Blue Sea Artisans
featuring Martel
in October
The Blue Sea Artisans featured member artist for the month of October is multimedia artist Mark Martel
Martel is one of those uncommon multimedia artists who ranges across many styles, from watercolor to gouache, acrylic, pastel or oil. He studied graphics at the University of Cincinnati and worked as an advertising art director and illustrator in Dayton, Ohio. When computers arrived he found he missed working by hand. He developed a passion for painting from life and drawing the human figure, which grew to include landscapes.
After he and his wife Kate moved to the Big Island in 2013, he began a fine arts career. In 2017, the Blue Sea Artisans cooperative gallery gave him the freedom to showcase his variety.
One vibrant series features native Hawaiian birds and other wildlife. His Masters series re-imagines famous paintings in a Hawaiian setting. Van Gogh’s Sunflowers become Protea flowers, a Picasso guitar player switches to ukelele, and Botticelli’s Venus turns surfer. A fusion of Van Gogh’s Starry Night and Hiroshige’s. His art book, “If The Masters Painted Hawaii” collects his reworkings of famous artworks. “The Great Wave” depicts ancient Hawaiian villagers fleeing a volcanic eruption.
Martel expands his display of affordable ready-to-hang framed prints and canvas-wrap giclees. These and smaller prints and greeting cards reproduce his most popular works from a catalog of nearly 500 pieces created since moving to Hawaii. He is featuring new work “Cherry Blossom time in Waimea” and “Canoes at Two Step.” One painting fuses Japanese and Hawaiian mythology to envision a supernatural kind of air travel—by dragon. Another large canvas original “The Place of Refuge, Pu’uhonua O Honaunau.”
Martel will be working at the gallery Thursdays in October. The gallery, located in the Keauhou Shopping Center, is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday, noon to 6 p.m. on Friday and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday.
For more information, call the gallery at (808) 329-8000.
Nylin’s work to be featured at KVA
The Kailua Village Artists featured artist for the month of Ocotober is oil painter Christal Nylin.
Nylin’s 40 years of living in Hawaii has given her depth in knowing the islands history and beauty. Through her curiosity and passion to create, she loves to capture that special moment of interest to share with the viewer. In October, she is showing a diverse selection of paintings. From tropical trees, historic buildings, beach scenes, sunsets and a Kona coffee painting. “Mokuakaiua Church Kailua Kona” and “Place of Refuge” are among her selection of featured paintings.
Nylin will be working at the gallery on Sunday, Thursday and Oct. 13. The gallery is located at 75-5729 Alii Drive, Suite C-110, in the Kona Marketplace in Kailua-Kona. It is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.
For more information, call (808) 329-6653 or visit www.kailuavillageartists.com.
‘Tatau: Marks of Polynesia’ coming to Bishop Museum
Oahu’s Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum will debut a new exhibit in its J. M. Long Gallery: Tatau: Marks of Polynesia that will be on view from Nov. 13 through July 4, 2022.
Tattooing has long been held as not just a practice in art but also a way to tell stories through art, through the intimate painting of one’s body. Samoa’s tatau is one of the world’s most distinct tattoo traditions. An indigenous artform, it dates back 2,000 years and has played a pivotal role in the preservation and propagation of Samoan culture.
Through photographs taken in a studio and on location in Samoa, “Tatau: Marks of Polynesia” will showcase the work of traditional tatau masters alongside that of younger practitioners and artists who are adopting tatau’s motifs and styles for new media and art forms.
Thes exhibition is an opportunity to learn what tatau signifies in Samoan culture, and how it helps Sāmoans and other Polynesians living abroad stay connected to their identity and heritage.
Additional photographs taken in Hawaii, New Zealand, California, and Nevada demonstrate the spread of the art form outside of Samoa and some of its newer interpretations.
Tickets will be available soon at www.bishopmuseum.org.
