FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 18 , 2009
General info: 808-532-8700
Website: www.honoluluacademy.org

The 58th Honolulu Academy of Arts’ juried exhibition celebrating the work of Hawai‘i-based artists, Artists of Hawai‘i, has announced this year’s accepted artists and award winners. The exhibition, which returns this year as a biennial, will run May 14 to August 16.

The state’s oldest, most prestigious juried art exhibition secured renowned contemporary art curator Laura Hoptman, of the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York, as this year’s juror. Artists of Hawai‘i offered island artists a new benefit with the addition of studio visits by the juror for selected artists under consideration for an exhibition award. Hoptman was in Hawai‘i February 18 to 22 to visit artists on O‘ahu and Kaua‘i. While here she gave a free public talk at the Honolulu Academy of Arts, which turned into a standing-room-only event.

The museum’s Director, Stephen Little, said, “The Academy is thrilled to host the 58th Artists of Hawai‘i exhibition in 2009. Always full of surprises, this show is a mirror of the depth and range of artistic creativity in Hawai‘i. Many of our best artists first came to public attention with this exhibition, which is a microcosm of both Hawai‘i and the world. The arts are flourishing in Hawai‘i, and I commend those artists who have been accepted in the 2009 exhibition.”

For the second time, Artists of Hawai‘i jurying was conducted online. Out of 299 artists who submitted 951 images of works, Hoptman selected 86 pieces by 64 artists. In November 2008, the Academy held a free digital workshop to walk artists through the process of submitting their work online.

Hoptman’s experience as a curator, scholar, writer and lecturer continues the caliber and significance that juror Russell Ferguson, chair of the Department of Art at the University of California, Los Angeles, brought to Artists of Hawai‘i 2007.

“I was pleasantly surprised at the depth and breadth of the work I reviewed for the competition,” says Hoptman. “That said, there is definitely something unique, in work by artists from Hawai‘i. The state's deep history of visual culture and craft seems to touch every work, giving it a particular flavor, as well as a rich context."

Hoptman selected a broad spectrum of artists, ranging widely in age (16 to 82) and media (painting to multimedia installation). Alongside established island artists such as Sally French, Stephen Niles (a former assistant to artist Anselm Kiefer in France) and Lawrence Seward (who is represented by the Andrew Kreps Gallery in New York) is 16-year-old Harley Diven, who took up photography two years ago. The teenager from Pahoa, Hawai‘i, missed being the youngest artist to be accepted into Artists of Hawai‘i by 11 days. Retaining the title is Martin Charlot, whose work was in the exhibition in 1960. The son of artist Jean Charlot, Martin Charlot is a successful artist based in California.

Artworks in the exhibition will be considered for special purchase by the Academy for its collection representing the arts of Hawai’i. The State Foundation on Culture and the Arts also considers purchases of artworks for its collection.

The 64 artists in the 58th Artists of Hawai‘i are:

Tom Bailie, O‘ahu                 Sally French, Kaua‘i                Emily Miller, Kaua‘i
Sharon Baker, O‘ahu             Steven Garon, Hawai‘i            Vernon Miyamoto, O‘ahu
Byron Baker, Maui                Dennis Goodbee, Hawai‘i       Stephen Niles, O‘ahu
Elizabeth Baxter, O‘ahu         Scott Groeniger, O‘ahu           Roy Okano, O‘ahu
Andrew Binkley, Maui          Clinton Haness, O‘ahu            Lauren Okano, O‘ahu
Floria Bol, O‘ahu                   Mikako Hayashi, O‘ahu          Frank Oliva, O‘ahu
Arnold Bornios, O`ahu          Gary Hoff, Hawai‘i                 Rujunko Pugh, O‘ahu
Charles Bowen, O`ahu           Lowell Ing, O‘ahu                  Hiroko Sakurai, O‘ahu
Wayne Bregulla, O`ahu         Aiko Kameya, O‘ahu              Lawrence Seward, O‘ahu
Joe Bright, O`ahu                   Linda Kane, O‘ahu                 Joel Sokolov, Hawai‘i
Douglas Britt, Kaua‘i             Kloe Kang, O‘ahu                   Moke Stant, O‘ahu
Donald Brown, Hawai‘i         Solomon Kauinana, O‘ahu     Sandra Stephenson, O‘ahu
Liedeke Bulder, Kaua‘i          Klaus Knoll, O‘ahu                 Eve Strauss, O‘ahu
Virginia Carabelli, O‘ahu       Lian Lederman, O‘ahu            Bruna Stude, Kaua‘i
Francisco Clemente, O‘ahu    Karen Lee, O‘ahu                   Russell Sunabe, O‘ahu
Margo Cook, O‘ahu               Ryan Lee, O‘ahu                    Kathy Tosh, O‘ahu
Tanya Davanzo, O‘ahu          Brian Malanaphy, O‘ahu        Devi Town, Kaua‘i
Charles Davis, Kaua‘i             Jun Matsuura, O‘ahu Rani     Denise Ulrich, Hawai‘i
Carol Ann Davis, Kaua‘i        Charlotte Maxwell, O‘ahu     Allison Uttley, O‘ahu
Jean-Jacques Dicker, O‘ahu    Dennis McGeary, O‘ahu       George Vye, O‘ahu
Harley Diven, Hawai‘i            David Merritt, O‘ahu             Jacquelene Watson, O‘ahu
Matthew Dyer, O‘ahu

Award winners
Artists of Hawai‘i recognizes nine artists through individual awards. Because the exhibition is now a biennial, award amounts have increased. This year’s award winners are:

The John Young Award ($3,000) – Russel Sunabe
This biennial award, given by the John Young Foundation, honors an artist of Hawaii who has shown exceptional talent and inspired artistic vision in his or her work

The Melusine Award for Painting ($3,000) – Matthew Dyer
Named after a medieval semi-mythical figure in France who built things of beauty in the night, this award was established in memory of the late Honolulu-based painter and arts patron Gerry Clark.

