Teachers & proteges: Cycle of artists exhibited in show

By Victoria Gail-White
Special to The Advertiser

•	Ke Kumu me Ka Mana: Teacher/Protégé 1 to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays and Sundays Through May 1 Gallery 'Iolani, Windward Community College 236-9155

There was a time when artists learned through apprenticeships. They studied a medium by observing and copying their masters' works. One of the outcomes from this method of teaching gave birth (30 years ago) to the Rembrandt Research Project, dedicated to filtering out Rembrandt's body of work from that of his students.

There's no question that the works of the teachers (Snowden Hodges, Paul Nash, Mark Hamasaki and Toni Martin) are masterful. However, the students (Jonathan Busse, Cary Lathan-Weigand, Kapulani Landgraf and Jude Wroblewski) all are professional artists now, and show unique approaches in their own work. Inspired but not burdened by their art education, they demonstrate the most desirable aspects of their teacher/protégé relationships: sustained growth and courage. The protégés in this exhibit acknowledge the influence and value of the relationship with these teachers in their artist statements.

The interpersonal relationships among teachers and students are variable. Some teachers inspire and nurture a pupil's creative journey, while others block the path. A good mentor can effectively communicate to students, is altruistic and sensitive to the student's needs.

"A lot of people who are excellent painters aren't necessarily good teachers," says drawing and painting professor Hodges. "I think when you teach, you get as much as you give."

"Snowden is a really wonderful teacher," says Busse. "He builds you up with the positive aspects of your work. It seems that no matter what level you're at, he can help you improve."

Hodges' paintings are influenced by Italian and European masters. In his oil on canvas, "Star Fruit," a row of ripe yellow star fruits arranged at different angles become sensuous, radiant sculptures.

Both Hodges and Busse have included painted figure studies of the same model, Amber, in similar color palettes. Hodges' oil painting "Amber" is direct, almost to the point of being uncomfortable to look at. Busse's oil painting "Almost Amber" puts the model in a softer focus.

Busse has developed a distinctive style of painting water. His acrylic painting "Current" can be viewed in an abstract context at close range and in a more realistic context from a distance. At present, he is preparing for a solo show at the Academy Art Center in January 2005.

Jude Wroblewski lives in Oregon and exhibits her work in juried shows. In her artist statement she writes, "When I met Toni Martin eight years ago, I hadn't touched a paintbrush since high school. I was a frustrated single parent of a teenager and experiencing job burnout. Little did I realize that my life would take a major turn after enrolling in Art 101 at W.C.C." She took every class that Martin taught — design, color, drawing and painting — and continued with directed work.

"As a teacher and mentor, Toni allowed me to take my knowledge and translate it into my experiences and helped me to believe in me," writes Wroblewski.

The two have strikingly different styles. Wroblewski's bold, fantastical acrylic painting "Bird" is detailed and vibrant in swirls of blue, green and carmine. Martin's "At Dawn" marks a new approach to her work as a hybrid landscape/abstract layered in soft pastels. It catches that mesmerizing and exquisite scene — sunrise over the Ko'olaus — when the sun's light sifts an orange and golden glow on the mountains through the misty morning clouds. This masterpiece was accepted in the Pastel Society of America's international juried show in New York last September.

Martin, director of Gallery 'Iolani, uses landscapes as a metaphor for changing environment and value systems. She credits her mentor, retired University of Hawai'i professor Murray Turnbull, for inspiring her to teach her students to be themselves.

"Once I was really excited that I had copied a Picasso," says Martin. "Professor Turnbull said, 'What's wrong with being Toni?' " She says she can teach the basics as best as she can, but a students really need to learn to be courageous enough to be who they are.

For photography professor Mark Hamasaki, art is collaboration between teacher and protégé. He has worked with Landgraf on photographs of the H-3 highway project in progress. While his photographs are profound in a straightforward manner, Landgraf's works are large assembled realistic/abstract collages pertaining to issues that are significant to her native Hawaiian ancestry.

"I feel fortunate to have her as a former student," says Hamasaki. "Now, she is my teacher, very perceptive."

Ceramics professor Nash has been teaching at WCC for more than 20 years. His display of 13 platters is inspired by Impressionist paintings. "They worked with layers of paint and illusions of space and form," he says. Nash works five or six glazes at a time building up layers of glaze as if they were paint.

"Ocean Whale" incorporates the varied blue, green and white high-fire glazes applied to a hand-built slab platter in a controlled, painterly fashion. Nash's mastery of glazing is evidenced in the separation and retention of the various colors applied. They don't turn into brown muck.

Lathan-Weigand works in low-fire earthenware and porcelain clays with under-glazed colors, china paints and lusters. She has the honor of being the last artist in residence at WCC. Like Wroblewski, she also has moved to Oregon.

Her mythical and meditative figurative works, unlike Nash's beautifully glazed platters, are narrative, lyrical and express her strong connection to the spiritual aspect of her growth and understanding. In her large, almost grotesque, porcelain figure of the hermaphrodite body "Vajrayana," Lathan-Weigand portrays the "Path of the Thunderbolt" in all its horrific and beautiful male and female aspects. Limbs painted in tattoo-like details illustrate the tale. The installation, which includes a large red velvet pillow, is captivating in the way it attracts and repulses the viewer.

In the installation of the show, students' and teachers' works merge and overlap, creating a global teacher/protégé environment. How can you separate the one who teaches from the one who is being taught? The cycle continues. Jonathan Busse and Kapulani Landgraf also have become teachers.