Kailua Village Artists is inviting the public to a featured artists reception for three members.
The reception is scheduled from 4 to 7 p.m. today at the Kailua Village Artists gallery in Kona Marketplace for watercolor and oil painter Gay Jensen, ceramics and jewelry artist Linda Savell, and multimedia painter and gourd artist Barbara Denman. There will be live entertainment and light pupu.
Jensen began her art career painting in oils. She moved to Hawaii in 1981 and ventured into painting in watercolors and multimedia art. The history of ancient rock carvings has been of great interest to her and she has created unique designs on handmade paper featuring Hawaiian petroglyphs and hula dancers. Her love for the islands and the surrounding beauty has inspired her diverse creations depicting a wide range of tropical flowers and birds, sunsets, landscapes and sea life, she said. Jensen’s work has been featured in many juried shows and over two decades, she has been a member of several local art organizations, including Kailua Village Artists, Society for Kona’s Education and Arts and the Volcano Arts Center.
Savell has devoted more than half a century to her work as a potter. Her pottery creations include elegant vessels, functional ware and a series of fish incorporating the harmony of form, splendid patterns and colors that are finished in different types of glazes. Savell has a master’s degree in education and taught at the Birmingham Bloomfield Art Institute and Oakland Community College. Her work has been in numerous juried art shows between 1964 and the present. Savell creates her pottery at her Pali Uli Studio in South Kona. Savell’s creations include uniquely crafted jewelry, necklaces with pendants and earrings made with dichroic glass, she incorporates them with handmade clay pieces and metals.
Denman paints in watercolors and acrylics. She specializes in ipu, or gourd, designs, using the umeke pawehe method where the gourd is dyed from the inside out. Denman grows, designs, carves and decorates ipu. This is a very ancient method of decorating that has been rediscovered in the past few years. Her gourd designs, as well as her paintings, are inspired by the organic flora and fauna, as well as the marine life of Hawaii. Denman studied at New Mexico State University and the University of Texas. She spent several years designing women’s clothing for her own manufacturing business. After Denman’s move to Kailua-Kona and taking a workshop in watercolor painting, she launched into a serious painting career.
The Kailua Village Artists gallery is located at 75-5729 Alii Drive, Suite C-110. The gallery is open daily from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. For more information, call 329-6653.