Events celebrating Maoli Arts Month in May are scheduled statewide. Locally, Waimea Artists’ Guild will present a Native Hawaiian Arts Market from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. May 12 at Kahilu Town Hall in Waimea. The event features a wide variety of arts media, music and a keiki corner. Admission is free and plate lunches and refreshments are available for purchase.
Events celebrating Maoli Arts Month in May are scheduled statewide. Locally, Waimea Artists’ Guild will present a Native Hawaiian Arts Market from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. May 12 at Kahilu Town Hall in Waimea. The event features a wide variety of arts media, music and a keiki corner. Admission is free and plate lunches and refreshments are available for purchase.
Maoli Arts Month is an annual celebration of the breadth, depth and diversity of Native Hawaiian arts. The goal is to create economic opportunities for Native Hawaiian artists and cultural practitioners by increasing their presence in museums and galleries, and educating residents and visitors about Native Hawaiian art.
The guild’s market will showcase Big Island artists and their work, providing the community with an opportunity to meet and interact with the artists, and to take home original Hawaiian creations.
The roster is limited to 30 artists from Hawaii Island, and interested vendors should contact Beth or Tom Mehau at 887-2289, email waimeaartists@gmail.com or visit waimeaartistsguild.com.
These artists are already on board for the market:
c Toma Barboza, a master woodcarver;
c Beau Jack Key, a lifetime fisherman and modern-day lure maker;
c Auhea Puhi, who recently turned her attentions to copper, silver and legally obtained ivory jewelry after 42 years creating feather lei;
c Geoffrey Mundon makes art “on the fly” and is a printmaker and creator of bone jewelry;
c Roen Hufford, a kapa-master and artist;
c Kauanoe Chang, a watercolorist and a Hawaiian studies specialist with the Department of Education; and
c Tom Oo Mehau, known for his highly detailed pen-and-ink renderings and illustrations, who is working in small-scaled carving under the tutelage of Maori master carver Stacy Gordin.