Hana Noʻeau: Exploring Abstract Art (Session 2: 1:00 - 3:00 PM)

‘Hana Noʻeau’ extends Wailoa Art Center's 16th Annual ‘Abstract Only’ exhibition beyond gallery walls and into everyday town life. The exhibition aims to liberate artistic expression, allowing for the direct communication of complex emotions, subconscious thoughts, and universal concepts through color, form, and texture.

Centered around this theme, Native Hawaiian artist and educator, Carl Pao, and Native Hawaiian artist and muralist, Kaiʻili Kaulukukui, will lead two creative workshops, where keiki, ‘ohana, and community members are invited to slow down together – to talk story, to learn about abstract and mural art as it relates to culture, to share stories of place, and to explore new associations and engage with art on a deeper level. Through participatory design activities, shared reflection, and creative exchange, participants deepen their connection to place, strengthen relationships with themselves and one another, and help shape a work of art that belongs to the place it inhabits.

The workshops are composed of introductions to abstract art and mural art, followed by discussion and brainstorming to generate ideas for artwork compositions. Attendees will learn how to create an original abstract composition on paper using a monotype printmaking technique and will explore how to use kaona, or adding depth, to an artwork.

The conversation, reflection, shared imagination, voices, memories, and mana‘o from this gathering will inform concepts for a public mural led by Kaiʻili Kaulukukui, to be completed in September 2026. HIAA hopes this piece will serve as a lasting cultural marker, celebrated through mo’olelo, as its story will be much more than meets the eye. It will reinforce Downtown Hilo as a space where arts, culture, and community identity are visible, valued, and cared for. 

Workshops are the same curriculum, offered in two time slots - 10:30 am and 1 pm. They are free to the public and no prior art experience is required. All ages welcome.

Mahalo nui to KS Kaiāulu and the Kosasa Foundation for making this 'Ohana Art Day & mural possible!

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

CARL PAO

Carl Pao  was born and raised on the island of Oʻahu in 1971 and graduated from Kamehameha Schools in 1989. He earned a BFA at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa in 1994, with an emphasis in Ceramics (Outstanding Senior Ceramic Student Award).  Carl received his MFA with first-class honors in 1999 from Elam School of Fine Arts at the University of Auckland, Aotearoa. He returned to Hawai'i in 2000 to take his current full-time teaching position at the Kamehameha Schools High School in the Visual Arts.  In January 2018, Carl transferred to the Keaʻau campus.

Outside of his teaching schedule, Carl continues to create his own art.  He initiated a series of growing exhibits based on the Hawaiian concept of Maka with the most recent, Makahā 2016, successfully showing at the Arts at Marks Garage.  Carl was the inaugural Artist in Residence at the Australian National University (ANU) College of Asia and the Pacific in July 2012; concluded a successful group exhibition at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in July 2011; was co-owner/operator of the lodestar collective gallery in Kailua; the volunteer Arts Editor for The Contemporary Pacific journal (TCP) from 2008-2011; host and co-producer of the educational art series Art Hunter: and is currently exhibiting in shows both locally and abroad.  Carl also works on various commercial and private art commissions.

Carl lives with his wife and daughter in ‘Olaʻa on the island of Hawai’i.

KAIʻILI KAULUKUI

Kaiʻili Kaulukukui is a Kanaka Maoli artist, painter, muralist and multidisciplinary artist born on Hawaii Island in 1981. Working across a wide range of materials and scales, his art is deeply inspired by Hawaiian culture, nature, and the connection between people and place. Through public art and visual storytelling, Kai creates work that honors the land and ocean, celebrates local culture, and gives back to the communities that continue to shape and inspire him.

Kai pursued fine art at Windward Community College and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and his classical training in oil painting is evident in his work. He currently operates out of his private studio in Puna and Lana Lane Studios in Kakaʻako, Honolulu.

In addition to being an accomplished muralist with work spanning across Hawaii, California, St. Croix USVI, the Bahamas, Mexico, Canada, New Zealand, Nepal, China, and Hungary, Kai also holds a position as the Ground Operations Manager for the Pangeaseed Foundation's Sea Walls: Artists for Oceans public art program since 2013. The program aims to spread the message of ocean conservation through art on streets around the world.