Hawaii Craftsmen

Mission:

In 2000 Hawai`i Craftsmen was designated the lead partner and on-site manager for The ARTS at Marks Garage -an arts enterprise project in downtown Honolulu. This opportunity allowed us to increase our presence in the community and to offer expanded programming to our membership and the public. The location and collaborative nature of this venture also furthers our goals of increasing our exposure to new communities, thus increasing our membership and our base of financial support. Hawai`i Craftsmen (together with the partner organizations) brings over 30 years of experience and community relationships to the development of this long awaited endeavor.

The importance and quality of our work has won us State Foundation on Culture and the Arts support since our inception. Our members include Ron Kent, whose work is in the White House Crafts Collection, Francis Pickens, represented in the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution, life members Toshiko Takaezu, Claude Horan, Ruthadell Anderson, Lucille Copper, and other illustrious artists. Many of our 400 members, one third being neighbor islanders, have works in the SFCA Art in Public Places collection.

Many teach art in Hawai'i's public and private schools passing on to their students new techniques they learn through us, especially through `Aha Hana Lima.

Described by Academy of Art director George Ellis as "one of the most professional and active organizations of its kind in the nation," our "distinguished record of service" through juried exhibitions, lectures, demonstrations, and workshops, which have drawn between 1500 and 9000 attendees, has "been instrumental to the creation of public appreciation, perception, and awareness of the visual arts."

Living in paradise provides unique programming challenges: five islands separated by miles of ocean. Hawai'i Craftsmen increases membership involvement by sending jurors to neighbor islands, shipping neighbor islanders' work to exhibits in Honolulu, giving scholarships to Neighbor islanders for Honolulu workshops, and contracting out-of-state jurors and guest artists. Our website, redesigned and updated in 2002, features our organization, programs and member artists and is a resource for artists and those interested in crafts and the arts. We work hard to reach art educators in all levels of education so that they may take what they have learned back to their students. We network with neighbor island organizations to provide opportunities for the guest artists to reach an even larger part of our state through presenting workshops and slide lectures outside of Honolulu.

Many of our programs are co-sponsored or produced with the help of The Honolulu Academy of Art, The Contemporary Museum, The University of Hawai`i, The State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, The Mayor's Office on Culture and Art, East West Center, and other arts and culture organizations and facilities throughout the state. All of these programs are available and promoted to neighbor islanders. Receptions, exhibits and raku beach side firings are free to the public; fees are charged to participating artists at workshops, exhibits and the raku firing.