"uncommon objects" Art Exhibition
Craft Media by Hawai‘i’s Premier Artists
Exhibition Opens on November 2, 2007

uncommon objects showcases some of the finest works from the SFCA Art in Public Places Collection produced from media typically associated with craft – clay, wood, fiber, metal and glass. Many local, national, and international artists are featured, including Satoru Abe, Michael Tom, Claude Horan, and Toshiko Takaezu.

The exhibition celebrates the beauty found in common objects created with expert craftsmanship, tremendous skill and dexterity, a mastery of materials, and high levels of aesthetic achievement. Like the transformation of the word “craft,” objects presented in this show have themselves evolved. They range from utilitarian and functional objects to conceptual, decorative, and abstract pieces, challenging the viewer to question what is “craft.” Instead of providing a definition for this term, the exhibition provokes the viewer to re-conceptualize his or her notion of craft.

uncommon objects is neither chronological nor a presentation of the history of craft, but rather divided into a series of sections that explores common threads emerging in craft production over the last 40 years: Functional Beauty, Symbolic Functionalism, Aesthetic Experimentation: Exploration of Form and Surface, Transcending Boundaries, and Inspired by Place. The categories themselves are not steadfast, but allow for fluidity and openness similar to the constantly shifting definition of craft itself.

The selected pieces illustrate an impressive sampling of works collected over the SFCA’s 40-year history. The exhibition thereby demonstrates the vibrancy of art produced in Hawai‘i that is reflective of national and international art movements and Hawai‘i’s own unique artistic fabric enriched by its cultural diversity and the prevalent influence of traditional Hawaiian craft and folk arts.

The Hawai‘i State Art Museum is located at 250 South Hotel Street in downtown Honolulu across from the Capitol and ‘Iolani Palace. Hours of operation are Tuesday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Always free admission. For more information call 586-0900 or 586-0305, or visit www.hawaii.gov/sfca.

Derek Bencomo – Still Dancing, Third View

Rick Mills – Red Herring

Vicky Chock – Haniwa Samurai

Celebration at Hawai‘i State Art Museum
40th Anniversary of Hawai‘i’s Percent for Art Law,
Fifth Birthday of the Hawai‘i State Art Museum, and
Grand Opening of "uncommon objects" Art Exhibition
First Friday, November 2, 2007, 5 to 9 p.m.
Hawai‘i State Art Museum, Free Admission

Celebrate First Friday with a special event celebrating the 40th anniversary of Hawai‘i’s Percent for Art Law and the Fifth Birthday of the Hawai‘i State Art Museum. The evening begins at 6 p.m. with a thunderous performance on the front lawn by Kenny Endo and Taiko Center of the Pacific, which will rock the streets of downtown. Then head upstairs to the second floor lanai to hear guitarist Darin Leong play contemporary and traditional Hawaiian music.

This gala event showcases the grand opening of our new art exhibition uncommon objects featuring craft media by Hawai‘i’s premier artists. If you’re hungry, you can grab a plate of gourmet grinds to go from the “ASAP Express” at Downtown @ the HiSAM. Dinner will be served in the restaurant on a first come, first served basis. This free event is presented by the Friends of the Hawai‘i State Art Museum, the LEF Foundation, and the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.

Kenny Endo and Taiko Center of the Pacific perform on the HiSAM front lawn from 6 to 9 p.m.

Darin Leong will perform contemporary and traditional Hawaiian music on the second floor lanai from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.

Second Saturday
Happy Fifth Birthday HiSAM!
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Galleries Open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Art Activities from 10:30 a.m. to 3:15 p.m.
Hawai‘i State Art Museum
Free Admission

Join us for Second Saturday for a fun family-oriented event entitled Happy Fifth Birthday HiSAM! This will truly be a birthday to remember. Festivities include a variety of entertainment, arts demonstrations, and hands-on arts activities. The first 500 guests can enjoy free birthday cake. There’s lots of entertainment with hula by Halau Hula ka No‘eau, dance by Phoenix Dance Chamber, storytelling by James McCarthy, and musical performances by Diamond Head Theatre Shooting Stars and Na Leo Kane.

