Local Color
Sunday, May 13, 2001
FOR MANY YEARS, the return of a pair of fairy terns has marked the beginning of spring at the Honolulu Academy of Arts. The birds settle in the 70-year-old mango tree near the Clare Boothe Luce Wing toward the back of the museum, and the staff and volunteers look forward to seeing a fluffy white chick every year. Terns’ return bodes
well for brand-new
art complexWhen construction began in late 1999 for the new Henry R. Luce Pavilion Complex, the staff worried that the dust, noise and frenzy surrounding the completion of the complex would force the birds to look for a new home.
Those tough birds are back, and again they are proud parents of a new chick. Recently, academy director George Ellis looked out his window and spotted the chick in the tree.
No doubt, Chinese fortunetellers can interpret the birds' return as an auspicious sign for the new complex, which is opening today.
To guarantee an extra dose of good fortune, the academy is bringing back Big Red, the 30-foot-tall papier-mache daruma, to the front lawn. The giant daruma, designed by installations manager Fujio Kaneko and constructed by staff and volunteers, first appeared at 1999 groundbreaking ceremonies. Guests climbed a ladder and painted one eye with a big paintbrush on an extension pole.
Beginning at noon today, guests can paint the other eye to mark the completion of the biggest expansion project in the academy's 74-year history. "We thought this Japanese tradition would be a nice way to symbolize that our dream to renovate and rebuild the academy for the 21st century has come true," public relations director Charlie Aldinger says.
The $16 million complex includes a two-story wing housing two 4,000-square-foot galleries, a gift shop and a cafe.
The real star is the academy's unrivaled collection of art about Hawaii, permanently installed in the John Dominis and Patches Damon Holt Hawai'i Gallery on the second floor.
The collection spans indigenous pre-contact art to contemporary art. In between are works by John Webber, the artist who accompanied Capt. Cook to Hawaii; famed Southwest artist Georgia O'Keeffe, who worked in the islands for an advertising campaign commissioned by the Hawaiian Pineapple Co. (later Dole); and many island-born artists, such as Isami Doi and John Young.
The collection offers a compelling view of history through the eyes of Hawaii artists, says Western art curator Jennifer Seville.
In 1984 a group of artists mounted an exhibit to show their concerns for the natural beauty of Hawaii when the H-3 freeway threatened to go through Hoomaluhia Botanical Garden in Kaneohe. Since then those artists, with some changes, have put on an annual exhibit at the city park to address environmental issues.
This year, "Aloha Ho'omaluhia XVII" is curated by Sarah McCormick and includes artists David Behlke, Debra Drexler, Ka-Ning Fong, Raina Grigg, Jan Hathaway, Carl Jennings, Diana Jeon, Kloe Kang, Toni Martin, Marcia Morse, Diane Nushida-Tokuno and Russell Sunabe.
The show is open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays, through May 28. Call 233-7323 for more information.
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Suzanne Tswei's art column runs Sundays in Today.
You can write her at the Star-Bulletin,
500 Ala Moana, Suite 7-210, Honolulu, HI, 96813
or email stswei@starbulletin.com
