"The Torchlight Fishermen, Waikiki" by Lionel WaldenSix works from the Academy have followed in the footsteps of President Barack Obama. In February, Sen. Daniel Inouye visited the Academy, looking for some visual aloha to take to Washington, D.C. After touring the Holt Gallery and vaults with Director Stephen Little, the eight-term senator selected the paintings (five from the collection and one on loan), which were just installed in the Appropriations Committee conference room at the Capitol.

The works are: David Howard Hitchcock’s “Lawai. Kauai,” “Outrigger on the Beach” and “McInerney’s First Store”; Lionel Walden’s “Marine and Cliffs” and “The Torchlight Fishermen, Waikiki” (pictured above); and “Boys’ Day” by Shirley Russell. They’ll remain in the Capitol for two years. “It’s a unique loan for the Academy,” says Curator of European and American Art Theresa Papanikolas. “We’ve never done it before, and it’s an honor.”

Registrar Pauline Sugino just got back from accompanying the works to the capital—see her posts below.