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Student art work shines at Kapiʻolani CC’s Koa Gallery

Kapiʻolani Community College’s Koa Gallery hosted the Kapiʻolani CC Student Show 2026 from April 29 to May 8, featuring works by introductory and intermediate studio art and new media art students. Student artist Geneva Mellison, an English literature major, exhibited her photography series *My Perfect Mask* (2025), a set of gelatin silver prints exploring social conformity and masking. The show included mixed media, ceramics, drawing, painting, and sculpture, emphasizing material processes and contemporary artistic exploration.

Masako Yasuki, Clifford Iwao Arinaga Visiting Artist

Kyoto-based painter Masako Yasuki will serve as the Clifford Iwao Arinaga Visiting Artist at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, featuring an exhibition at The Commons Gallery from March 3 to 10, 2026. The showcase highlights Yasuki’s unique technical approach, which blends traditional East Asian mineral pigments and gold leaf with Western oil and tempera paints, alongside her use of frottage to document urban and natural landscapes.

2026 MFA Thesis Exhibition

The University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa is hosting its 2026 MFA Thesis Exhibition from March 7 to March 29 at The Art Gallery. The showcase features the culminating work of five Master of Fine Arts candidates: Diane Chen, Ashley Jeneé Collins, Caroline Holmes, Sheldon Wong, and Mia Zheng. The exhibition represents the final requirement for the terminal degree in visual arts, highlighting a diverse range of practices from personal narratives to broader contextual explorations.

Interisland - Department of Art and Art History

The Art Gallery at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa presents "Interisland: New Paintings from New York & Hawaiʻi," a survey exhibition running from August 31 to December 7, 2025. Featuring approximately 40 painters from New York City and Hawaiʻi, the show explores commonalities and differences in contemporary painting across these geographically distant regions. Curated by Liam Davis, Jan Dickey, and Debra Drexler, the exhibition marks the ten-year anniversary of "New New York: Abstract Painting in the 21st Century" and includes a spectrum of representational and nonrepresentational works from artists such as Cody Anderson, Kiko Bordeos, and Clare Grill.

Reviving Metcalf Château: Celebrating Hawaiʻi artists who redefined modern art

A new exhibition at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s Walter Dods, Jr. RISE Center honors the Metcalf Château, a pioneering collective of Asian-American artists who gathered in a house on Metcalf Street in the 1950s to redefine modern art in Hawaiʻi. Curated by Allison Wong and initiated by longtime university supporter Walter Dods, the show features works by founding members Bumpei Akaji, Satoru Abe, Tadashi Sato, Edmund Chung, Tetsuo “Bob” Ochikubo, Jerry T. Okimoto, and James K.K. Park, with a ceremonial blessing by Kahu Kordell Kekoa.

Emerging student artists explore expression in Kapiʻolani CC exhibit

Kapiʻolani Community College’s Koa Gallery hosted "Crafting Voices," an exhibition showcasing student artwork from fine arts courses including drawing, painting, photography, sculpture, ceramics, metalwork, and design. Featured artists included Sophia Villalobos, Arthur Kastler, and Ava McIntyre, whose works explored themes of perception, personal influence, and everyday beauty. The show ran from April 24 to May 8 and marked many students' first public exhibition.