In a Hilo art show, thirty-four local artists are showcasing the art that best represents them and the totality of their work.
Nelson and Kainoa Makua of Na Makua Designs invited island artists — including three art students of Carl Pao — to show their work in the annual MANA Invitational Art Show at the Wailoa Art Center for the next four weeks.
“The concept for the show is based on letting the artist decide what they want to show. Most art shows are juried, and you can’t enter something that’s already entered a show,” Nelson Makua said. “We got rid of all the rules and told artists to choose the pieces they want to show and that best reflects their work.”
The Makuas headhunt for the show each year and decide on artists based on the entirety of their work, while considering different art mediums that would make the show as dynamic and diverse as possible.
“When we first started MANA, we did not feature as many artists, but each artist submitted eight pieces,” Nelson Makua said. “Over the years, we wanted to give more artists opportunities and have cut down the number of pieces to six each.”
The downstairs Fountain Gallery will showcase a retrospective collection by Big Island artist Edwin Kayton. The tribute will highlight the artwork he has created over the past 40 years.
Klayton started his career in 1981 in Kailua-Kona when he created and sold his art in various exhibitions, which gave him exposure on all of Hawaii’s islands.
In 1998, Klayton began a 25-year run of teaching art classes at private residences in Kona, which then expanded to Virginia, Michigan, Idaho, Canada and Italy.
In 2019, he took on something completely new when he sculpted “Call of the Pu” from a Carrara marble block that weighed 800 pounds. This first marble sculpture was shown in the MANA 2022 art show.
He has since completed six marble sculptures in the past four years and is currently awaiting the arrival of two blocks of marble from Carrara, Italy, for additional work.
“He blows me away. To see someone his age with the willingness to experiment and try new mediums is amazing,” Nelson Makua said of Klayton. “His newest marble pieces have debuted in our shows, and I’m sure it will happen again.”
Klayton’s latest marble sculpture, “Aunties Legacy,” is featured in the Fountain Gallery this year.
The Makuas held the first MANA Invitational Art Show at Wailoa in 2019 and have returned every year around the beginning of April.
“We are so fortunate that we’re able to put on this art show around Merrie Monarch every year,” Nelson Makua said. “It gives people from around the state more of a chance to see what all these artists are doing over here on the Big Island.”
Most of the pieces will be for sale while on display at the gallery unless otherwise stated by the artists.
MANA 2024 Invitational Art Show is ongoing at the Wailoa Art Center until Thursday, April 25. The gallery is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays to Fridays and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays.
The MANA 2024 artists are — Edwin Kayton, Christine Ahia, Terry Bensch, Henry Bianchini, Kalaukoa Chang, Jelena Clay, Gaye Covington, Phyllis Cullen, Stephen Davies, David Gallegos, Scott Gorrell, Bonnie Sol Hahn, Scott Hare, Patti Pease Johnson, James Kanani Kaulukukui, Beau Jack Key, Trish Helms Kimball, Tom Kuali’i, Nelson Makua, Kainoa Makua, Richard Mortemore, Craig Neff, Kealoha Pa, Carl Pao, Catherine Robbins, Jamison Rosehill, Duncan Kaohu Seto, Pat Shopbell, Linda Rowell Stevens, Jane Word Taylor, Robert Weiss, and the Kamehameha Schools Hawaii art students, Leile Ortiz, Luana Dameg and Koali Ito.
Email Kelsey Walling at kwalling@hawaiitribune-herald.com.