The University of Hawaiʻi at 惭腻苍辞补 is now welcoming back in-person visitors to the and The Art Gallery with safety restrictions, after being shut down for several months due to COVID-19.

Enhanced cleaning protocols have been implemented, a maximum of five people are allowed in galleries at a time, face masks are mandatory, safe physical distancing of at least six feet must be followed and only 东精影业 惭腻苍辞补 students, faculty, staff and affiliated community members are allowed to visit since the campus remains closed to visitors. Pollack said reopening has perhaps been easier than other public museums and galleries because 东精影业 惭腻苍辞补 galleries are located on campus and follow university COVID-19 policies.

“As gallery director here at UH, art is such an important part of our curriculum and what we offer as a university,” said Maika Pollack, director and chief curator, John Young Museum of Art and university galleries, and assistant professor of curatorial studies and art history. “Many people don鈥檛 realize that between the BFA and the BA, art is one of the largest majors at 东精影业 惭腻苍辞补. We are thrilled to be able to safely continue our mission to provide examples of cutting-edge art practice and exhibition research in a diverse array of media, and to provide students with access to the artworks in our permanent collection, as is befitting of an R1 (Research 1) university.”

Lockdowns and stay-at-home orders due to COVID-19 forced the cancellation of the annual student BFA group show, a popular event, which is scheduled for every spring. Pollack also noted that one surprising challenge has been to figure out how to host exhibitions featuring large groups of living artists—called “group shows”—versus individual artists.

“Even when exhibition viewing can be distanced, installation demands close proximity of installers to artworks and sometimes to one another,” Pollack said. “It can be challenging to figure out how to schedule distanced individual drop off of multiple artworks and to install everything remotely.”

Current galleries

“Networks, Collaboration and Resistance in/between Portugal and Brazil, 1962-1982” is on view in the John Young Museum of Art until December 10. This exhibition is the first in Hawaiʻi with works from the collections of two major archives of experimental poetry, the Arquivo Fernando Aguiar in Lisbon and the Coleção Moraes-Barbosa in São Paulo. Experimental poetry in Brazil and Portugal resisted police and military power, oppressive governments and in Portugal, protested colonialism. This exhibition represents nearly 400 poets and authors who took the form of some of the most radical experiments ever seen in magazine publishing. This exhibition was curated by Pollack and Rui Torres.

“Carissa Rodriguez: The Maid” is featured in The Art Gallery in the Art Building until December 10. Rodriguez鈥檚 solo exhibition follows a selection of American artist Sherrie Levine鈥檚 “Newborn” sculptures in various residences, private and institutional, from New York to Los Angeles. Levine made the works in crystal and black cast glass in the early 1990s. Through this exhibition, Rodriguez engages the conditions and settings in which art circulates, proposing that the futures of artworks are inherently speculative. This exhibition was curated by Ruba Katrib from MoMA PS1 in New York. “Carissa Rodriguez: The Maid” was previously on view at SculptureCenter, NY; MIT List Visual Art Center, Cambridge, MA; The Walker Art Center; and The Art Institute of Chicago.

“Chapter One: Lucas Blalock” is the first of a year-long series of solo exhibitions, Out of the Camera: Beyond Photography, in the Art Building Commons Gallery by artists who work primarily as photographers but whose practices extend well beyond traditional definitions of the medium. This showcase will be on display until November 5. Blalock, who lives and works in New York, works with visual editing tools to create compelling images that interrogate the status of contemporary photography. The exhibition was curated by Pollack. Exhibitions in the Commons Gallery will be on view through the windows of the gallery only, due to COVID-19 restrictions.

For more information and details on virtual events, visit the .

—By Marc Arakaki

The artist behind an award-winning ceramic piece inspired by earthworm castings (waste) is exhibiting his work at the .

Koro Ihara, the grand prize winner of the Tokyo Midtown Award 2019, the annual art and design competition, presented his pieces in Koro Ihara: made in earth at the 东精影业 惭腻苍辞补 in February.

The winning ceramic piece called “made in ground,” was inspired by earthworms, the holes they create and their castings. Ihara created a similar piece for the 东精影业 惭腻苍辞补 exhibit, but instead of covering it with gold, he used silver.

“I鈥檝e always been interested in the trace of what living animals leave behind,” Ihara said through interpreter Marisa Takauchi. “What I wanted to do was create something from nature.”

Ihara, born in Osaka, Japan, received his bachelor of fine arts from Tama Art University in 2011 and master of fine arts from Tokyo University of the Arts in 2013. In 2017, he completed a research fellowship in Italy and has had exhibitions displayed in Germany, Tokyo and Thailand. Wherever he goes, Ihara uses the earthworm castings in the region of the world that he is visiting.

