Catherine invited to the 2022 MANA Invitational Art Show:
The annual MANA Invitational Art Show at Hilo’s Wailoa Art Center opened to enthusiastic artists and art lovers on April 4, 2022 and ran for four weeks, scheduled to overlap with the internationally renowned Merrie Monarch hula festival.
Twenty-six Hawaiʻi artists were asked to share their manaʻo (ideas and thoughts) and mana (spiritual life force energy) through their artworks. Catherine was invited to participate, and three of her oil paintings were exhibited in the show! Woodworks by four Kupuna Kane (honored male elders) were also on display in the Center’s Fountain Gallery.
Designers Nelson and Kainoa Makua of Na Makua were the organizers and creative inspiration for the show, with support from the State of Hawaiʻi’s Wailoa Art Center and the Hawaiʻi Island Art Alliance.
Photos of the exhibition’s opening celebration are pictured below. Enjoy!
Photos by Tom Peek.
Artists and art lovers gathered at Wailoa to immerse in the rich and evocative voice of the artworks, listen to live music of Hawaiʻi and enjoy pupus (appetizers). Kainoa Makua (left foreground with flower lei) chatted with one of the event’s attendees.
Four Kupuna Kane, revered male elders, filled Wailoa’s Fountain Gallery with their expressive and bold woodworks, including traditional pahu drums, kiʻi and intricately carved paddles.
Three of Catherine’s oil paintings were exhibited in the MANA show. While doing fieldwork for “Just Before Dawn” (pictured below) she watched, listened and sketched as the lava lake filled the crater and transformed the landscape. From her favorite perch on the south caldera rim, she could hear the booms and hisses that resounded from the depths as the lava lake moved and breathed.
“Magma” (top painting) evoked heat from the depths. The sense was so strong that people told Catherine they felt hot while standing near the painting at the opening. “The Great Sulfur Bank Revealed” (lower painting) reflected landscape transformation by forces greater than ourselves. Halemaʻumaʻu’s 300-foot-tall south sulfur bank, last observed at Kilauea in the mid-1800’s, was revealed in 2018 as Kilauea’s caldera floor collapsed. It is—for now—a significant landmark that graces the south caldera wall.
A spirited Hawaiian band filled the gallery with Hawaiian tunes throughout the lively opening.
Catherine with several Mauna Kea Kiaʻi, protectors of the mountain, displaying the protect Mauna Kea symbol.
Nelson Makua and Catherine paused in front of his striking artworks.
Evening on the lanai at the Wailoa Art Center with Mauna Kea softly illuminated in the day’s last light.