Children of all ages can enjoy a variety of hand-on arts workshops featuring some of Hawai‘i’s finest artists, who will give demonstrations in clay, fiber, glass, paper, and other art mediums. Creativity will flow in the keiki as they create “make and take” art (while supplies last) and receive arts demonstrations from Warren Andrade (raku), Vince Hazen (printmaking), Kazu Kauinana (sand casting plaster), Karen Lucas (sculpting), and Liz Train (fiber). Glass blowing demonstrations by Rick Mills and his students and clay demonstrations by Shigeru Miyamoto will excite and stretch the imagination.

Parking at Ali‘i Place is only $3 all day on Saturday. Enter the parking lot on the right side of Alakea Street between King Street and South Hotel Street. Free parking is available at the C&C underground lot at Beretania and Alapai. Metered parking at ‘Iolani Palace is $1 per hour. This free event is presented by the Friends of the Hawai‘i State Art Museum, the LEF Foundation, and the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.

Enjoy entertainment, arts demonstrations and activities, and free birthday cake for HiSAM's Fifth Birthday Party.

Rick Mills and other Hawai‘i artists give demonstrations in clay, fiber, glass, paper, and other art mediums.

Art Lunch Lecture
The SFCA Awards Recipient Series
In the Sally French Studio: Fuzz and Fury on Kaua‘i
Tuesday, November 27, 2007, 12-1 p.m.
Hawai‘i State Art Museum, 1st Floor, Multipurpose Room
Free Admission

This month’s free Art Lunch lecture is entitled The SFCA Awards Recipient Series – In the Sally French Studio: Fuzz and Fury on Kaua‘i. Artist Sally French will give us a glimpse into the current focus of her work, including her inspirations, working processes, and studio environment. She was the recipient of an SFCA Individual Artist Fellowship Award in Visual Arts in 2000. Her artwork is in the SFCA Art in Public Places Collection and in many corporate, public, and private collections throughout the United States. There will be no Art Lunch in December in observance of the holidays.

Hawaiian Slack Key Community Outreach Events on Neighbor Islands and Rural O‘ahu
November and December 2007
Part of SFCA Slack Key Symposium Series
Free Admission

The SFCA will present several free Hawaiian slack key community outreach events on the neighbor islands and rural O‘ahu in November and December 2007. These events are part of the SFCA Slack Key Symposium Series, designed to inform the public about slack key, a uniquely local guitar style that is increasingly attracting international attention.

These events are coordinated by SFCA project partner, Jay Junker, Executive Director of the National Organization for Traditional Artists Exchange, and local community partners on each island.

Each program will feature leading Hawaiian musicians (and in some cases younger artists as well) who will perform and discuss slack key from an insider’s perspective. Whether you play slack key yourself or just want to learn more about its meaning and its legacy in Hawai'i, this is an event you won’t want to miss!

All of these free programs will feature talk story and performance. The musicians will discuss the manner in which they learned to play slack key and their thoughts on the state and continuation of slack key.

They will describe the basics such as their favorite tunings, the kinds of strings they use, and different methods of playing with real and acrylic fingernails, numerous kinds of picks, and combinations of both.

These performances will feature demonstrations of different tunings, various playing techniques, samples of their individual repertoires, and collaborative jams.

The following schedule lists the performers for each location and the names of the community partners, who may be contacted for more details.

George Kahumoku, Jr. and Keoki Kahumoku
Saturday, November 3, 2007, 8:30 a.m.
Ala Kukui, Hana, Maui
Community Partner: Ala Kukui, ph. (808) 248-7841

Cyril Pahinui, Dennis Kamakahi, Sonny Lim, and
Jeff Peterson
Saturday, November 10, 2007, 2 p.m.
Kahilu Theatre, Waimea, Hawai‘i
Community Partner: Kahilu Theatre Foundation
ph. (808) 885-6868, website, www.kahilutheatre.org

George Kahumoku, Jr. and Keoki Kahumoku
Saturday, November 10, 2007, 12 p.m.
Kulana Na Oiwi (across Coconut Grove), Moloka‘i
Community Partner – Kulana Na Oiwi
Roy Horner, ph. (808) 336-0802

