KOA awards span Hawai'i artists' creative spectrum

By Victoria Gail-White
Advertiser Art Critic

•	Ten Years of the KOA Award Through Friday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays Koa Gallery, Kapi'olani Community College 734-9375

Now the gallery has mounted a retrospective of the works of the honored artists, "Ten Years of the KOA Award."

Of the 10 winners, three — John Young, Helen Gilbert and Bumpei Akaji — are no longer living, although their work survives. More than 60 works are packed into the small space at the Koa Gallery. Extra walls have been installed to create separate cove-like areas giving the viewer a sense of intimacy with the works. This is both an advantage and a disadvantage, because it prohibits viewing some of the work from a distance.

1994: Lucille Cooper

Lucille Cooper, the first recipient of the award in 1994, is definitely still with us. At 80, she has spark and can get fired up talking about her artwork and the local art community (to which she has made major contributions). Her on-campus fountain sculpture, which was commissioned by the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, was the inspiration for the KOA awards.

"Pohaku O Le'ahi" cascades water down three colorful piles of rocks that look like old Hawaiian trail markers. For Cooper, it signifies giving students direction in life. As an artist working in ceramic, fiber and watercolors, she is heavily influenced by her love of the islands, especially Hawai'i, and the intensity of energy inherent in the natural elements here.

The compelling series of matte and shiny black carved orbs titled "Black Pali Spheres" (1989) are the most elegantly ominous works in the exhibit. "If we don't take care of our world," says Cooper, "it will go black."

In September 2004, a retrospective exhibit of her work will open at the Koa Gallery.

1995: Toshiko Takaezu

In 1995, another ceramicist, Toshiko Takaezu, was given the award. Her vase-like "Closed Form" series of nine pots demonstrate her painterly use of glazes. As non-functional pots, they shaped a movement that carved a new direction for potters. The delicate porcelain, muted-color glazed forms in one display are reminiscent of clouds during sunrise that seem light enough to float through the glass and out of the case. In another case, the glazes look like twilight in a Maxfield Parrish sky.

1996: John Young

Painter and sculptor John Young was the 1996 KOA Award recipient. Already then established enough to have galleries of his own, Young, for many, connects to an image he painted many times — horses. His signature works, the black and white calligraphic stallion paintings, have an energized brushwork, powerful enough to make the horses appear as if they would run out of the paintings and into the room.

Young's bronze plaque "Stallions" furthers his spontaneous approach to rendering these animals. The drawing on the metal appears as if it were carved with a sharp tool while the metal was still hot instead of cast in a mold.

1997: Satoru Abe

Satoru Abe, the 1997 honoree, also has his own gallery on North King Street. His large sculptural works can be seen in many public places on Oahu and the neighbor islands, and many smaller sculptures are on permanent exhibit at the State Art Museum. On exhibit here are three small, untitled oil-on-canvas abstract paintings and "Red Disk," a sculpture made of wood, copper and brazing material. The branch-like shadow the central portion casts against the wall is strikingly eerie. Presently, Abe is excited about organizing a group show that will be displayed in his gallery in December. Each sculpture will feature slate.

1998: Tseng Yu Ho (Betty Ecke)

The 1998 winner, Tseng Yu Ho (Betty Ecke), was born in Beijing in 1925. She retired from teaching at the University of Hawai'i in 1988 and is still very active as an artist, regularly exhibiting her work locally and internationally. Ecke's intuitive acrylic paintings on paper marry psychological aspects of both the east and west.

The freedom to express herself and the inherent abstract elements in Chinese painting inspired her to create "Dsui-painting" in 1957. Based on an ancient Chinese term, it relates to both the collaging of fabrics worn by nuns and monks and phrases of literature either written by 10 people or pieced together by a master from the work of 10 classic writers.

For these paintings, Ecke layers pieces of hand-made papers, some with aluminum, and adds color and lines. "I use acrylic paint like watercolor," says Ecke. "Overlapping the transparency of the form and color creates the illusion of distance. I try to make a pictorial space — not a vanishing point, but layers of space. This creates a visual illusion when you see it. Dark and light move in and out of pictorial space and at the same time help to create the texture. The viewer actually participates in the breathing of the painting."

"Morning Walk" is a lyrical piece evocative of being surrounded by mists that obscure and reveal branch-like shapes. These are paintings that viewers can walk their eyes into. Because of the space limitation and the quantity of work in the gallery, not all of Ecke's work can be viewed with the sight distance it requires.

1999: Murray Turnbull

Murray Turnbull, the 1999 award recipient, taught at the University of Hawai'i for 31 years. As chairman of the Art Department, he was responsible for helping to establish the East-West Center. For the past three years; he has been painting with a spatula and strong, honest colors that coat the surface with texture.

His four untitled oil-on-gesso masonite paintings have abstracted figurative elements. "What I am trying to avoid is making pretty pictures," says Turnbull. "For years, I did beautiful landscapes and abstractions. Art, like life, is much thicker than that. The riches, delights and sorrows are built into it and strong colors work better."

2000: Tadashi Sato

In 2000, Tadashi Sato received the award. His trademark subtleties of color mixing and weaving of gestural brush strokes reflect the light and reveal painted patterns depending on where you position yourself while viewing. "Composition 2002," oil on linen, utilizes the interplay of matte and glossy paints. His "Fish I" and "Fish II" gouache-on-paper paintings are bright — red, blue and turquoise — and visually vibrate on the wall.

2001: Clarence Lee

Clarence Lee, the 2001 recipient, is the most commercial artist in the group. His 12 Chinese Zodiac designs for U.S. postal stamps were licked and placed on countless envelopes.

Lee's work is easily recognizable. Many of the corporate logos on display reveal his talent and the potency of communicating an identity through iconography.

2002: Helen Gilbert and Ken Bushnell

Partners Helen Gilbert and Ken Bushnell received the award together in 2002, shortly before Gilbert died. Their painted abstract common language speaks through works such as his "Inner Arc" and her "Venus Two." His images, inspired by Euclidian geometry, connect to lines and color, arcing and connecting pie-shaped forms, neatly organized. Gilbert's work, like a scrapbook, juxtaposes and floats figurative, floral and linear abstract elements between grounded and more subliminal perspectives.

2003: Bumpei Akaji

The most recent KOA honoree, Bumpei Akaji, died before receiving his award. His many metal sculptural works and patinated metal repousse paintings reveal a reflective fascination with life. Similar to Abe, his work can be seen in many public places. Spiral shapes, flat and pounded surface textures and figurative elements journal his voice. "Petroglyph," a sculptural work that reads like a story, tells the tale of an island crowded with (wire) petroglyph figures that appear to be falling off the edge of the land.

Gallery director David Behlke has been with the Koa Gallery for 11 years.

His dedication to keeping the exhibits exciting and educational is also to be commended.