March 2022 at the Gallery
Volume 13, Issue 3
Artist of the Month:
Stefanie Culbertson
Stefanie Culbertson is a watercolor painter and digital designer. She first moved to Hawaii in 1989 from the "Old World" of Germany. Her fascination with the lush beauty of this Island continues to inspire her art every day, and she has grown deep roots here.
Stefanie was part of the Kailua Village Artists Co-op back in 1991 and 1992. She left for 19 years, during which time, she acquired two Associates of Arts degrees (one in liberal arts and one in drama) and enjoyed a career in performing arts and theatre. She also completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in digital design and started her own company, Tiffany Arts Designs, in 2006. Stefanie returned to Kailua Village Artists in 2011 as a working member artist. She is the current President of KVA.
Stefanie is also a working member artist of the Blue Sea Artisans Gallery in Keauhou Kona. Her art is displayed at both galleries 7 days a week. Every Wednesday, she is a regular vendor at the Ho'oulu Community Artisans and Farmers Market in Keauhou. She offers workshops in watercolors and acrylics for adults and children and seasonally based arts & crafts for children and adults. Over the years, her art has been in shows including the Cream of the Crop, Cherry Blossom Festival, and the Kona Coffee Festival.
Stefanie has been painting with watercolors for over 30 years. She has created several series of paintings including an Anuenue (Rainbow) series and a Fire-Earth-Air-Water series. More recently, she has combined watercolor painting with digital design techniques to create an entirely new and unique "fusion" series. Through all her art, Stefanie loves to hide things in her paintings and interweave a deeper meaning within.
KVA Welcomes New Member Artist
Tamisha Lee
Tamisha Lee is proof that kamaaina (or child of the land) is seeded in our blood. Lee's grandparents were natives of Kohala. Her parents grew up here, but sought adventure and opportunity on the mainland. A generation and a half later, the land called her back to connect with her roots, to teach, and to create art inspired by native Hawaiian history.
Lee has created with other media, though she has continuously worked with fused glass for fifteen years. In her words:
Glass is an exacting medium that reuires a lot of experimentation and trial and error. Fire it too hot and it gets a rough texture called devitrification. Too low and the edges are left too sharp. A basic knowledge of chemistry is useful as colors are created with elements. When yellows, which are made with sulfur, meet with blues and greens, which are made with copper, there is a chemical reaction resulting in a dark line where the two colors mixed. Different colors react differently to heat as well. Whites are sluggish or sticky and are more resistant to flow. Transparent colors melt or flow more readily than opaques. And every kiln fires a little differently, like ovens do. So that creates greater variability as well.
I admit to still feeling like a novice and still learning how to work with this fascinating medium. But it is a lot of fun! And I am so fortunate to be able to live here and play with glass.
Kailua Village Artists are pleased to welcome Tamisha Lee into our fold of member artists. More on Tamisha and images of her glasswork on her artist's page.
Art Journeys
with Shannon Nakaya:
Plein Air Painting
Plein air. This is not a spelling error.
It refers to the act of painting outdoors rather than in a studio. As someone who has never advanced much farther than drawing stick figures
with the aid of an eraser, the idea of painting in the field transforms a difficult act into one which is far enough beyond my reach, it borders on mysterious. How is it even possible to paint something when nature is continually messing with your scene?
Plein air
painting started in the late 1800s by Impressionist painters like Monet and Renoir, who preferred painting landscapes and unstaged scenes of contemporary life. They considered it a more desirable way to visualize and capture natural light. Interestingly,
plein air was not so much about limited access to photographs but of advances in portability of canvases, easels, palettes, and especially paints.
Christal Nylin is one of KVA's member artists and a
plein
air
painter. She helped me understand some of the technical elements that make up
plein air painting. First, there is choosing the location and deciding the composition of the painting. "Sometimes you just see pictures when you’re looking at a scene." Nylin looks for scenes that capture a moment in time, or draw you in, or tell a story. Weather can influence the story that a painting will tell. Sunny days make for more contrast and brighter colors, whereas overcast days can add more mystery and drama to a scene.
Once she determines the composition of her painting, Nylin does a quick sketch, paying particular attention to darker areas and shadows. This gives her a little bit of an edge in case a sunny day turns into an overcast day before she's completed her painting. Then there are washes, essentially building the painting in layers, from darks to lights, and thinner to thicker. Highlights and details are saved until the end.
According to Nylin, there is about a four hour window of "good" light in the mornings and another window later in the afternoon. Either way, the sand in the hourglass is moving. No pressure there! Like other painters, an understanding of composition, proportions, and shadows is essential. Familiarity and confidence with one's art tools and media lend to success as a
plein air painter. Knowing brushstrokes and how to add layers to a painting without creating "mud," for example, because
plein air is not about experimentation. To be an accomplished
plein air
painter requires artistic vision, technical skill,
and speed. Or as Nylin says, "It takes years to get comfortable with it."
Culbertson loves to hide things in her paintings and interweave a deeper meaning within.
Among the new watercolor paintings Culbertson will be featuring is this one titled, "Kua Bay -- Manini'ōwali." The breathtaking beauty of the beach, once only accessible with four wheel drive and a walk, captures the pristine turquoise water and white sand in contrast to the lava. The legend of Manini'ōwali is interwoven in the painting. She was born and raised at Kua Bay. Her neighbor Uluweuweu, was born on the same day as her at Kukio, and was betrothed to her since birth. Manini'ōwali's betrothal to Uluweuweu was broken, as he was passionately in love with Princess Kahawaliwali. The unfortunate love triangle was ended by a kahuna turning all three into stone. The school of Manini swarm across the bay in strings taking many forms (being the heartbroken girls fish-body) and the bay is named for her. For the artist, three decades being connected to this beach and it has a deep, personal meaning.
Anuenue Nai'a (Hawaiian for Rainbow Dolphin) is the close-up of a dolphin which draws attention to the loving, kind and pure eyes of the mammal. Dolphins have lived in the oceans and fresh water over 10 million years. They evolved from a land-living mammal called
Mesonyx who returned to live at sea over 50 million years ago. Dolphins are cetaceans, or mammals of the whale family. They are a warm-blooded species that is highly intelligent and prefer to live in tropical waters. Dolphins are quick learners, social, and nurturing to their young, teaching them life skills until they are mature. They have a superpower called "echolocation," which gives them an extraordinary sense of knowing details about everything around them.
In some of her newer works, Stefanie combines watercolors with digital design. Examples of this fusion style are works titled, "Yin-Yang Earth" and "Aloha Sign."
To meet the artist, Stefanie Culbertson will be working at the gallery on Tuesday, March 1, Saturday, March 12, Sunday, March 20 and Friday, March 25, 2022. To see more of Culbertson's work check out her website: tiffanyartsdesigns.com. She is accepting commissions.
New Art at the Gallery
Kissing Fish
Fused glass by Tamisha Lee
