Local Color
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Getting Masa Taira to talk about herself is like squeezing dried paint out of an old tube. It's next to impossible. Queen’s last picture show
As the hospital undergoes renovations,
Masa Taira will retire as chief resident
of its groundbreaking galleryFor nearly a year, she has managed to dodge persistent questions, focusing instead on the subject most dear to her heart -- art.
"Why do you want to talk about me? Nobody's interested in that. Nobody knows who I am. I'm not important; it's the art that's important," she argued.
While her name may not be a household word, there's no arguing that Taira has been a dynamo in Honolulu's art community. For almost 25 years, in a space barely bigger than a closet in the lobby of Queen's Medical Center, she ran a cutting-edge gallery on a shoe-string budget and fostered the careers of many aspiring artists.
And she did it with good humor and no pay. But her tenure is ending. The gallery will be closed as the hospital undergoes renovations. Taira's last exhibition, "Scratching the Surface," featuring photographs by Paul Kodama and ceramics by Marie Kodama, opens today and runs through March 31 at the Queen Emma Gallery.
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Taira wants to end her tenure quietly and has steadfastly resisted attempts by the artist community to give her a farewell. The hospital's volunteer group is planning an in-house mahalo dinner for her at the end of the month.Lynn Kenton, hospital spokeswoman, said another space will be allocated for a new gallery after renovations are completed. No date has been set for a new gallery, and Taira, who announced her retirement last year, will not take charge when it opens. But she will remain as volunteer to organize the gallery's archive materials. She also plans to take life easy and perhaps even pick up the paint brush herself.
"I guess you can call me a frustrated artist," Taira said, when she finally softened under questioning. "Growing up, I always liked art, but there really was never any time or any money for it."
Taira recalled being selected to draw a picture of igloos for her class in the first grade.
"That was a big thrill, drawing the igloos. But art really wasn't emphasized. It wasn't like the cod liver oil (that) we all had to take every day," she said.
Taira was born in Kagoshima City on the southern tip of Kyushu island. The family emigrated to America when she was only a few months old. Her father died soon after the family arrived in California. Her mother remarried and the family supported itself by truck farming outside of Los Angeles.
Taira, who declined to give her age ("I like to think you are ageless if you care about what you are doing") grew up during the Depression years and during World War II was interned with her family at a relocation camp in Arkansas.
Taira earned a master's degree in food and nutrition from University of California, Los Angeles. While completing her internship in Boston, she met Tom Taira, a physician in training from Honolulu. They married and moved to Oahu, where he set up a practice and she taught nutrition courses as part of Queen's nursing diploma program. (Her husband later became Director of Health for the City and County of Honolulu.)
"I still didn't have time for art all this time. I had a daughter and basically I was out of commission for 10 years when I was raising my child," Taira said.
A lingering penchant for art and a new neighbor, Ayako Howe, changed her life. Howe also was interested in art, and the two became fast friends. Taira began to take art courses and visit galleries.
"Ayako has been there from the beginning. She's been very instrumental to the gallery and everything I did," Taira said. Her friend not only renewed her art interest, but also served as a trusted advisor and mentor until her death last September.
TAIRA EVENTUALLY quit teaching, but remained at the hospital as a volunteer and became involved with the planning for a gallery after one of her prints was selected for a printmakers' exhibition. She was never officially named as the gallery director, but oversaw the operation after it officially opened on March 29, 1977.
"From the beginning, I told myself I am going to put this gallery on the map, and I believe I did that. I wanted a gallery that reached out to people, all kinds of people," Taira said.
She has been the subject of praise, often for recognizing the potential in unknown artists. She also has been the subject of criticism, particularly when nudity and sexual images generated controversy in the hospital environment.
"I think she has been fearless and innovative. I don't know how she did it for so many years," said Marcia Morse, artist, educator and art critic.
"Masa has an extraordinary vision driven partly by her love of art and partly by her altruism. She has this powerful sense of how she can contribute to the community and she saw this little gallery as a great venue for her do to that," Morse said.
Taira said the going has been tough at times. She cried a lot in the early years as she learned how to operate a gallery through mistakes. But she's proud to have survived, particularly after a difficult period a few years ago when complaints over sexual imagery forced her to close the gallery temporarily.
"If you stick it out through thick and thin, you become immune to the politics. The one thing that really sustained me is the art. But if you ask me what is art, I have to be honest and tell you I don't really know what art is.
"All I can say is I did the best I could."
Gardening Calendar
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
