“Hawai‘i: Change & Continuity” exhibition opens at Hawai’i State Art Museum

HONOLULU, Hawaii – The Hawai‘i State Foundation on Culture and the Arts will open a major new exhibition “Hawai‘i: Change & Continuity” on Sept. 4, 2015 at the Hawai’i State Art Museum as part of our 50th anniversary celebrations.

“Hawai‘i: Change & Continuity” explores how artistic expressions define the character of our changing civilization and how artists portray our aspirations and make a profound contribution toward better understanding ourselves.

The exhibit features 130 selected artworks and almost as many different artists from the HSFCA’s Art in Public Places Collection.

Featured artists include John Wisnosky, Sally French, Solomon Enos, Kazu Kau‘inana, Gordon Sasaki, Doug Britt, Kunane Wooton, David Kuraoka and many more.

The theme and art for the 50th anniversary exhibition was carefully considered by a 10-member HiSAM Exhibit Advisory Committee which selected Tom Klobe to curate and bring the exhibit to life.

“This exhibition will express something of what it’s like to live in Hawai‘i,” Klobe said. “It is important for us who live here and for people who are visiting to understand who we are.”

Klobe, a University of Hawai‘i-Manoa professor emeritus of art history, and many of the advisory committee members also curated the museum’s inaugural exhibition when it opened in 2002, bringing years of artistic and cultural understanding to this new exhibit.

Klobe said this exhibition includes the latest works of many of the state’s most influential, contemporary artists expressing themselves on the theme of change and continuity.

“This is different from anything else you will see,” Klobe said. “It’s all about Hawai‘i and the exhibit brings up to date artists’ views of what is different and what is the same.”

The exhibition opening coincides with First Friday at HiSAM entertainment featuring the popular slack key guitarist Ron Loo from 6 to 9 p.m.

In 1965 the Hawai‘i State Legislature established the Hawai‘i State Foundation on Culture and the Arts. The HSFCA’s mission is to promotion, perpetuation, and encouragement of culture, arts, history, and humanities for the people of Hawai‘i.

The museum, located a 250 S. Hotel St., is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is always FREE at all HiSAM galleries, events and presentations.