Over the past two decades, David Behlke has built a vibrant and diverse career in the Hawaii art community. An art instructor at Kapiolani Community College and director of the campus’ Koa Art Gallery, he has served as curator of various Hono­lulu art spaces through the years, including his current stint for Bishop Square’s Pau­ahi Tower.

Though he spends most of his time teaching others how to create art or filling spaces with the artwork of others, Behlke is an artist in his own right. Many of his recent works are narrative watercolor and ink pieces that express a spiritual journey or depict the dance between feminine and masculine energies. Abstract concepts come to colorful, intricate, beautiful form at the hands of Behlke.

Now it is Behlke’s turn to be in the spotlight with "Living Archetypes," a retrospective of his work over the past several decades. The show runs at the Gallery of Hawaii Artists through Aug. 16. (If you haven’t visited before, be advised the gallery is situated in an office space.)

At his core, Behlke is a glass artist. One of his most recent and monumental stained-glass pieces was installed in January 2012 at the 15 Craigside retirement community, where his work utilizing more than 5,000 pieces of handblown glass fills a long wall of the community room. The current exhibit, an array of mostly two-dimensional works, clearly illustrates the influence of his background in glass.

Many of the pieces on the wall are depictions of eight-pointed stars, pre-Christian archetypes of the cross that have become expressions of spirituality for Behlke.

"They serve as meditation medallions for me. They can bring calm if you can give them a couple of minutes of your time," he says. "I try to convey a sense of energy in these pieces."

He achieves this by adding glitter, gold leaf and pearlescent adhesives to the works, often at the central point of the stars. The shine, he says, is refractive, reflective and changeable, implying a sense of movement, as the viewer examines the work from different angles — much like glass.

Behlke often deviates from the stars’ gridlike structure to include curved lines that contribute to their sense of movement. He also adds hues from nature, especially those of flora, which he says "brings life force into two-dimensionality."

The show of 40 works includes a couple of Behlke’s stained-glass pieces, graphite drawings from the late 1980s, a series inspired by prehistoric ancestor charts and narrative pieces.

Other works are evolutions of his eight-pointed star series. Plant-form paintings, rich with curves and arcs, swirl around central cores to continue his theme of movement.

"The subtext of all my work is that it’s seemingly static, but it’s all about energy — a reflection of life," Behlke says.