Discover Art Large and Small Through the Hawai‘i State Art Museum’s Social Media

Local artists will be featured daily on Instagram and Facebook. Plus, check out a new exhibition, virtually.

Editor’s Note: Through our partnership with the Hawai‘i State Art Museum, HONOLULU Magazine publishes a monthly blog written by Lisa Shiroma, owner of the HiSAM Museum Gallery Shop.

“#140” by Christopher Edwards. Photo: Kaoru Makiguchi

Both a blessing and a curse, many of us now have hours in our days freed up because of the stay-at-home orders due to COVID-19. But we can only take so much doom-and-gloom news before our heads explode. Here are outlets for some much-needed relief, inspiration and hope—and you can access them safely from your home, 24/7.

State Foundation on Culture and the Arts

Get to know the SFCA, the state agency on a mission to make sure art is part of our everyday lives. You’re probably familiar with its Art In Public Places Program. Now you can delve deeper through SFCA’s @hisam_chickenpants Instagram account, where Hawai‘i State Art Museum’s ambassador, Mr. Chickenpants, introduces you to works in the Public Art Archive.

With the goals of keeping everyone positive and providing opportunities to stay connected through art, @hisam_chickenpants will highlight the accounts of local artists, as well as works of public art.

Large-scale works of public art are made possible with the “1% for art” law that the state established back in 1967. Whenever a new state building is constructed, 1% of the budget is set aside to commission a work of art specifically for that site. Thanks to this law there is artwork in public libraries, state offices, public schools and in front of buildings. Farrington High School has an iconic Satoru Abe sculpture and a long-standing superstition: You need to touch the sculpture to graduate. And are you familiar with Jun Kaneko’s colorful Dango ceramic sculptures in front of the Waikīkī Aquarium? Learn more about works like these by following @hisam_chickenpants.

ArtInTime 2020

The HiSAM Museum Gallery Shop x Mori by Art + Flea had planned an opening reception on First Friday, April 3, for the ArtInTime 2020 miniature art exhibition. But, with the gallery shop closed until further notice, the show is coming to you virtually. The exhibit is accessible through a new online art gallery and daily postings on the gallery shop’s Instagram and Facebook pages.

Nearly 100 artists are participating in this miniature art exhibit, including Masami Teraoka, Noe Tanigawa, Lauren Trangmar and Mariko Merritt. Founded in 2018 by artist Keiko Hatano and curator KJ Baysa, ArtInTime showcases work done using identical metal boxes about twice the size of an Altoids tin. How the artists use it is up to them.

And, if you want to see any of these pieces in person, you still can—they’re available for purchase in the shop.

L
isa Shiroma is the owner of the HiSAM Museum Gallery Shop and runs it with partners Aly Ishikuni-Sasaki and Travis Sasaki from Mori by Art + Flea.

Lisa worked as gallery manager for Koa Art Gallery at KCC from 2014 to 2017.

In July 2017, Lisa, Travis and Aly renovated and reopened the Hawai‘i State Art Museum’s gift shop space as a new art gallery and gift shop “for Hawai‘i artists, by Hawai‘i artists.”