A Month of Keiki, Clay & Community

April 30, 2012April: what a month! Hui No‘eau joyfully participated in this year’s Valley Isle Keiki Fest at Maui Community College, where our youth teaching artists worked with 400+ little ones creating plexiglass monotype creatures while celebrating the spirit of our Maui community. Hui staff and teaching artists were proud to contribute to the success of Maui's first-ever Empty Bowl Project on April 14. Representing Maui's premiere community-based ceramic program, we were proud to help position the arts as a part of this important community improvement initiative by financing the firing of 200+ ceramic bowls sold during the fundraiser for the Maui Food Bank. 2012 Retrospective artist Jennifer Owen offered a free walk-through of her ceramic art exhibition, sharing fascinating insights into her techniques, architectural & personal inspirations and stories from her 38-year career as a ceramic artist and teacher. (Watch Paul Janes-Brown's "Curtain Call" review of the show here or read more about Jennifer on the Hui Blog). Kamehameha Schools’ Pre-K classroom also visited Jennifer’s exhibition, picking out their favorite pieces before participating in a hands-on experiential bowl-making exercise on the lawn. (Photos available on our Facebook page). We shared our congratulations with exemplary Hui youth arts alum Talia Gangini, who successfully traveled between Maui, Lanai and Molokai via stand-up paddle board this month to raise money for our youth jewelry program in her "Craft for a Cause” - and further congrats with the students of King Kekaulike during their 7th Annual Student Arts Integrated Showcase at the Hui.