The art of fun

COURTESY KELLY MCHUGH

Ceramist Bob Flint presents a wheel-throwing demonstration at Hui Noeau Visual Arts Center. The Hui offers classes in a range of artistic disciplines, including painting, drawing, jewelry design, photography, ceramics and textiles.

COURTESY KELLY MCHUGH

The Black & White Ball is an annual benefit for the center's arts and outreach programs. This year's event is Feb. 26. Hui Noeau supporters enjoyed a festive evening at last year's gala.

COURTESY KELLY MCHUGH

A poster image for Art Affair: The Black and White Ball. The poster graphic was created by artist Lovisa Oliv.

In the 77 years since it was founded, Hui Noeau Visual Arts Center has ignited the creative spirit of thousands of budding artists who've run the gamut in age from toddlers to retirees. Popularly known as "the Hui," this nonprofit arts education organization welcomes anyone with an interest in the visual arts to its classes, lectures, workshops, exhibits, tours, open studios and special events, which are held year-round. Fittingly, "hui noeau" translates as "people coming together for the development of artistic skill."

"There's no such thing as an unartistic person," said Kelly McHugh, the Hui's youth programs and marketing manager. "Art is an expression, an extension, of who you are. You don't have to be van Gogh to experiment and have fun with colors, lines, shapes and materials."

The Hui is headquartered at Kaluanui, a 25-acre estate that renowned architect C.W. Dickey designed for entrepreneur Harry Baldwin and his wife Ethel in Upcountry Maui. More than 70 varieties of plants, flowers and trees flourish in its impeccably manicured gardens. Magnificent views encompass Haleakala volcano, the West Maui Mountains and Maui's north shore. The centerpiece of the property is an elegant 12-room Mediterranean-style mansion built in 1917.

Over the ensuing years, Kaluanui's stables were transformed into a ceramics studio, the garage into a printmaking studio and the dairy into Maui's only public darkroom. The former den houses became the Hui2 Gallery Shop, which is filled with original creations by the Hui's member artists.

Unveiled last July in Harry's former home office, the Kaluanui History Room displays family photographs, Ethel's beautiful handcrafted silver hollowware, and minutes from board meetings and other original documents dating back to the Hui's beginnings.

With support from the community, the Hui purchased Kaluanui for $5 million in 2005. It mounts eight annual exhibitions that often include related components such as free lectures, panel discussions and field trips.

"This is not just a place to look at art; it's a place to create art and learn about it," McHugh said. "We've hired professional artists from throughout Hawaii, the mainland and as far away as Japan and New Zealand to give lectures and to teach classes."

Topics run the gamut from painting, drawing and jewelry design to photography, ceramics and textiles. Although some classes run over the course of one or two months, weekend sessions are available to accommodate visitors.

"The Hui builds bridges between art and culture, Hawaii as a tourist destination and Hawaii as a community, and seeing art and experiencing it," McHugh said. "Even if visitors' schedules don't allow them to take a class, they can walk into our studios, meet artists at work, get a firsthand look at their processes and chat about what inspires them. Making personal connections are always the highlights of my travels, and, along with wonderful art, that's what we hope visitors will enjoy when they visit the Hui."

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