This summer, the Donkey Mill Art Center will host three intimate potluck and talk-story evenings with innovative and dynamic artists specializing in printmaking, sculpture and installation. These offer the opportunity to meet professional artists, learn about their creative process and connect with the area’s art community. The Donkey Mill is located near the artist community of Holualoa along Kona Heritage Corridor.
The public can meet the artists on the following dates:
June 27 at 6 p.m.: John Hitchcock will discuss his use of printmaking, with its long history of social and political commentary, to explore relationships of community, land and culture. Hitchcock is a visiting artist and teacher for the 2014 Summer Art Institute of Hilo, where he leads workshops in screen printing and mixed-media installation. His work consists of prints and moving images that portray the trauma of war and the fragility of life. Hand printed, cut out and carefully arranged, images of the U.S. military weaponry combined with mythological hybrid creatures tell a story of assimilation and control.
July 18 at 6 p.m.: Crystal Wagner will introduce examples of her drawings, installations or printmaking, discussing combinations of 2-D and 3-D forms, alternative material use and alternative approaches to printmaking. Wagner is a multidisciplinary visiting artist teaching with the 2014 Summer Art Institute of Hilo who creates deceptively natural-looking environments with paper and other simple office materials that she collects. She creates undulating, organic forms from multicolored, interwoven paper fragments that cling to walls, drip from ceilings, envelop doorways and flood entire rooms, taking on a life of their own. She has exhibited extensively throughout the U.S.
The opportunity to meet John Hitchcock and Crystal Wagner is made possible through the Summer Art Institute of UH-Hilo. In its second year, it offers specialized summer courses in the fine arts, for local and visiting students. The program is supported by the Hawaii Community Foundation’s Laila Twigg-Smith Art Fund, the Droste Bequest, and the Art Department at the University of Hawaii at Hilo.
July 31 at 6 p.m.: Suzanne Rawcliffe is a artist in San Pedro, Calif. She is an explorer of primeval soundscapes, a master flute maker, player and researcher, as well as a master didjeridu player who will be doing a special presentation and performance with a suggested donation of $5. She delights in exotic and potent sounds, whether as a performer, a creator of musical instruments and sculptures or a researcher into ancient flutes and their music. She is also offering a special technique workshop Aug. 1 and 2 for those interested in learning techniques in ceramic instrument making.
Rawcliffe’s presence is made possible through the Honolulu Potters Guild.
The Donkey Mill Art Center is a nonprofit organization offering art education for adults and youth. For more information, call 322-3362.