The Big Island is celebrating ceramics with Where Earth Meets Fire: Contemporary Ceramics on the Big Island, an exhibition running from Sept. 6 through Oct. 31 at Donkey Mill Arts Center in Holualoa. A free opening reception is planned for Sept. 6, and attendees are encouraged to bring a dish to share.
The showing celebrates the wealth of creative talent in the ceramic arts on Hawaii Island. Donkey Mill artistic director Hiroki Morinoue and ceramics program director Claire Seastone selected a group of artists who represent both the excellence and the range that characterizes contemporary ceramics on the Big Island. Rather than focusing on a single style or movement, the exhibition creates a dialog between different approaches from conceptual sculpture to exquisitely crafted thrown vessels to take stock of a varied and lively scene.
Featured artists include Amber Aguirre, Clayton Amemiya, Gerald Ben, Fumie Bonk, Peter Durst, Stephen Freedman, Tim Freeman, Ron Hanatani, Emily Herb, Kate and Will Jacobson, Tina Jensen, Tim Johnson, Linda Jo Kolder, Chiu Leong, Janet Lipps, Monica Mann, Suzanne Merner, Setsuko Morinoue, Gordon Motta, Erik Omundson, Georgia Sartoris, Claire Seastone, Shelby Smith and Carol Zee.
The ceramics program at the Donkey Mill Art Center has long been a gathering place for Big Island ceramic artists. As well as providing adult and youth classes taught by Claire Seastone and Erik Omundson, the program regularly hosts talks and classes by internationally known artists. Among others, recent visitors have included Beth Cavener, Ken Matsuzaki, Tip Toland, Richard Notkin, Deborah Ozaki, Doug Casebeer and Ah Leon. This February artist and educator Jason Walker will be in attendance, through the generosity of the Laila Twigg-Smith Art Fund.
Donkey Mill Art Center is a nonprofit charitable organization offering art education to adults and youth. The center is located near the artist community of Holualoa along the Mamalahoa Kona Heritage Corridor. The organization believes that art education enriches the lives of people of all ages and abilities. For more information, call 322-3362.