Ipu exhibit held at Donkey Mill

“Pattern and Flow — Traditional and Contemporary Ipu Decoration on the Big Island” will be exhibited June 14 through Aug. 31 at the Donkey Mill Art Center. An opening reception and aloha-style potluck will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. June 14 with a special artist talk by Georgia Sartoris and Elroy Juan.

Admission is free. Those attending are asked to bring a dish or beverage to share.

Materials and techniques are preserved and transformed as they flow through the hands of each generation of artists. The Donkey Mill Art Center is proud to host Pattern and Flow, an exhibit featuring the work of local artists Gary Eoff, Michael Harburg, Elroy Juan, Cliff Johns and Georgia Sartoris. This exhibition explores traditional and contemporary Hawaiian gourd decoration in the hands of five of today’s finest practitioners of the art. Their approaches range from meticulous use of original materials, techniques and patterns to spontaneous celebrations, even deconstructions, of the sensual rounded form of the ipu or Hawaiian gourd.

The Pattern and Flow Exhibit will also feature two wall installations designed by Donkey Mill Art Center’s teaching artists Lindsay Lander, Miho Morinoue and Margaret Shields. Recently, these artists created a 6,000-square-foot backdrop for a ballet using a pochoir or stencil style technique. The success of this collaboration led them to further explore their new vocabulary, culminating in their textile installation in the Donkey Mill Art Center gallery. Beginning with a technique that is as ancient as hands outlined on a cave wall, they have created a new visual vocabulary that playfully and dynamically brings together the individual artists in a celebration of paint.

Donkey Mill Art Center is a nonprofit organization offering art education for adults and youth. The Center is located near Holualoa along the Mamalahoa Kona Heritage Corridor. For more information, call 322-3362.