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Surrounded by the sea Watch the audio slideshow on this story. By Christen Vidanovic What do paint, glass, a silicon breast implant, technology, ceramics, and fishing line have in common? They’re all mediums used by artists to convey a united theme in Island to Island, an exhibit showing at the University of Hawai‘i Gallery. International artists from the University of Hawai‘i Manoa, the Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, and the University of Tasmania Launceston, Australia recently created the traveling exhibition. The show explores the societal and personal issues that come with working and living a modern island life – an experience unique to only a small percentage of the world's population. Despite cultural differences between the three Pacific islands, the artists find a common ground in their existence and interaction with the rest of the world while separated by up to 3,000 miles of water. Artistic explorations Mary Babcock, a featured Hawai‘i artist currently interested in ho‘oponopono, the Hawaiian concept meaning “ to make right," muses on the way people from such diverse cultures and complex histories live together in Hawai‘i’s compact area with relatively little violent crime. Her triptych, Finding Center, woven of fishing lines and maps, expresses her reflection on the different places she has lived and her relocation to Hawai‘i. “We are all really living on islands,” she says, “just with varying degrees of urgency and awareness.” Tasmania’s Zsolt Faludi’s Island One, Island Two and Island Three are blue-gray egg shaped forms made of ceramic glass, steel, and resin. Although the forms are almost identical, even down to the irregularly crackled surfaces, they reside in separate glass jars that seem to represent both the similarities and differences of island life all at once. Tasmanian origins Credit for the collaborative idea goes to University of Tasmania Professor Vincent McGrath, the head of school and exhibition curator who initiated the exchange. Lisa Yoshihara, director of the UH Art Gallery, was pleased to be a part of the island communities’ cultural exchange. “This collaboration and traveling exhibition promotes and strengthens our artistic, cultural, and Asian and Pacific connections,” she said.
The University of Tasmania seems to enjoy the inter-island collaborative process as they have also had previous exchanges with the Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang. Some well known UH Manoa professors and artists are a part of the exhibit. Mary Babcock, Peter Chamberlain, Gaye Chan, Charles Cohan, Rick Mills and Suzanne Wolfe are just part of the reason you should check out Island to Island’s final showing. That, and the fact that one of the installations is a multi-media, interactive bubble machine. UH Manoa Art Gallery, August 26 - October 5, 2007
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This isn’t the first time that the University of Hawai‘i has joined forces with the University of Tasmania.“We have a history of exchange with two of the artists from Tasmania,” Yoshihara said. “Stephen Hudson was an invited artist for the East-West Ceramics Collaboration IV ... (and) sculpture professors David Hamilton (UTAS) and Fred Roster (UHM) exchanged teaching posts for a year in 1991 and again in 1996.”