Lahaina Galleries in the Old Mill District is inviting the public to attend their anniversary celebration on July 22 from 9am-2pm. Established in 1976 by Jim and Nancy Killett, Lahaina Galleries is Hawaii’s largest art gallery and currently has five locations: Maui–Wailea, Lahaina and Mauna Lani in Hawaii, and two main-land locations: Newport, California and Bend.
The Bend location, which opened its doors in 2002, is a 4,000 square foot gallery that sits on the banks of the Deschutes River. The anniversary celebration will feature new works by artists Robert Bissell, Hisashi Otsuka, Alessio and Marcello Bugagiar, Donna Young, Mytchell Mead and Jason Waldron.
British-American artist Bissell uses his background in photography and graphic design to produce bold and graphically strong paintings. Self-taught out of strong self motivation, Bissell often works on up to seven paintings at a time. By working with perspective and depth, Bissel states the viewer can then “step into the painting which then facilitates my being able to engage and converse with the audience.” Starting with a sketch or photo, he paints landscapes and animals. Influenced by music and literature, many of his works tap into the natural honesty and goodness of animals.
Schooled in Zen and the martial arts, Otsuka has lived and worked by the warrior’s code of discipline and duty. At the age of 14, Otsuka apprenticed to Tateo Jo, one of Japan’s most exalted kimono designers. For three years he mixed his mentor’s paints, washed his brushes and repeated lessons over and over to learn essential precision. For another eight years he worked in Tateo’s shadow, eventually designing kimono patterns on paper and transferring them to silk. Tateo Jo paid his pupil the highest honor a teacher can bestow by buying one of his original paintings. Otsuka’s work today is a powerful balance of ancient Eastern techniques and modern ideas. He works on pure silk, Chinese pongee silk, linen, cotton, chiffon silk, raw silk, paper and crescent board with tiny fine point brushes and funnel-coned cellophane filled with Japanese enamels or inks.
Mead works in the abstract in order to aim for the essence. Using color, texture and every day materials, he works with the view that what often goes unnoticed becomes beauty experienced. Formerly in the high tech world, his work sent him around world where Japan produced an appreciation for Eastern thought and art: Europe instilled a classical regiment and South America brought out the desire to draw in earth and craft elements. In New Mexico he studied with Argentinean Master Sculptor Alberto Castagna, where he learned to “see” (dimension, proportion, balance and relation by the human form) for the first time.
The Bugagiars combine their talents to create a balance of emotion and technique in paintings of exquisite serenity. “The Twins,” as they are affectionately known on Maui, share a unique talent that expands beyond boundaries when brought together for artistic endeavors. Alessio studied art all his life and has been trained at the renowned Accademia of Belle Arti in Florence, Italy. Marcello is l’artigiano, the craftsman, bringing his high energy and training in mathematics to bear on projects of beauty with challenging design. It is this background and exposure to the art of their Italian forefathers that has inspired their paintings and can be seen in landscapes of the magnificent city of Venice.
Donna Young began painting at the age of four. Over the years she refined her skills as a contemporary artist and utilized her talents in painting ceramics and creating graphic designs. Now recognized as an accomplished oil and pastel artist, Young portrays a vivid and effervescent aspect of landscapes found in the Northwest. She is an active member of Plein Air Painters of Oregon, and for Young the challenge is to concentrate every sensory nerve on the beauty in front of her. She must absorb everything from sight to smell, atmosphere to earth and transfer the emotions and perceptions from head to hand, and hand to canvas through a medium of colors, re-creating the vision on canvas.
Combing his passions for art, nature and outdoor activities such as hiking and rock climbing Waldron has taken a unique approach to wood sculpting. He forages for native juniper, sage and pine, then pieces together or carves forms and figures that speak of their origin and gesture toward their purpose. With a decade worth of experience as a sculptor in multiple mediums and a desire to create a positive impact on the world around him, Waldron adopts the perspective that we are all being shaped by the elements of life, and as our weathered grooves fit together, we journey closer to God.
Lahaina Galleries public reception: Sunday, July 22, 9am-2pm. For more information or to RSVP call 541-388-4404, www.lahainagalleries.com.