W I D E W O R L D O F C R A F T
by Jane Raissle and porcelain
and mixed-media sculptures by
Jo Rowley, among other artists.
Hawai’i Craftsmen has its
headquarters in a community
arts center called The Arts at
Mark’s Garage. Each summer
the craft artists group holds its
juried Raku Ho’olaule’a exhibi-
tion in the facility’s gallery
space.
“Our event draws in the top
raku artists in Hawaii,” says
Rose Anne Jones, Hawai’i
Craftsmen executive director.
“Our top award winners this
year, Kate and Will Jacobson,
invented naked raku. They
actually do a raku process and
then paint and airbrush
afterward.”
A short walk from China-
town is the Hawaii State Art
Museum, located in a former
Y M C A that also houses the
Hawaii State Foundation on
Culture and the Arts. The mu-
seum’s collection includes the
works of such artisans as cera-
mist Russell Wee, fiber artist
Pam Barton and wood sculptor
Rocky Ka’iouliokahihikolo’Ehu
Jensen.
Another notable local craft
venue is the Nohea Gallery,
with several Honolulu loca-
tions, including one at Waikiki.
The gallery carries a large selec-
tion of koa boxes, as well as
turned bowls in a variety of
woods, and jewelry, glass, fiber
and ceramic works.
In a city that ranks among
the top five most expensive in
America, a working artist has to
be frugal to survive, and many
make part of their living in the
classroom. Steve Martin, who
lives a bare-bones lifestyle in
the country, teaches a wheel-
throwing class at the Hawaii
Potters’ Guild to help make
ends meet.
“Any other income I get is
from selling my work,” says
Martin, whose sales went up
when the Fishcake Gallery,
Maika‘i Tubbs
H otnegroivn
-
O range
#2,
2009, pushpins, plastic
utensils, wood,
11x5.5 x3 m.
H a w a ii’s lu sh
n a tu r a l se ttin g
is o fte n r e fle c te d
in e v e n th e m ost
a b str a c t d esig n s.
a local home furnishings store,
began carrying his work.
Painter, printmaker and
performance artist Vince Ha-
zen, director of the Honolulu
Academy of Arts’ Academy Art
Center at Linekona, says he
knows few local artists who
earn 100 percent of their income
from making art.
“It’s become more challeng-
ing with the downturn in the
economy,” he says. “W e see
some of our galleries struggling,
although some new ones are
coming up.”
Hawai’i Craftsmen presi-
dent Shafto, who lives on the
Big Island (island of Hawaii),
with her husband, woodcrafter
Timothy Allan, says that while
there are abundant opportuni-
ties for Hawaii’s wood artists to
showcase and sell their work,
it’s tough to find both artistic
and financial success in
Honolulu.
“It’s probably easier for
those of us out on the Big Island
than in the big city,” Shafto says.
Wood sculptor Rocky Jen-
sen hails from Oahu, where
he lived until the 1990s, when
the U.S. Army commissioned
him to create his largest work,
a monument to fallen Hawaiian
warriors at Fort DeRussy, in
Waikiki. Jensen moved to the
Big Island to work on the
oversized project, carving
five 9-foot-tall icons from ohia
wood. He is currently working
on a commission from Walt
Disney Parks & Resorts to cre-
ate several pieces for the Aulani
resort in Ko Olina, expected to
open on Oahu in the fall.
A native Hawaiian, Jensen is
passionate about respecting the
spiritual symbolism wood car-
ried for his ancestors, particu-
larly the belief that even carved
wood embodies a living being.
“My indigenous culture has
been the foundation of all my
creative work,” he says. “Not
only the physical act of carving
070 american craft dec/jan n
Photos Maika'i Tubbs (2)
