Kaua'i show pleases with talent, innovation and expertise

By Amaury Saint-Gilles
Special to The Advertiser

Would that all island art groups were as prolifically diverse as the Kaua'i Society of Artists, sponsor of this annual competition. The collection is shown to viewer advantage in the spacious old J.C. Penney store at Lihu'e's Kukui Grove Shopping Center.

•	Art Kaua'i 2001 Kukui Grove Shopping Center Lihue, Kaua'i Through Oct. 12 (808) 332-7776

Each selected piece is given ample space in which to be seen unimpeded by proximity of neighboring work. The observer can easily concentrate on each individual's effort for greater viewing pleasure. In a double walk-through, I recorded 17 artists whose efforts captured my attention and begged to be appreciated further.

Kathleen Adair-Brown innovatively collages a mix of finely inked drawings with photocopied text and heavy watercolor pigmentation to create her piece, "Dream of the Red Chamber."

Kathy McClelland Cowen attacks glass via the casting process and succeeds admirably with her sculpted "Mercury in Water."

Lilian de Mello, working with double negative gelatin silver prints, has assembled a thoughtful grouping, "The Tides of my Breath."

Deb Rosenbaum's encaustic creation, "The Weight of Boyhood," is a fleeting glimpse captured in unblinking but sympathetic style.

A pair of portraits by John N. Howard invite interpretation and introspection. His "Hedda" is both haunting and memorable. Seeing it makes me wonder how he would portray one's own image.

Kenne Mahoney seems quite adept at lithography, utilizing small but vital additions engineered into her works to increase overall visual impact. "Stigmata" is an excellent example of her expertise.

Patricia Yu fools the viewer with a deceptively small gem, "Mach-ado," done in fine academic style right near the front of this exhibition. Later, she visually clobbers you with a pair of mixed-media works, "Unresolved" and "Here and There," as varied as their images allow being essentially foot (fetishist) portraits.

By far the show's most ambitious piece is by Kristina Lilleeng, "A Core Sample of the Spectrum of Life." This massive (four feet high by 53 feet long) collaged piece is composed of color coordinated images taken from commercially printed advertisements. Her talented eye has created a fluctuating visual statement on humanity and its infinite ability to offer change. It's an amazing piece that no simple photo could possibly do justice to.

Melissa Klien offered viewers a lovely oil on canvas, "From Puu Road," that captivates with its loose, painterly style.

"Homeland Meandering" is certainly the finer of two glass-beaded pave sculptures by A. Kimerlin Blackburn. Its compact three-dimensionality creates an eye-catching moment!

Evelyn de Buhr, surely one of Kaua'i's treasures, captures the imagination with her distinctive styles. Close-ups of flora — "Green Croton" and "Ducksfoot" — are kin to the series previously shown in 1999 at the Honolulu Academy of Arts' Kaua'i showcase collection. I was wonderfully surprised to discover her talent easily segued into expert landscapes that evoke both personality and a unique view.

In ceramics, I was drawn to the covered jar of Gregg Nichols and the amusing figurative work of Wayne Miyata.

This year's annual was especially notable for two reasons: First, the collection was superbly augmented by a selection of oils on canvas by Paul Yardley, who is the first Kaua'i Society of Artists Lifetime Achievement Award winner for his lengthy career in fine art. Two dozen-plus works by this fine artist gives everyone a window onto his exceptional career reaching back nearly 50 years.

Second, I was pleased to learn that the society's president, Sally French, opted out of competing because she was instrumental in selecting and hosting the invited juror. Others in similar circumstances could learn from her example.

All in all, the flight from my end of our island chain to the Garden Island was a trip well spent. I recommend seeing this annual show if you can.

Amaury Saint-Gilles is an art critic, writer and dealer in fine art on the Big Island. Advertiser art critic Virginia Wageman is on a brief medical leave; Saint-Gilles is among writers filling in during her absence.