We have artists demonstrating how they work, as well as selling," Anderson said. "Ceramic artists can demonstrate how they work with their hands or how they work at the wheel. Painters can teach anyone who's interested about their style of painting."

The two-day festival is also heavy on performance artistry, with a main stage featuring music, dance, storytelling and even martial arts demonstrations. The musical menu this year includes Hawaiian, piano, world, surf funk fusion and African drumming, while the fest's dance card showcases various Tahitian, modern and Portuguese styles.

Festival organizers encourage participating artists to include an element of interactivity in their booths and performances, whether it be allowing festival-goers to paint or sculpt or asking them to jump on the main stage.

"We've had attendees up on stage in the past learning how to do hula, Scottish dancing, even filling in the blanks for storytellers," Anderson said.

Each year, festival organizers sponsor one large piece of art that attendees continually help craft over the weekend. "Last year, it was an eight-foot tall sculpture that people could work on in various ways. I'm not sure yet what we're going to do this year, but I'd keep it a surprise if I did know."

Special keiki art activities (chalk art, face painting, seashell crafts, paper-bag puppetry) and historic trolley tours through Hale'iwa round out the fest's offerings.

"We'll have local kupuna on the tours talking story and sharing memories of the town," Anderson said. "You know, 'We used to go skinny dipping near here,' or 'We used to steal mangos from that property over there.' That kind of stuff."

There'll also be a food fest's worth of ono grinds from some of Hale'iwa's best eateries. Think everything from fried chicken, adobo and spring rolls to smoked fish paté, root beer floats and barbequed tempeh wrap with mushrooms, and then think of more than two dozen other delicacies.