Multimedia artist Sue Mailander featured at Blue Sea Artisans Gallery

The Blue Sea Artisans Gallery featured artist for the month of March is multimedia artist Sue Mailander.

Mailander’s unique work is a collaboration of many media combined in each piece: vibrantly colorful semi-abstract painting, woodblock printing and textile are collaged together to interpret her delight of Hawaii’s tropical foliage and sea life. She has been a well-known artist in Hawaii more than two decades.

Mailander’s woodblock printing involves multiple steps: Designing the work, transferring the design to ¼-inch plywood and carving out a plate, one is used for each different color, with special knives and gouges. Once this process is complete, she mixes colored inks and rolls the ink with a brayer onto the plate. Next, she applies special paper onto the inked plate, then this “sandwich” is run through a relief press, making one or many, original pieces of art.

Mailander has been a member of the Blue Sea Artisans Gallery since its opening in December 2009. She was a member of the Kailua Village Artists for 20 years previous to that.

The Blue Sea Artisans will host a featured artist’s reception for Mailander from 1 to 4 p.m. March 14 at its gallery in the Kona International Market, 74-5533 Luhia St. The gallery on the north side of the Makai building.

For more information, call the gallery at 329-8000. The gallery is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday.