Volcano Art Center will display the artwork of Andrea Pro, Margaret Barnaby, Lisa Louise Adams, Kathy Molina and John McCaskill, who together make up the Pacific Island Printmakers in an exhibit titled “The Enduring Wiliwili” from Aug. 29 through Oct. 4.
Volcano Art Center will display the artwork of Andrea Pro, Margaret Barnaby, Lisa Louise Adams, Kathy Molina and John McCaskill, who together make up the Pacific Island Printmakers in an exhibit titled “The Enduring Wiliwili” from Aug. 29 through Oct. 4.
The exhibition showcases the wiliwili, one of Hawaii’s rare, threatened species. Also known as Erythrina sandwicensis, it is a type of flowering tree endemic to the Hawaiian Islands.
The Pacific Island Printmakers partnered with the Waikoloa Dry Forest Initiative, a nonprofit dedicated to reforesting a lowland dry forest preserve near Waikoloa Village. The preserve is home to several endemic and indigenous plant species including iconic trees such as the wiliwili and the uhiuhi. Their goal is to bring the dryland forest of Waikoloa back to life through natural resource conservation, restoration and community education and participation.
Through the Waikoloa Dry Forest Initiative’s outreach and education efforts, the five participating artists were taken into the field where they studied and sketched the few remaining wild wiliwili trees firsthand. The artists then approached Volcano Art Center with a show proposal from that experience.
“This exhibition is a great example of community partnerships,” said gallery manager Emily C. Weiss. “Three separate organizations all with one shared goal, to build awareness and conservation efforts of the wiliwili trees.
“I find it very exciting to see five different perspectives of one subject matter. One artist will focus on the beautiful blossoms, which colors range from orange, yellow, red or white, while another depicts the birds that help pollinate the species.
“Each image, however, represents the stately silhouette which is undeniably the wiliwili, weaving a visual thread through the entire collection,” Weiss said.
In the Hawaiian language, wiliwili means “repeatedly twisted” and refers to the seedpods, which twist open to reveal the seeds.
“The Enduring Wiliwili” exhibit at the VAC Gallery in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is free to the public. The artists will be present at an opening reception from 5-7 p.m. Aug. 29.