Punahou Carnival’s Art Gallery Is a Fundraising Powerhouse

This year, Hawai‘i’s largest pop-up art show will feature 250 artists and about 1,200 pieces. The artwork, like in past years, is expected to rack up enormous sales during the two-day celebration.

January 21, 2025

Diane Seo,

Photo: Courtesy of Hana Shin

Punahou Carnival may be most famous for its malasadas, but that’s not what draws the biggest bucks. That distinction belongs to the art gallery—Hawai‘i’s largest pop-up art event, which raises hundreds of thousands of dollars annually for the school’s financial aid program. Half of the proceeds of every art sale goes to Punahou; the other half to the respective artist.

“We don’t want to take glory away from Carnival, because it’s such a huge community event, but in terms of fundraising, the art gallery is a real powerhouse,” says Gianna Marsella, one of the art gallery’s parent chairs.

For this year’s event, set for Feb. 7 to 8 and themed “Pā‘ina Paniolo,” 250 Hawai‘i’ artists, many connected to the school (alumni, parents of current students, art faculty), will display and sell about 1,200 pieces. Along with such veteran local artists as Yvonne Cheng, Mark Brown, Kelly Sueda and Leighton Lam, 36 new artists will participate.

“There are perennial favorites and up-and-coming artists,” Marsella says. “We also have a variety of art, everything from traditional oil work and watercolors to artists doing interesting things with new media, tile mosaics and some neat clay flower sculptures. I think our 3D pieces are going to have a real showing this year.”

Photo: Courtesy of Greg Eaves

The artists range from those who graduated from Punahou in the 1960s to young alums in their 20s, as well as high-profile local artists like Sueda, a painter and art consultant. Although Sueda didn’t attend Punahou, his ties are deep: His mom used to work at the school, his wife—who he met as a teenager—is an alumna, and his children are current students.

Every year that Sueda’s been involved with the show, he’s painted something exclusively for the Punahou Carnival art gallery. “My business has really turned into supporting other artists, and I don’t do as many paintings or commissions anymore. But I definitely make a point to create new works because it’s a way I can support the art gallery and school,” he says.

Photo: Courtesy of George Woollard

What the public may not realize is how much the show supports artists, Sueda adds. “I don’t think there’s any local exhibition that gets that many eyes on pieces,” he says. “A lot of seasoned art collectors will attend and see pieces from an array of artists, both full-time and beginning artists. It’s incredible exposure.”

Tens of thousands of people are expected to walk through this year’s art show, inside the school’s Bishop Learning Commons. It’s only the second year in that space.

“It’s awesome that there’s a frenzy around the purchasing of artwork,” Sueda says. “It actually gets competitive since it’s first come, first served, which is really cool. And because artists get so many eyes on their work, top-notch works are on display.”

To preview the Punahou Carnival art gallery and make early purchases, the public is invited to a pre-event on Tuesday, Feb. 4, from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Punahou’s Bishop Learning Center.

For those who can’t attend Carnival in person, purchases can also be made online at artgallery.punahou.edu from Feb. 5 through the event’s close. A separate online-only jewelry sale is being held now through Jan. 22 on the same website. Pieces can either be shipped or picked up during Carnival.