Dennis Kamakahi and Jeff Peterson
Sunday, November 25, 2007, 12 p.m.
Lana‘i Playhouse Theatre (7th and Lana‘i Avenue), Lana‘i
Community Partner – Lana‘i Art Center
Greg Cohen, Executive Director
ph. (808) 565-7503, website www.lanaiart.org

Cyril Pahinui
Sunday, December 2, 2007, 2 p.m.
Volcano Art Center, Volcano, Hawai‘i
Community Partner – Volcano Art Center
ph (808) 967-8222, website: www.volcanoartcenter.org

Cyril Pahinui
Thursday, December 20, 2007, 7 p.m.
Nanaikapono Elementary School,
89-153 Mano Avenue, Wai‘anae, O‘ahu
Community Partner – Nanaikapono Elementary School
ph. 668-5800

George Kahumoku, Jr.

Keoki Kahumoku

Cyril Pahinui

Dennis Kamakahi

Sonny Lim

Jeff Peterson

ARTS FIRST Professional Development
for Teaching Artists Workshop
The Arts for All Youth: Disability Awareness
Saturday, November 17, 2007, 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Hawai‘i State Art Museum, 1st Floor, Multipurpose Room
Free workshop – only for teaching artists

Jeannine Chartier will conduct the first segment entitled Access to the Arts. Every student is unique and has problems to solve. With a focus on the visual arts, we will explore disability to extinguish old stereotypes, generate new awareness, and reveal diversified instruction for arts standards. Infused in such a way as to promote discussion and new insights, this hands-on workshop session offers both practical tips for adaptations to include all children as well as experiential activities for arts educators to expand classroom practices for successfully including students with diverse abilities. Jeannine Chartier is a visual artist with a disability and is Executive and Artistic Director of VSA Arts of Rhode Island. She has more than 20 years experience in program design, development and evaluation of arts education, specializing in programs to be inclusive of persons with disabilities.

Susan McGreevy-Nichols will conduct the second segment entitled Strategies for Differentiating Instruction. Participants will gain an understanding of how to support the learning of students with disabilities in meeting content standards in dance and with using dance and movement as a way to access non-arts content. This hands-on workshop session will explore how the choreographic process can be used to spark students’ imaginations while providing a structure for students’ success. Susan McGreevy-Nichols is a nationally known dance educator and author of Building Dances, Building More Dances, Dance About Anything, and Experiencing Dance. Susan will demonstrate how to use the arts as a way to differentiate instruction while effectively helping students meet dance content standards.

This workshop is only for teaching artists, with first preference for Artists in the Schools roster artists. Call 533-2787 to register. Registration deadline is November 6, 2007. This workshop is presented by the Hawai‘i Arts Alliance with support from the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts through appropriations from the Legislature of the State of Hawai‘i and the National Endowment for the Arts and with generous support from the University of Hawai‘i Center on Disability Studies and College of Education Arts Education, and VSA Arts of Hawai‘i-Pacific.

Jeannine Chartier

Susan McGreevy-Nichols

SFCA 2008 Awards Program
Deadline for Applications and Nominations
Friday, November 23, 2007

For the 2008 Awards Program, the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts is accepting: applications for the Individual Artist Fellowship in Visual and Performing Arts and nominations for the Hawai‘i Award for Literature and the Governor’s Award for Distinguished Achievement in Culture, Arts and Humanities. You may download the forms by clicking on application and nomination forms. The deadline for all nominations and applications is Friday, November 23, 2007; 4:30 p.m. postmark deadline. For more information, call 586-9965 or send email to sfcaawards@yahoo.com.

Poetry Out Loud – Hawai‘i
Deadline for Applications
Friday, November 30, 2007

Poetry Out Loud – Hawai‘i will launch its first statewide effort this school year. The previous two years were limited to high school students on O‘ahu. Poetry Out Loud is a National Endowment for the Arts and Poetry Foundation national initiative which emphasizes the art of poetry recitation. Poetry Out Loud – Hawai‘i is open to all high school students in the state – public, charter, private, and home school. The SFCA is partnering once again with the Honolulu Theatre for Youth to implement the project. Interested schools and teachers should contact Honolulu Theatre for Youth at 839-9885. The application deadline is Friday, November 30, 2007. For more information see the Poetry Out Loud website, www.poetryoutloud.org.

Hawai‘i winner Tucker Haworth went on to compete in the national final competition in Washington, D.C. on May 1, 2007.

