Arts Scene
Hawai'i artists find space to showcase works at the ARTS
By Catherine E. Toth
Advertiser Staff Writer
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| Among the performers at the grand opening of The ARTS at Marks Garage are the brother-and-sister swing-dance team of Matthew and Jennifer Wong, top; and James McCarthy, who'll offer folk songs.
Advertiser library photos Grand Opening The ARTS at Marks Garage, 1159 Nu'uanu Ave. 6-10 p.m. today $20 ($15 advance) 521-2903, 528-0506 Also: Free Family Open House, with hands-on art and storytelling, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday |
Art has found that space at 1159 Nu'uanu Ave., Chinatown.
The ARTS at Marks Garage is a place for space. Managed by the nonprofit Hawai'i Craftsmen, the 900-square-foot gallery area is the latest in arts incubators.
"(It) is a collaborative undertaking for Hawai'i artists working in theater, dance, music, literary and visual art with gallery performance and space."
That's the official explanation. But The ARTS is not easily defined.
"The beauty of our space ... is we can maintain flexibility and not have too many roles," said Kim Coffee-Isaak, executive director of Hawai'i Craftsmen, a 35-year-old nonprofit organization with about 350 members. "... But we want to maintain a standard of quality."
Meaning: Though Hawai'i Craftsmen prides itself in pulling artists from obscurity and giving them exposure, The ARTS won't just showcase anything by anyone.
"We're not censoring," she said, "but we need stuff that's going to fit, that's physically safe, that's not going to catch on fire."
The gallery, which quietly opened in March, receives most of its money from the Hawai'i Community Foundation and the City and County of Honolulu to help meet the needs of the more than 6,000 independent visual artists who don't have a suitable facility to display or promote their work publicly.
"We wanted to work with other art organizations to find ways to collaborate," Coffee-Isaak said, "to do something bigger, as a group."
The ARTS is holding a grand opening this weekend, with an appropriately artsy gala tonight and a family-oriented event Saturday.
Tonight's fund-raiser is a catalog of what to expect from The ARTS: live theater, art demonstrations, jazz, street painting and the first Bad Poetry Competition. Saturday's lineup includes hands-on art demonstrations on ceramics, dance, music-making, mural-painting, wood-turning, fabric-painting and storytelling.
"Everything's on for about 20 minutes, that's it," Coffee-Isaak said. "This is a preview of the types of things people can see when they come to The ARTS at Marks."
What makes this art enterprise project so vital to establishing and promoting the local arts community is its mission to educate. The ARTS is a resource for local artists, a gathering place, a forum, an exchange.
"Our community goal is to meet community needs," Coffee-Isaak said.
Collaborating with Hawai'i Craftsmen as partners on this ambitious project to showcase local talent in a clearly undefineable space are the Hawai'i Academy of Performing Arts, Hawai'i Watercolor Society, Kekoa Stage Management, Lizard Loft, Pacific Handcrafters Guild, PHG Foundation, Tau Dance Theater, Tim Bostock Theater Productions, Twilight Productions and The Art of Coffee.
Each group suggests an idea for a show or performance. If it sounds good to everyone, it gets a reserved space on the master calendar in the gallery. The unfilled, open spaces are open to the community at large. A perfect example was last weekend, when the gallery played host to the controversial feminist film series by Alice Anne Parker after the Honolulu Academy of Arts indefinitely postponed the screening. In the midst of a controversy over the series' anatomically explicit nature, The ARTS snapped up the opportunity, showing the films and basking in the media spotlight.
Though The ARTS took pride in providing the community with edgy, provocative work, that isn't necessarily the reputation the organizers want.
"We've had some really sweet things here, too," Coffee-Isaak said. "So we're not necessarily just looking for controversial or cutting-edge work, but we're not afraid. And there's a lot of venues in town that won't do that."
