Copper-art couple weathers storm to appear at festival

The artistic, colorful luminosity of Pele Copper Creations can stop you in your tracks, as happened with many attendees at last weekend’s Made in Hawaii Festival.

Hurricane-turned-Tropical Storm Iselle could have stopped Genevieve and Tim Goalen in their tracks, but their determination got them through to their first go-round as festival exhibitors.

More on that in a moment.

Genevieve Goalen has "been in art (her) whole life," she said. She received her bachelor of applied arts and bachelor of fine arts degrees from the University of Minnesota at Duluth.

She uses heat and hand tools to create her impressionistic nature images on sheets of copper, generating both vibrant and muted hues and tones that comprise her beachscapes, mountains, palm trees, ocean waves and other images.

"I’m a potter and a painter and taught art for years in public schools," she said. The inspiration for her copper art came from a friend who did abstract-type work, while her own focus always has been more impressionistic, "so that’s what we do," she said of the business she runs with her husband, Tim.

"We start with a raw sheet of copper, and with heat and many burns, I apply the color, and then I take all kinds of hand tools and scrape through the copper to achieve my images," she said.

Tim takes her finished work and wraps the copper around frames he has built, and then "we send (the finished pieces) to Big Isle Auto," an automotive shop that clear-coats the work to seal in the color and protect the artwork from corrosion and discoloration.

"We started with very few images," she said, "but Hawaii has been so inspiring with the flora and the trees and the spirit" of the islands.

The Pele Copper Creations website shows 21 different Hawaii images including volcanic eruptions, different depictions of ocean waves, honu (sea turtles), bamboo thickets, hibiscus flowers and laua’e ferns, to mention a sampling.

"I have an artist’s eyes and have been growing and experimenting, and I hope in the future to continue that," she said.

From the raw 10-foot-by-3-foot sheets of copper the Goalens bring in from the mainland, they make their larger, framed pieces that sell for between $300 and $800 "depending on the size," and she also creates smaller, unframed pieces from 8 inches square to 8 inches by 12 inches, which cost between $39 to $59.

"We started coming up with these small ones for a price point that was more affordable," she said.

The company accepts orders for custom work; so far the largest piece she has done is a five-panel installation in which each panel measured 14 inches by 32 inches.

Now, back to their experience with the storm.

The Goalens got their last batch of product in to get clear-coated on the Thursday Iselle made landfall, "and then we had to leave our home" because of its proximity to the ocean.

Their friend’s home served as their emergency shelter for the night, and the next day it was impossible to leave for several hours due to flooded roads.

When they arrived at Hawaiian Beaches subdivision, "we came home to a war zone," she said. Neighborhood residents with chain saws went from fallen tree to fallen tree working to clear roadways, allowing the couple to get home to the inventory they’d left behind and were worried about. They found it in fine shape.

With the Made in Hawaii Festival just days away and logistics to solidify, "we had no communication, and without electricity" they were cooking on a barbecue grill and camping stove "with our headlamps on," she said.

Arrival on Oahu provided electricity, hot running water and a break from the disaster, but also a hectic first experience at the three-day festival at the Blaisdell Exhibition Hall and Arena.

The couple made contact with another gallery interested in selling their wares, made sales, and are looking forward to returning next year.

The Goalens came to Hawaii from Minnesota 2 1/2 years ago in part to be near her daughter and four grandchildren on Hawaii island.

Tim previously served in the U.S. Air Force and had a career in the telecommunications industry, but "I dragged him to Hawaii and made him an artist," Genevieve laughed.

Their business is their full-time focus.

"It’s been a big change, and we’re taking a big chance," she said, but their work nevertheless has kept them housed and fed.

"Hawaii has a never ending customer base."

Oh, and the good news is, when they left Oahu after the festival, they returned home to electricity and hot running water.

“Buy Local” runs on Aloha Fridays. Reach Erika Engle at 529-4303, erika@staradvertiser.com, or on Twitter as @erikaengle.