 STATE LEGISLATURE TO
HOST 2ND ANNUAL "ART AT THE CAPITOL" ON MARCH’S FIRST
FRIDAY
The public is
invited to enjoy an evening of art, culture and history at the State
Capitol.
The Hawai‘i State
Legislature will open its doors for March’s First Friday event with the
2nd Annual “Art at the Capitol,” an opportunity for the
public to view over 430 works of art that are a part of the State’s Art in
Public Places program. Guests can also enjoy entertainment featuring live music
by the Hawai‘i Youth Symphony, take guided historical tours of the
Capitol, and mingle with artists and lawmakers.
The event will be held on Friday, March 5,
2010 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., with a short program on the third floor to kick it
off starting at 4:45 p.m.
“We have some outstanding art in the
Capitol,” said Senator Brian Taniguchi, who has led efforts to open the
Capitol on First Friday. “We wanted to make it more convenient for people
to come in and see them all at once, to get the full impact of our
collection.”
Ronald Yamakawa, Executive Director of the
Hawai‘i State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, also sees the Art at the
Capitol event as a way to expand public appreciation of art in various
environments.
“We have a lot of art installed at the
Capitol, which not only enhances the building’s atmosphere, but also shows
that the experience of art can be an everyday event,” said Yamakawa.
“This is a great opportunity for the public to view these works in the
context of working offices.”
This
marks the second year the State Capitol has participated in a First Friday
event. More than 400 people attended last year's event held in April 2009. This
year, 45 offices in both the House and the Senate will participate.
"This is the people's capitol and the
public's art after all," said Representative Isaac Choy, who is coordinating
offices in the House and welcomes the opportunity to open their doors to the
public. “What a great way for members of the public to meet their
lawmakers face to face, see their offices and get to know them in a different
context."
The event will feature the newly restored
mosaic "Aquarius" by famous local artist Tadashi Sato, and give guests an
opportunity to meet and greet some of the artists whose works are on display,
including renowned artists Satoru Abe, Doug Young, Aaron Padilla, Kloe Kang,
Lori Uyehara, Amos Kotomori, Marianne Au, Norm Graffam, Jr., Lily Hasegawa,
Yoshio Hayashi, Charlene Hughes, Anne Irons, Karen Lee, Alan Leitner, and Brett
A. Uprichard.
Works of art are placed in public areas of
the State Capitol as part of the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts’
“Art in Public Places” program, which seeks to
enhance the environmental quality of
state public buildings and spaces for the enjoyment and enrichment of the
public; cultivate the public’s awareness, understanding and appreciation
of visual arts; contribute toward the development and recognition of a
professional artistic community; and acquire, preserve, and display works of art
expressive of the character of the Hawaiian Islands, the multicultural heritage
of its people, and the various creative interests of its artists. The program
was established in 1967, and was the first program of its kind in the nation.
Photo of art pieces and of last year's event:
Tying Child to Chair by Jean
Charlot (Located in the office of Sen.
Mike Gabbard)
Jean Charlot (1898-1979)
was born in Paris. Educated in Paris at the Ecole de Beaux-Arts, known for
its life drawing, Charlot moved to Mexico in 1920, where he experimented and
worked on fresco painting with contemporaries, Diego Rivera, Jose Orozco, and
David Siqueiros. A professor at the University of Hawai‘i at
Mānoa
from 1949 to 1966, Charlot is recognized as one of the world's leading
muralists. Charlot states of this work, "Before leaving the child alone in
the house, the mother takes care that the child will not fall from the
chair."
Seed No. 57 by Satoru
Abe (Located in the Office of Rep.
Scott Nishimoto)
Born in Honolulu, 1926,
Satoru Abe is a graduate of McKinley High School. He left Hawai‘i in 1948
to study at the California School of Fine Arts and the Art Students League, New
York. Abe returned to Hawai‘i in 1950 and met pioneering artist Isami Doi
who became a personal inspiration and friend. Abe received a Guggenheim
Fellowship in 1963. A reflection of this artist's theme centered around
"growth"; this painting translates the concept of the "husk of the seed bursting
to grow."
Enlightenment by Isami
Doi (Located in the office of Senate
President Colleen Hanabusa)
Celebrated
artist Isami Doi (1903–1965) was born in ‘Ewa, O‘ahu and spent
his childhood in Kalaheo, Kaua‘i. He studied at the University of
Hawai‘i at
Mānoa
in 1921 and moved to New York to study at Columbia University, receiving a BS in
1929. He also studied in Paris at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Grand
Chaumiere, and the Louvre. A generation of younger Japanese-American
artists from Hawai‘i regard Doi as their “spiritual and aesthetic
father”. He established his final residence on Kaua‘i in 1958.
Doi’s later works reflect a deeply eloquent and mystical Buddhist
spirituality.
Art at the Capitol
2009
Senator Brian Taniguchi, a
major proponent of the arts, sits in front of Doug Young’s “Kaku
– Lost T'S, Moloka‘i” at the first annual Art at the Capitol
in April, 2009
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