March is Youth Art Month on the Big Island, and the East Hawai’i Cultural Center is celebrating with a variety of exciting initiatives and collaborations.
If you stroll by Kalakaua Park, you may notice the “egg-cellent” installation of chicken automata accompanied by fluttering flags decorated with egg themes, all decorated by students from Connections Public Charter School, Honokaa Elementary afterschool program, and keiki who came to the February Youth Arts Saturday event, as well as kids and teen from Hilo High School Art Club, Waiakea Intermediate School Art Club, and Hawaii Academy of Arts and Sciences. The automata were designed together with the Hawai’i Science and Technology Museum (HSTM).
‘Young At Art’ Juried exhibition
Also on view in March is the 35th Annual Young At Art Juried Exhibition, which recognizes the brilliance and creativity of K-12 students on Hawai’i Island from public, charter, private or home schools. The judges, Shane Molina (local artist/illustrator), Mina Ellison (Curator, Donkey Mill
Arts Center), and Brandy Alia-Serikaku (local artist), were tasked with reviewing over 40 entries. They selected 231 artworks that for the first time are showcased at 26 locations aroundthe island. See the EHCC website (ehcc.org) for a full list of locations.
Family art walk
To complement these activities, Museum Square (an initiative of Mokupapapa Discovery Center, Pacific Tsunami Museum, HSTM, and EHCC) is presenting a family-friendly Art Walk on Saturday, March 11, from 10:00am to 2:00pm.
The event invites keiki and their families to explore downtown Hilo, specifically the Young At Art satellite locations and the interactive Kalakaua Park installation. The event includes free activities, demos, discounts, giveaways and more. Participants are invited to come down, support local small businesses – and wear their best chicken attire!
These activities are supported by Big Island Climbing, Big Island BookBuyers, Aerial Arts Hawaii, Crazy Beautiful, Hawaiian Mako Design, One Gallery, Wang Ge Gallery, Cronies, and RK Woods.
Spring Break Coloring Book Creation workshop
EHCC is also offering a spring break Coloring Book Creation Workshop from Monday, March 13, 2023 to March 17, 2023. Classes, which last
from 10am to 2:30pm, will be led by local Illustrator Yuko Green. Participants will create a coloring book focusing on Mālama, the Hawaiian value meaning to care for or to preserve. Students will be introduced to native Hawaiian plants and animals, as well as canoe plants (plants Polynesians brought to Hawai‘i on their canoes, such as taro). They will apply this knowledge to their artwork as way to spread awareness about our special Hawaiian flora and fauna and to reflect on their individual and community roles in sustaining life in our ʻāina. Each student will keep a copy of the book, with additional copies available for purchase as a program fundraiser.
For more information, visit EHCC online at ehcc.org, call 961-5711, or visit EHCC at 141 Kalakaua Street in Hilo. Current gallery and office hours are from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tuesday through Friday. The gallery is also open on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.