There is something special to see in lightly traversed gallery 22, currently home to an exhibition of textiles that were given to the museum in the honor of grandmothers.  The exhibition, masterfully curated by textile collection manager Sara Oka, chronicles a portion of textile art history, and, more important, addresses the sanctity of familial connections. Those connections are illustrated through quilts, clothing and accessories.

Also included in the gallery is “What Holds Us Together,” a community-based work of art that eloquently captures the spirit of the show. Last fall, a call to the general public was made, asking people to submit an image of their Grandma. Under the direction of Education Assistant (and accomplished artist) Maika’i Tubbs, volunteers compiled the images and transferred them onto plastic tiles. Stitched together, the resulting work of art stands as a tribute to everyone’s beloved matriarch.

Images came in all kinds of forms, from  blanched black-and-white scans to vibrant digital snapshots. Often, they were accompanied with anecdotes of remembrance and adoration.

“I was fortunate enough to grow up with all three grandmothers, as I grew up in an intergenerational household that included both my paternal and maternal grandparents…The interplay between these three women always presents a beautiful example of wisdom and love.”—Theresa Christine R. Navarro

“My grandmother’s name is Kathrine Napoleon. She was married to Walter Napoleon and they lived a few blocks from the Honolulu Academy of Arts on Iolani Ave back in the fifties. She was a very active politiclly; always writing the mayor or govener about issues concerning the Natatorium where she sat on the board for saving the Natatorium.”—Albert Weight

“Doris Hamamoto (Nisei), born a farmer’s daughter, in Waipahu, in the valley below the old Waipahu Sugar Mill, was born on February 5, 1919.  She had only up to a 6^th grade education, because her dad thought that it was more important for a woman to work, rather than go to school. She opened a barber shop on Cane Street, Wahiawa, and eventually opened a dress making shop next to the old Variety Store, Walker Street, Wahiawa… And now, the grandchildren, instilled with the same determination and values handed down from their grandparents, are striving for a better education, a better life for themselves.”—Sidney Hamamoto

If you haven’t seen “In Honor of Grandmother” and “What Holds Us Together,” do it quick.  The last day of the exhibition is April 4.  For more info, call 532-8700.

Who is this person who visits the Honolulu Academy of Arts? While the Academy forges ahead with a marketing survey, Artist in Residence Elizabeth Curtis is identifying them in a different way. If you visit her blog, you’ll find an eclectic cache of images. These images are not just snapshots of someone’s mother/father/sister/brother at the art museum. They stand as social commentary, and attempt to raise questions about one’s perceived identity.  We often think of photographic portraiture as two-dimensional bottles of nostalgia; a way to capture and hold on to that memory we hold so dear, yet these images are so much more. Portraits possess the power to shape and cement ones identity and status, and though an image can be fictional and fabricated, the end result is in and of itself is immanent. Not so innocuous, the portrait, when you think about it…

Canonize yourself in Elizabeth’s project TONIGHT at ARTafterDARK and this weekend (her last at the Academy). Call 532-8700 or visit our website for more information.

Last year, the Capitol held its first “Art at the Capitol”—an art open house at the Hawai‘i State Legislature. Spearheaded by Sen. Brian Taniguchi, the event was a success and on March 5, 5-7pm, you can once again wander into your legistators’ offices to see the artwork they’ve chosen from the state’s Art in Public Places program.
read more from "Head to the capital March 5 to see your art"

On view in the exhibition “From Whistler to Warhol: Modernism on Paper” is Raoul Dufy’s “The Woman of Martinique,” which he created in 1931. I was admiring the flowing lines, the weight of the woman—I could feel her languidly reclining. And all of a sudden another image flashed in my mind—a self-portrait by Pearl Harbor Kai Elementary third grader Nikki Santos, which was on view last summer in a special exhibition of artwork by students who had participated in our Art to Go outreach program. The works are separated by decades and geography, yet are strikingly similar. Nikki Santos, you’ve got talent!

