Island artists honor Martin Luther King
Advertiser Staff
The cut-out jeans pockets with which Charlene Hughes created her "Therapist Quilt" each bear a special label.
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser
One pocket is marked "Hidden Strengths," another "Little White Lies."
Marsha Joyner examines works by Margaret Tacub, part of the Honolulu Hale exhibition honoring the slain rights leader: "Courage," left, and "Man of Distinction."
Visitors to the "Living Harmony" art exhibit, which honors today's observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Black History Month, are encouraged to make a handwritten contribution to a pocket of their choice. Some of the notes are silly, some poignant, some rambling and unintelligible.
One pocket is marked "Unanswered Prayers," and in it an unknown visitor placed a piece of paper inscribed with a single word: "peace."
If prayers for peace have yet to be answered in the 34 years since King was murdered, the works collected for "Living Harmony" suggest that local artists haven't given up hope.
The assemblage of wildly disparate works offers little direct reference to King, or black history for that matter, but each piece speaks eloquently to the exhibit's title theme.
'Living Harmony'
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8 a.m.-5 p.m., Mondays-Fridays, through Feb. 2
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Honolulu Hale
Included are various creative takes on nature, from Andrew Hiraoka's acrylic painting "Bird of Paradise" to Stephen Aipolani Wong's ceramic "Pali Bamboo."
North Shore artist Lauren Achitoff's offers a pale, kinetic watercolor "Growing Harmony" and the stark, evocative bone piece "Saintly Throng."
The exhibit also features, among other things, computer art by Tom McClusky and Lisa Coen, shadow boxes by John Nichols photography by Nikki Moore and sculpture from Margaret Tacub.
