In association with Hawaii craftsmen based in Honolulu (which is celebrating 50 years !) Hilo is hosting its second annual contemporary craft art show. This year, the show is juried by Mark Mitsuda, an artist from Honolulu who specializes in glass blowing. As those of you who follow my blog and/or instagram know I have recently become very into paper making. So this competition and show was the perfect opportunity to push myself to create a work of art where the handmade paper is the art. I also wanted it to have a Hawaiian theme, and to keep it very abstract so that the feel, texture and look of the paper was not overshadowed by easily recognizable objects.
With these criteria in mind I set to work. I created a simple design of contrasting red and blue acrylic painted handmade papers set on a background of the largest piece of handmade paper I have made to date. I dyed the large background paper dark grey to simulate the look of hardened lava. The red and blue papers represent Pele, goddess of fire, and her sister, Namakaukaha'i goddess of the sea. Their complicated relationship is what creates the land that makes up the Hawaiian islands. Besides telling a story I also wanted the piece to show the versatility of paper. The three separate paper colors all have slightly different techniques to achieve the final look and feel.
This piece was a risk for me in that I have never really done anything like it before. And I really just let my imagination take over. So even though I did submit it to be part of the show I didn't have high hopes it would get selected. As with most things here in the islands the submission date and acceptance dates were pushed back.. (Island time is a real thing!) So when I did finally get the email that told me my work of art was accepted I was, of course, excited and a bit surprised. We have many talented artisans here in Hawaii, so to be grouped with such a talented bunch is an honor to say the least. Although I do believe that my chosen medium (textile) may have given me an edge because I don't think as many crafting artists work with textiles as with other mediums such as wood or glass for instance. So if the judge wanted a certain number of artworks to represent each category I probably had a better chance of being selected by choosing a less common medium.
However I managed to get in I am happy I did. The opening reception was quite fun. It was awesome to see my work of art displayed with so many other amazing pieces. My work titled "Sisters of Creation" will be on display at the Wailoa center in Hilo until the end of the month. So if you are in the area go check it out along with all the other beautiful crafts chosen for the exhibition.