The 4,000-square-foot John Dominis and Patches Damon Holt Gallery is the only gallery in the world devoted to presenting the history of art in Hawai'i. As such, it promises to be an important resource for historians as well as a means of transmitting information about Hawai'i culture to visitors from other states and countries.

The academy's collection of art by Hawai'i artists or thematically related to our state is unrivaled, and it is a happy event that this collection has found a permanent home.

"Hawai'i and Its People," the exhibition in the Holt Gallery, begins with stunning examples of Native Hawaiian art from the 19th century, including two large pieces of kapa, one of them dyed a rich pinkish red — still vivid after more than 100 years — and the other executed in a lacelike pattern.

Other early artifacts include wood vessels, woven mats and fine examples of featherwork.

How the first Westerners to arrive here saw Hawai'i is chronicled in drawings by artists who accompanied Pacific expeditions as well as in drawings and paintings by 19th-century artists who passed through the Islands, including Jules Tavernier, Enoch Wood Perry, Hubert Vos and Paul Emmert.

The drawings are rarely exhibited owing to their fragile nature, and they will remain on view only a few months. So to see some of the academy's most choice treasures, now is the time to go. Especially noteworthy are ink and watercolor portraits of Kamehameha I and his favorite wife, Ka'ahumanu, both wonderful expressions of character. These were made in 1816 by Louis Choris, ship's artist aboard the Rurick out of Saint Petersburg.

Later works from the 20th century include a little gem of a painting of Waikiki in the moonlight (circa 1915) by Lionel Walden, a graceful portrait of a Hawaiian woman in a white holoku (1937) by Honolulu-born Cornelia Macintyre Foley and a striking view of '?ao Valley on Maui (1939) by Georgia O'Keeffe.

Also included in the exhibition are works by Hawai'i favorites: Juliette May Fraser, Madge Tennent, Shirley Russell, Jean Charlot, Isami Doi, John Young, Satoru Abe, Reuben Tam, Louis Pohl, Toshiko Takaezu — the list goes on.

The academy still has plenty of Hawai'i art in its storerooms, and the installation in the Holt Gallery will continually change, presenting various aspects of the collection.

One hopes as well that this new gallery dedicated solely to Hawai'i's heritage will provide impetus for renewed giving in this important area of the academy's collection.

Ni'ihau's 'jewels'

An installation of Ni'ihau shell lei inaugurates a small space for changing exhibitions within the Holt Gallery that will be used to further examine various aspects of the arts of Hawai'i.

For generations, residents of Ni'ihau have made the exquisite shell lei for which they are so famous. When Capt. James Cook visited the island in 1778 and 1779, he collected a strand of tiny red shells. Once the treasured jewels of Hawai'i's royalty, Ni'ihau shell lei are today worn as finery by many women of Hawai'i, malihini and kama'aina alike.

Those in the exhibition are displayed in such a way that the visitor can readily see the skill required in their creation and the beauty of the intricate patterns achieved by the hundreds of individual shells that make up each lei.

This is a fitting opening exhibition, and we look forward to seeing how the academy works with this space, which would be suitable for contemporary artworks and installations as well as shows of traditional crafts such as this one.

Kaneko collection

Displayed in the courtyard of the Luce Pavilion, as well as in the front of the museum facing Beretania Street, in the entry court, and in a gallery next to the central court are magnificent ceramic sculptures by Jun Kaneko.

These appealing, boldly patterned objects seem in scale and form as if integral to the Luce Pavilion — much more so than the rather weak water sculpture by glass artist Dale Chihuly that was commissioned for the courtyard.

It is therefore immensely pleasing that, as reported in The Advertiser recently, the four Luce Pavilion works will be purchased by the academy and find a permanent home here.

A native of Japan who now lives in Omaha, Neb., (and makes annual trips to Kaua'i), Kaneko is well known for his playful sculptures such as those at the academy. Enormous in scale — each weighing several tons — the pieces inspire awe by their monumentality and sophistication of form, yet they are approachable owing to their lighthearted surface designs and gay colors.

Not to be overlooked is the Honolulu Wall, a grouping of 184 ceramic tiles that incorporate zigzags, circles, stripes and other symbols in a grand wall display.