Regulars to Town restaurant in Kaimuki know the venue is also home to rotating art exhibits. This time around, though, diners might be intrigued by the works on display. Why, they might ponder, have elephants taken over the wall space?

It all goes back to November 2008, when ceramist Etsuko Douglass led 25 Hawaii residents on an art tour of Thailand. Douglass has been leading the biennial tours since 1998, to such destinations as Japan, Okinawa and Korea.

“;Art tour means we visited artists' homes and studios. We also went to galleries and museums, and temples and night markets,”; she recalls. Plus: “;We rode elephants.”;

Northern Thailand is famous for its elephant conservation, so Douglass lined up rides that passed through villages, into a forest and through streams. It was a first-time experience for the majority of participants and one of the most memorable events of their visit.

After returning home, the group decided to put together an art exhibit based on the tour, something Douglass encourages.

“;I try to do a ceramic show each time we come back from a trip; after all, 'to be inspired' is the sole purpose of the tour,”; she says.

The elephant was an obvious theme, and Douglass approached tour member Rochelle Lum to assist her with the project by creating an elephant mold.

Lum, a renowned Hawaii ceramist, designed the mold for the 2004 Geckos in Paradise fundraiser for the Kapiolani Health Foundation. In that project, 6-foot ceramic geckos decorated by a host of local artists were displayed around Honolulu and made available for “;adoption”; by businesses and individuals.

For Douglass' show, ceramic elephants of a much smaller scale were presented to each member of the Thailand tour for artmaking. While more than half the group are artists—potters, painters and photographers—some were just regular folk, spouses and family members who attended for fun. But everyone participated.

“;Since they were all inspired by the trip, I asked them to do something with that. Potters high-fired and glazed, and non-potters painted or did collage. All 25 decorated the same elephant, but each one looks different,”; Douglass says.

“;It's impressive, if I may say so, to have 25 elephants marching along the wall in the restaurant.”;