Auguste Renoir was born 169 years ago today in Limoges, France. We’re so lucky to have his etching “A Dance in the Country,” which just went on view in “From Whistler to Warhol: Modernism on Paper.”

Renoir, along with fellow Impressionists Mary Cassatt and Edgar Degas, pushed the limits of etching. Known for their desire to capture the temporality of appearances and the fleeting effects of light, the Impressionists were drawn to the unpredictability of etching and the inevitable uniqueness of each image pulled. (From the exhibition brochure by Curator Theresa Papanikolas.)

You can see this sweet moment in time through July 3.

Indicator species are living things (plants and animals) that can be examined to understand the environment inwhich they live. Fluctuations in population and health of an indicator species signifies a change in the environment. In many ways, the visual arts is an indicator species. Shifts in social, political, and economical environments greatly affect the art that is produced at any given time. By gaining a better understanding of how shifts and trends develop in art, one can have a greater insight to the history of the world around us.

Just because they are furloughed, doesn’t mean Hawaii’s teachers are resting on their laurels.

On Feb. 6 and 13, the Academy held the free teacher workshop “Teaching History Through Art” and 45 dedicated public school history teachers from throughout the state—Oahu, Maui (including two from Hana!), Molokai, Kauai and Hawaii—attended.
read more from "Hawaii’s Teachers learn about HISTORY through ART"

Way before Doris Duke Theatre was even built, the Academy was showing movies. We’re talking silent films in Central Courtyard in 1938. Stuff like “The Execution of Mary Queen of Scots,” a super early experimental film produced by Mr Electricity, Thomas Alva Edison, and the Mack Sennett classic comedy “A Clever Dummy.” How amazing would it have been to sit under the Honolulu moon watching Georges Méliès’ pioneering scifi  “A Trip to the Moon” from 1902? That’s what played Feb. 17, 1938—the first night of film at the Academy. Where did the 16mm reels come from? The Academy had an agreement with the Museum of Modern Art Film Library Corporation, which lent us 17 films for a first series that ran from Feb. 17 to March 17, 1938. The shipment cost $187.50.

This week a year ago, Honolulu residents watched Al Jolson in “The Jazz Singer,” the first feature-length talkie. Seventy-two years later, if you come down tonight, you can see the newest documentary from Frederick Wiseman, “La Danse: The Paris Opera Ballet.”

The Academy invites you to Academy Art Center at Linekona to see two explosive murals by legendary graffiti artists Estria (aka Estria Miyashiro) and Prime (aka John Hina, a member of 808urban). We send them a heartfelt thank you for donating their talent and time to create the works on formerly drab shipping containers at the Academy Art Center at Linekona.
read more from "Academy adds 2 graffiti murals to its collection"

That ubiquitous portrait… you know, the one where you have your arm stretched out in front of you, hoping your face is in frame. Yes, that portrait. The one where some celebrity is somewhere in a blurry background. The one you have as your profile pic on Myspace, Facebook and Twitter… Oh how the portrait has (d)evolved over the years… For the next six weeks, a budding photographer takes her shot at the classic genre.

The lights, props, and camera are ready. So is Elizabeth Curtis, The Academy’s next Artist in Residence. Her plan is to capture visitors in candid and staged portraits with the museum as the backdrop. In a building full of portraits, Curtis hopes that through her project, visitors will examine “the implications of portraiture, its inherent construction, and its effect on identity formation.”

Would you like to have your portrait taken? Sign up for a half-hour session with Curtis at the Academy’s Visitor Information Center at the entrance of the museum.

Funded by The Artur and Mae Orvis Foundation Inc., Curtis’ residency runs from January 23 to February 28, weekends during museum hours.

The kids enrolled in the Academy Art Center at Linekona’s Exploring Art of Furlough Fridays classes (so popular we had to add an extra one) got a special treat today—four cast members of “Stomp” and Kenny Endo’s Taiko Arts Group dropped by for a special show. Passersby stopped to join in the fun, and one dad went and grabbed his kids from a nearby school.
read more from "‘Stomp’ing out furlough Fridays"