The Roselle Davenport Award for Artistic Excellence ($2,750) – Brian Malanaphy
Named after the late artist and arts advocate Roselle Davenport whose dedication to the arts benefited both artists and audiences in Hawai‘i.

The Jim Winters Award for 3-D Design ($1,200) – Jun Matsuura
Established by family and friends of Jim Winters in the spirit of his generosity in providing opportunity for emerging artists. The award recognizes the innovative exploration of structure, form and space in sculpture.

The Cynthia Eyre Award ($1,750) – Andrew Binkley
Established to recognize Cynthia Eyre whose contributions as a staff member at the Honolulu Academy of Arts were distinguished by dedication and a high standard of excellence.

The Jean Charlot Foundation Award for Excellence ($500) – Rujunko Pugh
In keeping with the mission of the Charlot Foundation, this award was established to promote the arts through the encouragement of new art.

The Reuben Tam Award for Painting ($750) – Virginia Carabelli
This award recognizes the artist Reuben Tam’s (1916-1992) life, work and generous support of other artists in Hawai‘i.

The Alfred Preis Memorial Award for the Visual Arts ($500) – Wayne Bregulla
The Preis award, named for the late founder of the Hawai‘i State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, recognizes outstanding achievement by an artist.

The Violette Wong Hu Award ($4,000) – Ryan Lee
This award, established by the Children and Grandchildren of Violette Wong Hu, recognizes an amateur Hawai‘i-based artist.

About Laura Hoptman
Laura Hoptman is the Kraus Family Senior Curator at the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York City. Previously, she was the Curator of Contemporary Art at Carnegie Museum of Art where she organized the 54th Carnegie International exhibition (2004-05). From 1995-2001, she was a curator of drawing at The Museum of Modern Art, organizing numerous exhibitions including Drawing Now: Eight Propositions (2002) and Love Forever: Yayoi Kusama (1998) and projects by Maurizio Cattelan, John Bock, Elizabeth Peyton, Luc Tuymans, John Currin and others. She was part of the curatorial team that organized Unmonumental, a series of four exhibitions that inaugurated the New Museum’s new facility on the Bowery in Manhattan. Most recently she curated a survey show of the American painter Elizabeth Peyton and was part of the team of curators for the upcoming The Generational: Younger Than Jesus, a look at artists under the age of 33 from around the world at The New Museum.

-end-

Help Save Paper—convert to the Academy’s E-mail press list.

To UNSUBSCRIBE, please click here . To join, e-mail lgriffith@honoluluacademy.org , or call (808) 532-6091.

About the Honolulu Academy of Arts
The Honolulu Academy of Arts is an encyclopedic art museum founded in 1927, and is Hawaii’s largest private presenter of visual arts programs with a permanent collection of more than 50,000 works of art. The Academy is the only art museum in Hawaii accredited by the American Association of Museums.

The Academy’s permanent collection includes more than 20,000 works of Asian art, with galleries dedicated to Japan, China, Korea, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Indonesia, and the Philippines. The collection is especially strong in Chinese and Japanese paintings, Korean ceramics, Buddhist and Shinto sculpture, South and Southeast Asian sculpture and decorative arts, and textiles from across Asia. The crown jewel of the Academy’s Asian art collection is the James A. Michener Collection of more than 10,000 Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock prints, the third largest collection of its kind in the United States. 

The Academy’s permanent collection also includes European and American paintings, sculptures, decorative arts and textiles, as well as more than 15,000 works on paper comprising the largest concentration of works in the European and American collection ranging in date from the Renaissance to the present. Among highlights are major impressionist, post-impressionist and early modernist paintings by Georges Braque, Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh, Fernand Léger, Henri Matisse, Amedeo Modigliani, Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso and James McNeill Whistler.  Significant works of art from the 20th century to the present include paintings and sculptures by Lee Bontecou, Alexander Calder, Leon Golub, Philip Guston, Yan Pei Ming, Isamu Noguchi, Nam June Paik, John Singer Sargent, David Smith, Masami Teraoka, and Won Ju Lim.

General information:
Location: 900 S. Beretania St. in the Thomas Square Historic District. The Academy Art Center is at 1111 Victoria Street. The Doris Duke Theatre entrance is on Kinau Street. 
Parking: Validated parking at $3 for 4 hours is available in the Academy Art Center lot. Parking in the 1035 Kinau St. lot is free during evening and weekend hours till 11 pm.
Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 10am-4:30pm; Sunday 1-5pm; closed Monday.
Admission:  $10 general; $5 for seniors (62+), students (13 and over), and military; members and children 12 and under are free. Admission is free to The Academy Shop, The Pavilion Café, and the Academy Art Center.
Guided tours: Tuesday-Saturday at 10:15am, 11:30am and 1:30pm; Sunday at 1:15pm. Japanese language tours are offered Wednesday, Friday and Saturday at 1 pm.
The Pavilion Café: Serves lunch Tuesday-Saturday 11:30am-2pm.
The Academy Shop: Open during normal museum hours.
General info line: 532-8700
Recorded info lines: 532-8701 (exhibitions), 532-8768 (theatre events)
Website: www.honoluluacademy.org