New Academy of Arts galleries a hit
| • | See an interactive presentation of the new Henry R. Luce Pavilion Complex at the Honolulu Academy of Arts. Flash player is required. |
By Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writer
More than 2,000 people visited the grand opening of the Henry Luce Pavilion Complex at the Honolulu Academy of Arts yesterday, taking in the old and new exhibits in two new galleries, buying shell lei and art books, and enjoying the air-conditioning.
Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser
"It's lovely," said Simonne Rivera of Waikiki. "Just beautiful."
An 1898 oil painting by Hubert Vos of Holland, called Study of Hawaiian Fish, is displayed in the John Dominis and Patches Damon Holt Gallery.
A new wing to the academy, designed by local architect John Masayuki Hara and built on the site of what was once a small parking lot, houses two new galleries: the John Dominis and Patches Damon Holt Gallery on the second floor and a first- floor gallery for temporary exhibitions. The air-conditioning, scheduled to be installed throughout the academy for its 75th anniversary in 2002, helps to preserve the art works.
An expanded Academy Shop, which was popular with visitors yesterday, was built on the site of the old cafeteria. The new Pavilion Cafe opens May 15.
"We've had to call in extra volunteers," said Mae Higa, a volunteer who was working feverishly in the new gift shop. "This place is crazy."
The shell lei, reflecting a Ni'ihau lei exhibit in the second-floor gallery, were particularly popular purchases yesterday, staffers said. Art books also sold well.
Visitors to the second-floor gallery were pleased to see an old favorite, The Lei Maker by Theodore Wores, displayed prominently just inside the entryway. Families and groups of friends took turns standing in clumps admiring the painting of the beautiful young woman in the red dress.
Gordon Mew, a resident of Kailua, who said he and his wife often buy annual passes to the academy, was happy to find that an elevator was provided to the second-floor gallery, an alternative to the stairs that provide a view of the courtyard. His wife has arthritis, and the elevator is a comfort to her, he said.
Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser
The first-floor gallery was given over to works by local artists of Native Hawaiian descent yesterday.
Visitors gaze up at Dale Chihuly's Seaform at the Henry Luce Pavilion Complex. More than 2,000 people attended the complex's grand opening yesterday.
Rhys Iwamoto, a University of Hawai'i student from Mililani, was taken by the large painting of the Battle of Nu'uanu Pali by Herb Kawainui Kane. His companion, Carli Kisaba, also a UH student from Mililani, enjoyed the exhibit of wilting lei in glass and koa boxes, a work by Kaili Chun that compares Western insensitivities toward Native Hawaiians to the trials of Job.
"I like it," Kisaba said. "Moldy lei."
Kisaba said she enjoyed the way the new, more modern wing of the academy had succeeded in blending elements of the older parts of the gallery with the new, an opinion expressed by many visitors yesterday.
The new galleries not only blend well with the existing structures and serve to better preserve the academy's older works, they also have more space and heavier lifting capacity to allow for larger, heavier exhibits, said Charlie Aldinger, public relations director for the academy.
"I've only had one complaint all day,'' Aldinger said as the academy prepared to close. "One woman said she missed the grass."
The Honolulu Academy of Arts will also offer free admission this weekend to show off its new wing. The academy will be open 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday, Aldinger said.
