Kailua Village Artists

I have always been interested in conveying more than the literal interpretation of what I photograph, whether it be my experience of the subject when I am fully present, or where it leads me creatively to a deeper reality. I seek to experience the radiance in all life and have my images express that radiance tangibly enough so that others may see and feel it, too. I have worked with a variety of techniques and alternative processes, including Polaroid Transfers and SX-70 Manipulations, infrared photography and compositing images in the digital darkroom. As part of the art group West Hawaii Artists Tribe (WHAT), we meet every 6 weeks and decide on a theme or concept to create new work around. This process has led me into creative explorations that are expanding me as an artist, because very few of the themes are concepts that I can go out and just photograph. I have to create them by combining images that I have photographed. My current passions are digital infrared, landscapes, nature, figurative work and the digital darkroom. The photographs on display for the month of October, 2024 are floral images, most are layered with several different flowers to create a sense of wonderment. Wonderment was one of the themes inspired by the West Hawaii Artists Tribe (WHAT) group. Kathleen received a BFA (cum laude) in Photography from Ohio University in 1970, and then studied extensively with Minor White and worked for Aperture, a renowned photography quarterly. She was a staff photographer at the Findhorn Foundation, Scotland, and Esalen Institute, Big Sur, CA during the ‘70s and ‘80s. Kathleen received a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship in 1991. For decades, she taught alternative Polaroid techniques and Photoshop. Her award-winning work has been exhibited internationally, purchased for private collections, and has appeared in numerous books and periodicals. Her five books are Walks in the Neighborhood; Dolphins: Kindred Spirits; Polaroid Transfers; Polaroid Manipulations (Amphoto Books 1997 & 2002), and To Honor the Earth (HarperSanFrancisco, 1991). She most recently received 1 st place in the Adult Photography division of the Hawaii Nei 2023 Exhibit at the Wailoa Center in Hilo. She is President of the South Kona Artists Collective (SOKO), a member of the Kailua Village Artists Gallery in Kona, and a member of the West Hawaii Artists Tribe (WHAT), and is represented by several other galleries on the Big Island. This year she was accepted as an Honored Listee into the Marquis Who’s Who 2024. Her website is www.kathleentcarr.com. 

Small domesticated pigs, or pua'a , were first brought to the Hawaiian island by Polynesians around 160 years ago. Some of these escaped their confinement and took up life in the forest. Over time, other (larger) varieties of pig were brought to Hawaii and a lot of cross breeding occurred. This resulted in the uniquely Hawaiian feral pig or pua'a we see today. Most of modern feral pigs have some genetic linkage to the first pua'a and retain the Hawaiian name. They also retain value as a food source, and a symbol for intelligence, cunning, mischief, strength, and stubbornness. There is even a Hawaiian demigod named Kamapua'a , who could take the form of both a boar and a human. In ancient Hawaiian culture, there was less divide between humans, animals, gods, and nature. Humans would have family guardian gods or aumakua. Each aumakua was connected to some animal or other natural phenomenon. Mano (shark), pua'a (pig), pueo (owl), makani (wind), and nalu (wave), are just a few examples of how aumakua could manifest. There were stronger connections between the physical world and the spiritual world. It is that connection between physical and spiritual that I aimed to honor and express in this piece. My pua'a is not a domesticated pig, but a strong and powerful beast. The black represents the physical as many of the feral pua'a are black. The white with the misty veil represents the spiritual, equally strong and powerful. Thank you for noticing my art. shannon

Join us for our Second Annual Halloween Hunt. Our artists contribute Halloween themed art and we mingle the pieces among the more than 1000 art objects in our gallery. Vistors who locate all the items posted below get a treat! It's a seasonal and fun way to look at art. 

This month, rather than focusing on a particular artist, we are featuring art that is monochromatic, or grisaille , or greyscale, or just “black and white.” Technically, black and white are shades rather than colors, but thanks to “black and white” television, pretty much everyone understands the reference. Whatever you choose to call it, creating in grisaille challenges the artist to work with a palate of just one color. It is a way of studying value , or the lightness and darkness of a color. Shades of grey are different values of black and white. In two-dimensional art like drawing, painting, or photography, value allows the artist to create light and shadow, foreground and background, and images that look three-dimensional. Without value, a drawing will look flat and cartoon like, a painting will have no depth or form, and a ball would be a circle.