Being an exhibiting artist at Wailoa Center is normally a pretty laid-back experience.
Participants generally bring in their art at a designated date and time, drop it off with all the necessary information and then leave. When they come back to the artists opening reception, they are relaxed and ready to greet the public to talk about their art.
Well, that is the normal process for most of the year, but not for May 2019 when Wailoa hosts its annual 10x10x10 Artists Challenge.
Artists participating in this year’s challenge had one year to develop and construct an installation for one of the 10 spaces in the Main Gallery. Artists were only able to use the defined nine materials plus their artist choice material, and only four days to install their art in their assigned space.
Anxiety and stress levels are high, even with a good plan because on-site issues tend to create a whole new set of problems not encountered in the artist’s studio.
This year’s roster of brave artists includes Liz Ambrose, Lahela Camara, Nidhi Chabora, Susan Champeny, Jan Perry-Clark, Nancy DeLucrezia, Shelly Hanaoka, Emily Leucht, Debbie Mitchell, NJ Moses and Kim Roland. The only materials they could use were wooden chopsticks, plastic clear water bottles, crayons, feathers, chicken wire, cardboard, white paint, PVC pipe, connectors/fasteners and their artist choice of a material, which they were asked to keep secret until installation day.
There are two previous years where 20 artists took up the “Challenge” and are now alumni. Fifteen of them will occupy the Fountain Gallery and the Education Lanai on a much smaller scale using all the same materials and abiding by all the same rules as the Main Gallery artists. Participating alumni are Dover Abrams, Rose Barber Adare, Charlene Asato, Phan Barker, Baixin Chen, Bob Douglas, Joe Hampton, Codie King, Ben Krome, Jim Rhodes, Trudee Siemann, Shelby Smith, Karrieanne Turvey Warren, Patrick Warren and Jay West.
Wailoa Center will be open during the week of the exhibit installation, starting Monday, April 29; however, the Main Gallery will be closed to the public because of the chaos of installation and safety concerns. The galleries will re-open for the artists reception from 5-7 p.m. Friday, May 3.
Following an introduction of the artists, the Main Gallery will be open to the public. Light refreshments also will be offered. There is no charge to attend and the reception is open to the public.
In addition, from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, May 4, Wailoa Center will be open, and the 10x10x10 artists will be at the gallery to walk and talk with visitors from 10 a.m.-noon. There also will be a demonstration by artist Susan Champeny from noon-2 p.m. Thursday, May 16, on how to create chopstick structures.
The Wailoa Center is located at 200 Piopio St. in Hilo.
For more information, call 933-0416 or email wailoa@yahoo.com.