Not only is Honolulu Academy of Arts Director Stephen Little an authority on Chinese art and the author of books such as Taoism and the Arts of China—he paints too.His first solo show opens tonight at the Pegge Hopper Gallery in Chinatown.
He recently took at life drawing class at the Academy Art Center at Linekona, which relit what he calls “a fire that burned.” The first paintings he did were in 1972, when he was an undergraduate student at Cornell studying Chinese art history.
“I always wanted to be a painter,” he says. And the group of paintings on view in “Ocean of Emptiness” come out of the concept he started more than 30 years ago.
“These are all imaginary landscapes,” explains Little. “They are influenced by two things—years of studying Chinese and Japanese painting, especially one particular Chinese artist, the 13th-century Zen monk named Muqi (also spelled Mu-ch’i, and pronounced moo-chee). He is a fantastic landscape painter, very minimal. All of my paintings are mostly empty, acrylic on canvas. Generally I use only two colors, cobalt oxide and iron oxide. The other influence is ideas of the way the world is structured that I learned form studying astronomy and Taoism. I’m looking for images that are ambiguous, paradoxical, and elusive.”
The image here doesn’t do the work justice. It has an ethereal feeling, like coming upon a ruined, ancient world in the distance.
How does he feel about his first exhibition? Responds Little, “This is very frightening and exciting.”
For Shawn Eichman, Curator of Asian Art at the Honolulu Academy of Arts, two of the most interesting works in the current exhibition “Hokusai’s Summit: Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji” are not by Hokusai. Find out why he’s so intrigued by Tomioka Tessai’s two fan paintings in this podcast.
This is the first in a series of podcasts about works in “Hokusai’s Summit: Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji,” on view through Jan. 3, 2010.
On Sept 23, Director Stephen Little gave a tour of Hokusai’s Summit: Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji for staff. From curators to docents, everyone got the inside info on the works in this exhibition. Here we’re looking at a very rare map of Mount Fuji, which was meant to be punched out and assembled as a 3D model. It is one of the gems culled from the Richard Lane Collection. Photo by Shuzo Uemoto.
A lot of the museum’s staff—from every department—are artists. Security guard Calvin Collins’ work was last seen at the late Nu‘uanu Gallery. Now he has a solo show, “Anomaly,” at the HPU Gallery in Kane‘ohe. “My paintings and drawings traffic heavily in the realm of identity politics and allegory,” says Collins in his artist statement. “I am emboldened as I am fascinated at times by my experience as a biracial person living in a world that is trying politely to adjust to its post-colonial skin and all that identity encompasses. Pluralistic and whimsical in nature, these works revel just as much in the possibility and quality of materials as they do in narrative.”
Anomaly is on view through Sept. 18. HPU, 45-045 Kamehameha Hwy, Mon-Sat 8am-5pm.
No more waiting in long lines at the mercy of the elements to see the nation’s Capitol! The brand-new, $621 million dollar underground complex includes a big waiting hall, a cafeteria with regional dishes, a restaurant, two movie theaters and a gallery of interactive exhibits about Congress and the Capitol. Large skylights open to spectacular views of the rotunda looming above.
A monumental statue of King Kamehameha rules over the Visitor Center. Each state has two statues and two senators.
Recently I escorted six paintings of Hawaiian scenes from the Academy to the U.S. Senate in Washington D.C. The shipment was transported by specialist art movers. For the first time in my experience, one of our drivers was a woman.
I am a student pursuing my masters degree in Museology at the University of Washington in Seattle. As part of my course requirement, I am doing an internship at the Honolulu Academy of Arts (HAA) for a period of five weeks where I am engaged in different departments every day. So far, I have visited six departments and I must say from all the museums that I have visited up to this time, I think HAA top my list.
On my first day, I made a tour in all the departments at the museum. That was the time when I realized how huge the museum was. From the outside, the academy appeared small but when I began exploring, I found myself amazed firstly by the extraordinary collections of the Academy and secondly, by the space and size of the Academy.
I spent my first two days at the Conservation department where I mostly observed the work that was being carried out at the studio. I always enjoyed conservation work and just observing them perform their work on the pieces was interesting for me. The next few days was spent at the Deputy Director’s office, the Textile Department, Education Department, and the Visitor Service Department. From all the above departments I visited, I enjoyed working in the Conservation and the Textile department where I had hands-on experience with the materials.
I still have 16 departments that I have to visit and I am looking forward to visiting each department and learning how each department functions.
Museums across the country, from the Metropolitan Museum of Art to the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, are delving into their permanent collections for exhibitions, rather than bringing in expensive productions. All museums are facing hard times, and mining the vaults saves money. It also is a great way for the public to see treasures that are not normally on display. The New York Times wrote a whole article about it. The Academy is no exception. Theresa Papanikolas, our curator of European and American Art who joined the Academy last fall, has been doing “vault archeology” for the exhibition “From Whistler to Warhol: Modernism on Paper” that will open next spring. Her research, she reports, has given her a chance to mine our stellar collection of 19th- and 20th-century prints and drawings.
She has discovered that the Academy has an entire drawer full of Picassos. As well as a beautiful print by Sonia Delaunay, wife of Robert, whose ‘Rainbow’ (1913) is on the cover of the Academy’s “Selected Works” catalogue.
“But my favorite discovery,” said Papanikolas, whose specialty is Surrealism and Dada (her latest book is Doctrinal Nourishment: Art and Anarchism in the Time of James Ensor), “has been a cache of Surrealist prints, including work by Salvador Dali, Giorgio de Chirico, Max Ernst, Stanley William Hayter, André Masson, and Joan Miró!”
As she goes through the drawers of the print vault, Papanikolas organizes work into sections (Cubism, German Expressionism, Pop Art, etc.). “That helps me to narrow down what to include based on what will work visually.”
What goes into an art loan? Joleen Oshiro reveals the backstory of the loan to the Senate Appropriation’s Office Conference Room. 
A lot of the museum’s staff—from every department—are artists. Security guard Calvin Collins’ work was last seen at the late Nu‘uanu Gallery. Now he has a solo show, “Anomaly,” at the 
Museums across the country, from the