Living Aloha

Straddling Worlds

September 29, 2020 Artistic practice, Hawaii, Living Aloha, New Work, News, whattodoinoahu, Workshops

Many of you know I work in a variety of media, but watercolor is my passion. There is nothing else like it that responds so eloquently and honestly and lets light pass through the pigments and bounce back! Using my multicultural perspective, I listen for, and connect on an emotional level with mo’olelo (stories) of other times. These stories become paintings and projects that give gentle encouragement for alternate stories to be heard. Just as I switch between two homes,Read More

Shadow Artists

August 24, 2020 Book Reviews, Commentary-Debate, Community, Living Aloha

Shadow artists as described by Julia Cameron, author of The Artist Way, are those who are artists but won’t acknowledge it and thus, just like water, find other ways to direct their creative instincts. Some become shadow artists, hanging around the edges of ‘real’ artists’ lives and patronizing cultural institutions, financially supporting a struggling talent, or in some cases, becoming vicious ravagers of fledgling artists. As an artist, I’ve met all the variants of the Shadow Artist, and each timeRead More

Filling the well

June 21, 2020 Commentary-Debate, Living Aloha

Water is flow. It always finds a way forward, it can be still and collected in an eddy or a pool but it will always find its way out and forward and sometimes it can rush forward in a mighty river or it can cascade down a small set of steps or a high plateau. The COVD19 stay at home order is lifting and we can go out to parks and beaches but still many activities I do are prohibitedRead More

Palama Settlement goes online

May 7, 2020 Artistic practice, Community, Hawaii, Living Aloha, News, Social Activism

COVD19 has been increasing across the world and country and now here in Hawai’i. Palama Settlement closed all its programming and we decided to pilot two classes online for Total Beginners and Continuing Watercolor. I spent 3 weeks learning Google Classroom and gotomeeting.com and doing test sessions to learn how to move my content online and to try to replicate some of the features of a live FTF (Face to Face) session. Meanwhile, Sweden, has chosen another path, to foregoRead More

Kupuna Watercolor

April 2, 2020 Artistic practice, Commentary-Debate, Community, Hawaii, Living Aloha, News

Teaching besides making art myself and with others is my newfound passion. I was reluctant for many years to teach because I didn’t want to be ‘that’ teacher who crushed instead of helped my creative self confidence soar. Teachers have so much power, especially to kids and those traumas are carried all the way to our graves if we don’t recognize and nurse and parent our inner Artist Child back to trust and joy. I also hate being told whatRead More

Color Bridges

March 19, 2020 Artistic practice, Community, Hawaii, Living Aloha, New Work, News, whattodoinoahu, Workshops

I got some positive feedback when I got to present my Color Bridges at the Community Main Stage at last year’s Honolulu Biennial and it gave me encouragement to continue to follow my instincts on not only creating them but also sharing them both as finished works of art and as a method to learn to use color. Color Bridges are my calligraphic abstracts I paint using harmonic color to express a prayer to the beholder. There is joy inRead More

Teaching Art

February 4, 2020 Artistic practice, Commentary-Debate, Community, Living Aloha, News, Social Activism

I spent a semester as a Teaching Assistant for the 2019-2020 school year at Farrington High School. I wanted to help out a friend and gain some experience teaching young people so it was a win-win arrangement. This project was on collage and each student had to do their Chinese astrological animal. It was a good example of combining different teaching goals: learning and appreciating other cultures, learning new techniques and skills, and practicing problem solving and thinking skills andRead More

KĀNEHŪNĀMOKU

January 20, 2020 Community, Exhibits, Hawaii, Living Aloha, New Work, News, Social Activism

This statement was written by Dr. Jan Beckett, whose photography and my paintings were hung in collaboration and support of the vision of KĀNEHŪNĀMOKU at the State Capital entrance January 20th through February 7, 2020. Mahalo to Kumu Glen Kila of Marai Ha’a Koa who first introduced me to the mo’olelo and wahipana of this area. I look forward to learning more about the Silva stories too. KĀNEHŪNĀMOKU: A Wai‘anae Cultural Landscape is an exhibit in memory of Albert Silva,Read More

TLR Total Life Recovery

December 21, 2019 Commentary-Debate, Community, Living Aloha, News, Social Activism

Turning Stories into Life Changing Lessons The Total Life Recovery Program (TLR) at the only Women’s Community Correctional Center in Hawaii is a faith-based, gender specific program that addresses every area of a woman’s life mentally, emotionally, spiritually and physically. TLR equips participants with the knowledge and tools they need to live successfully everyday with dignity and self worth – bringing hope to incarcerated women who are now committed to changing their hearts, changing their thinking and changing their goals.Read More

Mauna Kea

September 14, 2019 Artistic practice, Commentary-Debate, Living Aloha, New Work

The debate on whether or not the TMT project should move forward has been fraught with emotion and strong viewpoints. I knew there were protesters regarding the project and was not that informed but in general, not knowing anything, I would have answered anybody asking, that I was for the advancement of science and to put Hawai’i on the map as the premier place for advancement must be a good thing, right? I had recently been to a conference whereRead More

Slideshow