Artists host annual tour and art sale in Volcano Village

Thirteen seconds. That was all; just a moment, really.

But for many on Hawaii island when the 6.9-magnitude earthquake hit, those 13 seconds felt like a lifetime.

It was Friday, May 4, 12:33 p.m. Ira Ono was in his Volcano Garden Arts gallery in Volcano Village, chatting with customers. It was the day after molten lava had spouted 300 feet high in Kilauea Volcano’s East Rift Zone — the beginning of an eruptive phase that would last three months, adding 875 acres of new land and destroying 716 homes.

“After living in peaceful Volcano Village for over 30 years, that earthquake was a shock for sure,” said Ono, a renowned mixed-media artist. “The gallery is housed in a restored farmhouse that was built in 1908, and it was rocking and rolling. As the earth shook, artwork was flying off the walls and tables.”

He later learned the temblor was the largest to hit Hawaii island since 1975. Amazingly, when it was over, only one small glass sculpture in his gallery was broken.

Tremors continued daily for the duration of the eruption. Meanwhile, sales at Ono’s cafe and gallery plummeted 60 percent, forcing him to cut hours and lay off an employee. It didn’t help that national news stories inaccurately reported Volcano Village was covered in ash, and residents were wearing gas masks so they wouldn’t inhale toxic fumes.

Even though there were days with no customers, Ono and fellow members of the Volcano Village Artists Hui persevered, scaling back production, taking side jobs and cutting back on expenses to account for the decline in business. Uncertainty set in with residents unsure how long the eruption would continue, and if it would get more explosive.

Now that Kilauea is quiet again and life has returned to normal, the artists are looking forward to hosting their 32nd annual Art Studio Tour & Sale Thanksgiving weekend. Volcano Village has long been known as an artsy community. The event allows the public to “talk story” with artists where they work, gain insights about their techniques and purchase original pieces directly from them.

Ten hui members and five guest artists will be featured on the tour this year. They represent a wide range of media, from pottery, jewelry and paintings to metal sculpture, fiber art and hand-blown glass. The natural wonders of the region provide never-ending themes for their work.

Potter Emily Herb has also been invigorated by the scientists, conservation workers and cultural practitioners who help protect the Volcano area’s native species and habitats, at once breathtaking and fragile.

She moved to Hawaii from Seattle in 1998, not knowing the state holds the dubious distinction of being one of the “extinction capitals” of the world. Because of her interest in birds, she recalled how sad she was to discover that numerous native Hawaiian bird species have disappeared in the past 200 years.

“Then I learned about the important conservation work being done in Volcano by dedicated individuals and groups,” Herb said. “They have inspired me, and it’s interesting to see how art and science overlap. For example, the two guest artists who will be at my studio are also scientists. Charlotte Forbes Perry is a biologist who studies the endangered native uau (Hawaiian petrel) and nene (Hawaiian goose). Joan Yoshioka is a botanist who’s working to protect critically endangered native plants.”

Viewers’ appreciation for an art piece deepens when they gain insights into its meaning and the time, thought and skill it took to produce it. Hui members’ pieces often reflect life in Volcano Village and the significant role nature plays in it.

“We love living and working in the midst of a spectacular rainforest and a few miles from an active volcano,” Herb said. “From a creative standpoint, it’s energizing. There are few places in Hawaii where you can wake up to such beauty and the songs of native birds every day.”

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VOLCANO VILLAGE ARTIST HUI

In 1986, friends Ira Ono, Chiu Leong and Pam Barton founded the Volcano Village Artists Hui. That year, they launched an open-studio event, which has grown in size and scope along with the group’s membership.

The hui comprises 15 working artists who live in Volcano Village and who have won major awards in their media. Their Thanksgiving weekend studio tour is one of Hawaii island’s most anticipated annual art events.

Elizabeth Miller creates paintings and sculptural metalwork. When earthquakes associated with Kilauea’s eruption shook her studio, sometimes six times a day, she said, “I wasn’t scared. My cat and I would look up and wonder if they were going to end or keep going.

“When they ended, I just went back to work, and my cat went back to sleep. I was often motivated to go to Puna to see the spectacular skies — many varieties of the most unusual reds I’ve ever seen, which subsequently showed up in the artwork I did at the time and will probably continue to inspire me.”

Photographer Mary Good-rich noted: “We are artists literally living on the edge. We are constantly vigilant about vog, ground movements, the scent of sulfur in the air. When there is an eruption, our senses are sharpened, alert to absorb every iota of the latest U.S. Geological Survey information. This feeds directly into our sense of creation — the desire to put into tangible form the essence of living next to an active volcano.”

Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi is a Honolulu-based freelance writer whose travel features for the Star-Advertiser have won several Society of American Travel Writers awards.