First Fridays put art, camaraderie on the calendar

By Michael Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer

"Minty Heart" by Roy Venters Pegge Hopper Gallery

Tomorrow, and the first Friday of every month thereafter, participating galleries and cafés downtown and in Chinatown will stay open until 9 p.m. to give lovers of arts and culture a chance to explore the neighborhoods and survey diverse forms of art.

Fourteen downtown galleries are scheduled to participate in the inaugural First Friday. Walking maps will be available at each stop.

The First Friday effort was spearheaded by artist Jodi Endicott (who imported the idea from Portland, Ore.) and Kim Coffee-Isaak, managing director of The ARTS at Marks Garage. The two initially worked together to coordinate a pair of exhibit openings at Studio1 and The ARTS in January.

"The shows opened on the same day, and it created a really neat atmosphere," Coffee-Isaak said. "People walked from one end of Nu'uanu to the other, seeing friends along the way. After that, Jodi kind of prodded me to try and get the other galleries involved."

The First Friday idea matches up well with what Coffee-Isaak and other gallery directors have been doing to revitalize the downtown night scene.

"What we want to do is try and capture the people who are already here in the day," she said. "We'd like to give people something to do after work, or, if they live in the neighborhood, somewhere to go that's nearby."

The ARTS celebrates First Friday with an opening reception for "The Bat Show," in which five artists explore a rich variety of symbols associated with the bat. (In their hands, it variously stands in for good fortune, blood lust, boundaries, hidden lifestyles, and umbrellas, among other things.)

Some of the works examine meanings of the word "bat" in other languages.

Karen Lee's paintings play off sound-alike words for "bat" and "blessing" in Chinese.

In examining the Hawaiian word "pe'a," which has many meanings including "bat" and "boundary," Puni Kukahiko looks at the boundaries of identity and history in Hawai'i, and criticizes the way images of Hawaiian women have been appropriated.

New exhibits will be on display at Atelier 4 Fine Arts Gallery ("Diversity" by Anne Irons), Studio1 ("Digitally Charged Entities," a juried exhibit of digital art), Smith Street Galleries ("Pohl Plus 8") and Pacific Traditions Gallery ("PEACE with ALOHA," with children's works).

Roy Venters has a pair of exhibits on Nu'uanu Avenue, one at his own studio ("Liquid Nation") and another at the Pegge Hopper Gallery ("Cold, Cold Heart").

Art also can be appreciated at a few more unusual places, including Café Ché Pasta, Sharky's Tattoo, and Hanks Café.

First Fridays

Tomorrow night until 9

• The ARTS at Marks Garage
• Atelier 4 Fine Arts Gallery
• Pacific Traditions Gallery
• Pegge Hopper Gallery
• Smith Street Galleries
• Studio1
• Roy Venters Studio

Parking ($.50 per half hour for first two hours; $1 per half hour thereafter):

• Alii Tower (Alakea between King and Hotel)
• Chinatown Gateway (Bethel between King and Hotel)
• Hale Pauahi (on Beretania between Maunakea and River)
• Harbor Court (Bethel between Nimitz and Merchant)
• Kukui Plaza (Kukui between Fort and Nu'uanu)
• Marin Tower (Smith Between Nimitz and Merchant)

Also: Marks Garage (Chaplin Lane between Bethel and Nu'uanu) — $3 per half hour, $6 flat rate before 3 p.m., $3 flat rate after 3 p.m.