“Having been exhibited worldwide is something that makes me happy for sure,” Ihara said. “Since I am creating art using the castings of the earthworms, what they produce differs from land to land, so it鈥檚 not that I am always showing the same thing, but actually it鈥檚 unique depending on where I show it.”

Ihara will deliver a free public presentation in the Art Building Room 101 on Wednesday, February 19, 6–7 p.m. and his artwork is in the Commons Gallery until February 20.

He has also been working on new art projects in the ceramics studio. Ihara explained the difference between showcasing his art in Japan and at 东精影业 惭腻苍辞补.

“In Japan, if it鈥檚 an art university, it鈥檚 only art students that are there. Versus over here, there are a lot of people from other majors. Having a show here where people outside of the art major can come and see is something that I really enjoy,” he said.

Tokyo Midtown is a contemporary urban development that opened in 2007 in the center of Tokyo鈥檚 Roppongi district. This is the seventh year that 东精影业 惭腻苍辞补 has hosted the grand prize winner of its annual art and design competition.

—By Marc Arakaki

Master of fine arts candidates from the , University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, present their thesis works at , March 5—April 7. Each artist’s work is presented in a separate section of the gallery.

The Art Gallery will also with long-form, improvised, instrumental music by the聽.

Exhibition Summaries

(photography) presents Artificial Sweetener, an installation of digital prints.

This exhibition explores psychological “stickiness” and the misrepresentation of images as truth. The installation consists of approximately 15 photographs at larger than life scale, in a combination of found family photographs, recipes and staged performative studio photographs using sticky material such as sugars, food dyes, candies, pastries, processed foods, etc.

(printmaking) presents The Grove, an installation of prints and drawings.

These works in graphite and intaglio explore the uncertainty and perceived futility that consumes the life of the figure, a character explored through undefined narratives constructed primarily with repetitious imagery. A woman wearing a cage over her head like a helmet wanders the world of her subconscious, seemingly alone. At moments she is joined by a second figure, at others, she is isolated in a dense thicket of trees. A series of graphite drawings appear ghostly on the page, smooth and seamless impressions of unassuming portraits. In contrast, installations assembled of cut elements from line etchings are pieced together with the texture of a puzzle being put together with the wrong pieces.

(painting) presents cover the earth, an installation of paintings.

The exhibition focuses on two forms of painting: covering wall panels and painting on canvas. This installation of panels and canvases can be considered in sections or as one single painting. In either case, they are fragments of the great Painthing that covers the earth.

Gallery hours and admission

• Monday–Friday, 10 a.m.—4 p.m.
• Sunday, 12–4 p.m.
• Closed Saturdays, Prince Kūhiō Day, March 27
• By appointment: Spring Break, March 28–31

Admission is free. Donations are appreciated. may apply

For more information on the MFA artists and their statements visit the .

The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa presents January 17–February 17 at the .

The exhibition highlights the diverse work by esteemed and internationally-recognized contemporary ceramics artist . Inspired by the American landscape, Higby has created innovative vessels, sculpture and architectural installations. In addition, his experiences in China affected his efforts in porcelain and raku earthenware. Higby has been acclaimed as a living legend and visionary of the American Crafts Movement by the American Craft Museum.

The exhibition features a selection of approximately 21 works by Higby that include a variety of sizes, shapes, forms and time periods. The exhibition is being held in partnership with聽, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting fine craft in the art community of Hawaiʻi, and in celebration of its 50th anniversary.

Higby will be in Honolulu to give his lecture, Light Falling on Grass, February 9, 4:30 p.m. in Art Building 101, which was previously presented to a sold-out crowd at George Washington University. He will discuss and explore how his innovative works use landscape imagery as a focal point for contemplation and reflection.

More about Wayne Higby

Wayne Higby is a ceramic artist and educator. His unique vision of the American landscape and its manifestation in work ranging from vessel form to tile, sculpture and architectural installation has brought him international recognition. His work is held in the permanent collections of numerous art museums around the world including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the Victoria and Albert Museum, London and the Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo. He is a professor and the Robert C. Turner Chair of Ceramic Art at the New York State College of Ceramics, Alfred University, where he has also served as chair of the Division of Ceramic Art.

Visit for more information.

, is hosting , which runs through September 16.

, professor of art at the , goes all out with , an unprecedented exhibition of not-yet-realized works that integrate real-time analog video and sound. Constantly modulating events, environments and performances will be activated by a feedback-responsive analog electronica system that will facilitate real-time interactions between Chamberlain and control elements that respond to movement, sculptural constructions, other interactive scenarios, and performative collaborations with guest artists. Aesthetic surplus from these activities will also be exhibited.

For more information, visit the .

