3rd ANNUAL NATIVE HAWAIIAN ARTS MARKET IN MAY
Bishop Museum will host a two-day Native Hawaiian Arts Market and Festival, which will feature the stellar work of dozens of native artists, on May 3 and 4, 2008 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. A reduced admission rate of $3 per person for Hawaii residents and active/retired Military and their families with identification will be offered. Museum members and children 3 and under are free. The Market, which is being organized by PA’I Foundation, is one of the featured events for Maoli Arts Month (MAMo).
MAMo organizers include Bishop Museum, PA‘I Foundation, Hale Ku’ai, Maoli Arts Alliance, as well as other Native Hawaiian artists and organizations, and the City and County of Honolulu, Mayor’s Office for Culture and the Arts.
According to organizer Noelle Kahanu, the Market is fashioned after the Heard Museum Indian Fair and Market and the Santa Fe Indian Market, two of the most popular, successful, and longest running Native Indian arts events in America. A wide variety of quality arts and crafts created by Native Hawaiians will be available for sale in addition to Native Hawaiian performing arts and food booths featuring island favorites.
“We are working to make this festival THE hallmark event in the islands for experiencing and purchasing Native Hawaiian arts,” say Kahanu. “It is the best place to see the depth and vibrancy of the Native Hawaiian visual arts community and to meet and engage with these artists. Hawaiian art is not about a photographed hula dance—it is about featherwork, wood carving and sculpture, weaving, ceramics, stonework, painting, and works on paper. It is both contemporary and traditional, founded upon a Hawaiian esthetic that speaks to the present and future as much as the past.”
Among the market artists featured last year were master woodcarver Solomon Apio; fiber artists Maile Andrade; painters Ipo Nihipali, Joe Dowson, Kau‘i Chun, Sol Enos, Lufi Luteru, and Meala Bishop; feather artists Auntie Mary Lou Kekeuwa, Paulette Kahalepuna, JoAnne Kahanamoku Sterling, and Audrey Wagner; stonework artists Henry Hopfe and Kunane Wooton; and mixed media artists Imaikalani Kalahele, Bob Frietas, and Puni Kukahiko, and many, many others. Many of these same artists will participate again this year.
Demonstrations, workshops, and performances will take place throughout the day. Those interested in learning more about the Native Hawaiian Arts Market and Festival, should contact Kahanu at (808) 848-4190, or by email at noelle.kahanu@bishopmuseum.org.
For more information about MAMo or participating in Bishop Museum’s 3rd Annual Native Hawaiian Arts Market and Festival, call (808) 847-3511; Visit www.bishopmuseum.org or www.maoliartsmonth.org.
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