Art
Craftsmen show features edgy, thought-provoking works
By Virginia Wageman
Advertiser Art Critic
Art critic Holland Cotter recently wrote in the New York Times that he goes to exhibitions not "to relax or to be soothed" but "to be stimulated ... to be made to think, though not necessarily to think easy thoughts."
Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser
The current Hawai'i Craftsmen show at the Academy Art Center addresses the latter issue in stimulating and provoking the viewer to think thoughts that are not always comfortable.
Jacqueline Lee's "Slice" is made out of bales of books, sliced into sushi-like sections.
The crafts are often equated with "easy" art in the sense that they place little or no intellectual demands on the viewer. However, in the current show many of the artists have pushed their chosen mediums to an edginess not often found among craftspeople.
Foremost among them is Jacqueline Lee from Northern Ireland, a recent University of Hawai'i master's of fine art graduate. Working philosophically with the interrelated concepts of knowledge and material form, Lee challenges us to assign new meanings to what we see. She has a background in ceramics, but here she has fired books in a kiln, in itself a provocative act, resulting in solidified masses of ashy white paper that suggest petrification.
She has two fired-book works in the show as well as a wonderful piece called "Slice," made of bales of books that have been sliced into sushi-like sections. A work by Jolly Bodine, "Beware the Illusion of Comfort" — a small-scale model of an overstuffed armchair made of shards of green glass — might serve as a metaphor for the show. It looks pretty and comfortable, but sitting in it would provoke excruciating pain.
Academy Art Center, 111 Victoria St.
Hawai'i Watercolor Society Mark's Garage, 1159 Nu'uanu Ave.
Kau'i Chun Native Books, 1244 N. School St.
Johannette Rowley questions religiosity in "Pillars of Faith," three macabre ceramic women wrapped in shrouds. Hers are not the only ceramics that trade "beauty" for intellectual content. Carol Kouchi Yotsuda's disembodied clay heads scream silently in an absurdist world. Donald Harvey's very large platter, titled "Seascape," is rugged and jagged as if battered by the sea.
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Hawai'i Craftsmen
Through Oct. 31
532-8700
Through Wednesday
521-2903
Through Nov. 16
845-8949
There are, of course, many examples of lovely, traditional crafts as well, including fine woodworking (Gerald Ben, Robert Butts, Francisco Clemente, Ron Kent, Robert Lippoth, Edward Love), exquisite ceramics (Clayton Amemiya, Daven Hee, Randall Ho, Kenn Sprague, Wayne Turl, Richard Weber), fine glassworks (Kathy McClelland Cowan, Hugh Jenkins and Stephanie Ross, Michael Mortara) and exciting fiber art (Canda Bloir, Tae Kitakata). Pieces based on gourds are imaginatively done by Jelena Clay and by Georgie Sartoris and Elroy Juan, working together. Kimberly Blackburn's bead sculptures are magical.
Attracting everyone's attention at the exhibition's opening was Robert Siemers' sound sculpture, powered by the melting of ice. Unfortunately, no one seems to be keeping the piece supplied with ice, so it now stands silent.
There are many other names that could be mentioned, to be sure. The juror, Jay Coogan, dean of fine art at the Rhode Island School of Design, selected 148 pieces by 111 artists, with dedication to process and challenging norms his two principal criteria for inclusion.
Rich Richardson's installation of the large show is superb.
Hawai'i Watercolor Society
The Hawai'i Watercolor Society's 39th annual exhibition is in new space at the Arts at Mark's Garage, an open, bright gallery that is well suited to the freshness and vibrancy of watercolors.
Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser
There is no shortage of conventional Hawai'i scenes and still lifes. Beaches, mountains, gardens, flowers and fruits are abundant. Locales are mostly O'ahu and Maui, from Diamond Head and Lanikai to Ha'iku and Lahaina.
Jolly Bodine’s work, “Beware the Illusion of Comfort,” is a miniature overstuffed armchair made out of shards of green glass.
Best in Show went to the fine painter Mark Norseth for his depiction of a shop window that is as radiant as its title, "Radieux," would suggest.
Others receiving awards were Yasuko Abeshima, Bridgette Adams, Joan Allen, Linda DeGarmo Cox, Patrice Federspiel, Pat Harnish, Anne Irons, Patsy Oda, John Severson, Lynne Smith, Joyce Lee Walters and Roger Whitlock.
Not singled out by the juror, watercolor artist Eric Wiegardt from Ocean Park, Wash., but surely deserving of mention, are two stunning paintings by George Woollard, "Papaya No. 4" and "Teapot No. 3." Also of note are works by Peggy Chun, Chuck Davis, Satoko Dung, Pat Ekstrand, Lily Hasegawa, Helen Iaea, Ruth Pistor, Jeanne Robertson and Mapuana Schneider.
Collectors, take note: Bargains can be had. First-rate original art is selling at prices often associated with prints and reproductions.
Kau'i Chun
The Aupuni Artwall at Native Books Kapalama is simply a space within a bookstore where art is exhibited, with the focus on art made by Native Hawaiians (just as the bookstore focuses on books about Hawaiian history and culture). Currently on display are drawings and a painting by Kau'i Chun, who in all of his art examines his Native Hawaiian roots.
The painting is a splendid, large unstretched canvas that occupies one wall. Titled "Iwi Kupuna ma Honokahua," it is all black and gray, with shadowy forms emerging from the canvas. The work hauntingly refers to the memory of ancestral bones (iwi kupuna) that have been unearthed at construction sites. Seeing this painting alone is worth the trip to Kapalama.
The drawings are experimental and exploratory in nature. Their subject is sacred sites on O'ahu and Moloka'i, where many of the artist's 'ohana are from. They are quickly and randomly sketched, focusing on vegetation and choppy seas, with little attention paid to the sky.
Chun expertly captures the essence of place, and in the installation he has paired related drawings so that, for example, a depiction of Makapu'u on O'ahu hangs next to a drawing of Moloka'i's Po'olau Beach — areas across the Kaiwi Channel from each other.
Reach Virginia Wageman at VWageman@aol.com.