See Our Art Exhibition
Tuesday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Hawai'i State Art Museum, 2nd Floor
Free Admission

The Hawai‘i State Art Museum is dedicated to presenting the largest and finest collection of works by Hawai‘i artists that celebrate the diverse artistic and cultural legacy of Hawai‘i.

Enriched by Diversity: The Art of Hawai‘i is an enlightening exhibition featuring select works of art by Hawai‘i-based artists from the extensive Art in Public Places Collection, which includes over 5,000 works of art by more than 1,400 artists that have been acquired since the collection began in 1967. Inspirational themes in the installation revolve around rediscovering Hawaiian heritage, Asian roots, social consciousness, and cultural traditions.

"Enriched by Diversity: The Art of Hawai'i"

Downtown @ the HiSAM
Lunch, Monday to Saturday, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Dinner, First Friday, 5 to 9 p.m.
Hawai‘i State Art Museum

Try out downtown's newest dining experience, Downtown @ the HiSAM, the new restaurant at the Hawai‘i State Art Museum. Proprietor Ed Kenney, also the owner of Town restaurant in Kaimuki, brings his “local first, organic whenever possible, and with aloha always,” approach to the downtown area. Located on the first floor of the museum, the restaurant serves lunch with deli-style takeout, casual in-house dining, and al fresco seating on the lanai by the swimming pool.

The restaurant may also be booked for private functions. Plans for a full bar are in the works. In addition to its regular hours, the restaurant is open on First Fridays, from 5-9 p.m. For more information or to make reservations, call 536-5900. Lunch reservations are recommended for the popular new dining spot.

Downtown @ the HiSAM is a popular spot for downtown diners.

Downtown @ the HiSAM’s take-out counter is perfect for people on the go!

Join the Friends of HiSAM

We invite you to join the Friends of the Hawai‘i State Art Museum (HiSAM). By simply joining, you can help maintain a free, public institution dedicated to the art and people of Hawai‘i. You can join by phone by calling 536-2644, or you can download an application form by clicking on Friends of HiSAM Application Form.

HiSAM Volunteer Opportunities

Help our visitors enjoy our museum! We need enthusiastic, outgoing people to assist museum visitors and help them appreciate our current exhibitions. We encourage you to volunteer if you have an interest or background in the arts.

Volunteers are needed in the following areas:
Gallery Attendant – Assist visitors in the galleries.
Information Desk Attendant – Greet visitors.
Docent – Conduct tours of art exhibitions.
Education Assistant – Help with education programs.
Special Events Assistant – Assist staff with events.

You may download an application by clicking on: HiSAM Volunteer Application Form. To request an application by mail or for more information, please contact HiSAM Visitor Services, via telephone at 586-9959 or via email at hisamvolunteers@gmail.com.

HiSAM Facilities Rental Program
Hold Your Special Event or Party
at the Hawai‘i State Art Museum

The Hawai`i State Art Museum is available for rentals for special events and parties. The rental options include: Option 1 - Front Lawn, Option 2 - Second Floor Courtyard, or Option 3 - Front Lawn and Second Floor Courtyard.

The rental brochure is available for download here HiSAM Rental Program Brochure. Anyone interested in renting the facilities may request a HiSAM Rental Information Packet which contains a Rental Handbook, Rental Request Form, and HiSAM brochure.

For more information or to request the packet, contact the HiSAM Visitor Services Manager via email at hisamrentals@gmail.com or call 586-9959.

The HiSAM front lawn may be rented for parties.

Hold your special event on the second floor lanai.

Visit the SFCA Website

Visit our website www.hawaii.gov/sfca for news on SFCA grants, programs, services, and events, plus information on Hawai‘i State Art Museum events and art exhibitions.

SFCA Online Publications

For more info on SFCA programs, services, and events, click Publications and Documents.

Hawai‘i Arts and Culture Calendar

Want to know what’s happening with the arts in Hawai‘i? Check out the Hawai‘i Arts and Culture Calendar section of our website. It lists current activities and events presented by Hawai‘i’s nonprofit arts and culture organizations. Click on these links to Visual Arts, Performing Arts, Literary Arts, Media Arts, and General Arts and Humanities.

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