Tom Klobe, an emeritus professor at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s Department of has recently published a memoir entitled , his story as a young American Peace Corps volunteer from Hawaiʻi who sets out to a remote Iranian village in the 1960s. Published by and released in December of 2014, A Young American in Iran tackles questions of America’s faults and ambitions, culture shock, and coming to terms with a new identity.

Klobe recalls his experience as a Peace Corps volunteer with gratitude.“Most Peace Corps volunteers will say the experience changed their lives and that they are grateful for the opportunity to experience another place in the world with the intensity that likely only being a Peace Corps Volunteer allows,” said Klobe. “Besides providing assistance to another country and imparting an understanding of America, the goal of the Peace Corps is for us to help Americans come to know another part of the world after we return home.”

Book description

In November 1963, a bright Hawaiian morning is shattered by news of the assassination of the president. This marks the beginning of a journey to a remote Iranian village where a young American Peace Corps volunteer sets out with rebellious tenacity to do what is right, unaware of America’s loss of innocence-and his own.

From a youthful determination to perpetuate Kennedy’s legacy, to coping with the reality of America’s faults and ambitions, to grappling with unfamiliar customs and languages, to discovering the friendship and love of Iranians, Tom Klobe discovers that being “Tom of Iran” is as fulfilling as being “American Tom.”

More on Klobe

Serving as the director of the from 1977 to 2006, Klobe was honored as a recipient of the University of Hawaiʻi in 2003 and was also named a Living Treasure of Hawaiʻi in 2005. He is well known for his exhibition designs and his work in gallery management. He organized and designed over 200 exhibitions, five of which haver received the prestigious Print Casebooks: Best in Exhibition Design award.

Klobe has authored and edited numerous publications including which was published in 2012 by the American Association of Museums Press.

To purchase A Young American in Iran and for more on the author, visit the .

—By Kapiʻolani Ching

An exhibition by entitled is on display at the University of 贬补飞补颈驶颈 at 惭腻苍辞补 located in the Art Building on the ground floor. The display will be up through April 11.

Born in Jilin, China, Liu is a multidisciplinary artist whose works have been presented and recognized nationally and internationally. She explores her cultural roots through her time and process-based installations and by the abstraction of fleeting and continual energy and contradictory and convergent forces. Through her use and manipulation of materials鈥攖hread, paper, incense, wood, salt and water鈥攕he creates microcosms of fragility and poignancy and multi-faceted cultural narratives.

Liu will be in residence at the 东精影业 惭腻苍辞补 through its . During her residency, Liu will construct a site-specific installation, entitled Yuan, at the University of 贬补飞补颈驶颈 Art Gallery.

Liu is currently an associate professor at the .

A 东精影业 惭腻苍辞补 news release.

For the first time in more than three decades, master of fine arts candidates from the at the concurrently present their thesis works at the . The 2014 MFA Thesis Exhibitions runs from January 26 to February 14, 2014

These exciting thesis exhibitions are part of a demanding course of study, production and review required by the MFA program which focuses on a comprehensive and diverse curriculum for the graduate study of the visual arts and Asian and Pacific art history.

MFA candidates present new and engaging thesis works that demonstrate their caliber of ideas, skills and awareness of the global context within which art is created and circulated. Each artist’s work is installed in a separate section of the gallery.

MFA candidates and exhibitions

• Kerri L. Buxton (ceramics), Locus of Presence
• Abi Good (sculpture) Idle Dilemma
• Kyle Jablonski (printmaking), I realized I agreed with what she told me
• Jen Thario (sculpture), Cover the Spread

A schedule for these artist’s reception dates and times can be found on the .

Voyage down the flowing lava rivers of the Big Island on a boat made of lava at University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Art Gallery’s newest exhibit Still Flow. Artist Michael Hengler’s exhibit will be on display at the Art Gallery, March 10–15. The opening reception for Still Flow will be on Sunday, March 10, 2 p.m.–4 p.m.

The exhibit will showcase an 11-foot lava canoe in a gallery space that is transformed into a lava-scape that crunches under the feet of exhibit guests as they traverses the darkened room. Footage of lava-boats rolling over the molten lava flows of Hawaiʻi will be projected in the gallery and the lava-vessel will be dimly illuminated from the red glow of the lava fields.

东精影业 Mānoa Associate Professor Mary Babcock says that Hengler is an artist who is able “to sculpt psychological space.”

Hengler considers this exhibition’s realization “an experience so surreal that seeing voyaging lava-boats on molten lava flows, somehow melts away preconceptions of human limitations and re-envisions what might be possible for us as we navigate our rivers of life.”

东精影业 Mānoa Art Gallery

The 东精影业 Mānoa Art Gallery is located on the ground floor of the Art Building and is open Monday–Friday, 10:30 a.m.–4 p.m. and Sunday, 12–4 p.m.