HuiBlog: Meet the Artists of Visualizing Green

This past Saturday (Oct. 15), Hui No`eau hosted its first of two FREE October artist walk-through's of the current Visualizing Green exhibition. Featuring artists Gabrielle Anderman (Juror's Choice for "i'm so green"), William Worcester ("Almost Ripe") and Sidney Yee ("I No Kea, No..I Kea"), artists spoke to an intimate group of 15 sharing insights about their work -- including inspiration, techniques, thoughts on the "green" theme, and opinions about the exhibition as a whole. Cherie Attix, who had come to hear her fellow exhibiting artists speak, was invited to take the stage as well, discussing her piece "Loulu Old Hawaii."

Artist excerpts:

Gabby describes her artistic process this way: "I work with acrylic, charcoal, china marker and pencil on both paper and canvas. As part of my process, I layer multiple images on top of one another and include words and phrases pulled from books, memories, journals and dreams."

In her written statement, Anderman remarks, "I think everyone should have a cape and a mask. Why not? Why should superman have all the fun? Let’s all put on our tutus and pour ketchup on ourselves and pretend we’re dead and then when someone walks up we’ll jump up and dance around laughing at them for being scared. That would be funny and scary."

Sidney's textural and evocative piece, he says, "Represents a typical theme of good versus evil. Good is represented by the ama'u fern plant which is indigenous to Hawaii. It is being invaded by the wild boars which is destroying our watershed. The color green is symbolic of all things good and the rough textured dark area in contrast is the evil element that can only be controlled with our intervention."

Cherie explains about her piece, "My beloved 1924 home, Hale Ho‘okipa Inn, and the Loulu palms growing near the house were my inspiration." Her woodcut came to life this way: "The creative process was a progression from studying and photographing my subject, to creating a collage out of the photos, next doing my drawing, carving the woodblock, then printing, and for the last step, I hand painted the print with water color."

Bill Worcester, a star volunteer with the Patrick Dougherty Stickwork installation, wrapped up the afternoon by leading the group outside to the sculpture, where he talked story about his experiences building with the 2011 Artist-in-Residence.

Missed the walk-through on the 15th? Join three more exhibiting artists this Saturday, October 22nd at noon for a FREE walk-through of the show: painter Jon Graham, mixed-media painter Kathy Sakai, and painter & Hui instructor Tony Walholm.

See you at the Hui!