Bottom photo Doug Edens / Opposite page photo Alban Cooper, courtesy o f Academy Art Center at Linekona
Top photos Paul Kodama
W IDE W ORLD OF CR AFT
Liz Train
Floating
,,
Flowing,
2009,
felted wool and silk,
36 x 60 in.
Above:
Liz Train
Growth,
2009,
felted wool and silk,
40x36 in.
W H A T D R A W S C R A F T A R T IS T S
to Hawaii? You’ll know when
you glimpse the dramatically
twining canopy of a koa
tree and the jaw-dropping
multi-colored cliffs of the
Na Pali Coast.
The islands’ natural beauty
is a potent force in the lives
and work of creative people.
“W e’re drawn here. There’s
this wonderful creative energy
here that just attracts people
like a magnet,” says wood artist
Tiffany DeEtte Shafto, presi-
dent of Hawai’i Craftsmen and
co-author of
Contemporary
H aw aii Woodworkers: The
Wood, the Art, the Aloha,
with
Lynda McDaniel (Contempo-
rary Publications, 2009).
The exotic surroundings
inspire craft enthusiasts, as do
Hawaiian cultural traditions.
But many find they need to be
creative not only in making art,
but also in making a living.
Hawaii, lush and lovely, can be
expensive.
Honolulu studio space is a
luxury, for example, given the
high cost of real estate in the
metropolis. Concrete high-
rises stacked with offices and
apartments—appliances and
clotheslines sometimes
peeking out from balco-
nies—are as much part
of the city landscape as
palm trees.
Honolulu’s down-
town arts district
centers on Nu’uanu
Avenue. The district is
part of the city’s China-
town, an area once
known more for drug
dealers and prosti-
tutes than artists and
their patrons. Sandra
Pohl, of the Louis
Pohl Gallery, says the
district’s First Friday
art walk, which draws
an average of 5,000 peo-
ple a month, was a coop-
erative venture that has
succeeded in bringing more
foot traffic to the galleries.
“About seven years ago,
a handful of galleries banded
together,” Pohl says. “W e said,
‘W e’ve got to do something
collectively.
... If people knew
there were a lot of galleries
here, they’d come down.’ ”
Chinatown’s Bethel Street
Gallery, the state’s largest
artist-owned and -operated
gallery, features glassworks
Tiffany DeEtte Shafto
and Timothy Allan
Blossoming Gem Jewelry Box,
2007,
curly koa, bloodwood and wenge inlays
26 x 18.s x 15 in.
dec/jan 11 american craft 069
