July 2023 at the Gallery
Volume 14, Issue 7
Featured Artist: Christal Nylin
Kailua Village Artists is pleased to once again feature plein air oil painter Christal Nylin as our featured artist for the month of July.
Christal is one of our most popular artists with visitors to Hawaii for her representations of places that they've seen during their travel around the island.
The Big Island is abundant with so much to paint. Nylin's four decade tenure in Hawaii has given her plenty of time to be captivated by and study it beaty, as well as, to cultivate a deep understanding of the island's history. In combination with her passion for painting, she loves to capture special moments in time to share with others.
Nylin's style of painting is largely inspired by 19th century Impressionists. This she applies to scenes from Life in Hawaii. The result is that, while she may focus on capturing a single moment in time, she also portrays the timeless essence of island places and spaces in her scenes.
Nylin has is a diverse repertoire of paintings from tropical trees to historic buildings to beach scenes to coffee art. Her featured new
plein air oil paintings are “Keauhou Keawe”, Kahaluu Honu”, and “Save Keauhou Canoe Club.”
This month at KVA Gallery, Nylin will also be presenting some of her plein air paintings from France. A self-proclaimed Fracophile, Nylin has traveled from Kona to France at least eight times since 2007, with stays ranging from 3 weeks to 3 months. Her visits often involve visiting museums, chateaus, historical villages and landscapes, and of course, painting. France is the origin of plein air painting the homeland of many Impressionist masters. In her words, "Every time you visit a museum, you pick up a little more and get inspired."
Meet Christal Nylin and observe her process of oil painting when she is working at the gallery on Mondays July 3 and 24, Tuesday July 11, and Thursday July 20, 2023.
Contributors to this article:
Shannon Nakaya, Christal Nylin, Stefanie Culbertson
What's in a Word?
We asked our artists to choose one word to describe their art and then explain why. A very fun exercise.
Ken Geer, Watercolorist
My word is:
Spirit
The word “spirit” resonates with me because I try to capture something about the spirit of the various subjects that I paint, whether it’s wildlife, landscapes, flowers, etc. It is my hope that viewers of my artwork will be drawn into the details, colors, and textures of my paintings. I hope that they’ll feel the spirit and emotion that I try to covey about the subject matter.
Debbie Slay, Watercolorist
The word I would use to describe my process is:
Relaxing
I am in a much better mindset while I'm painting. Even afterwards, when a piece is complete. Even more so when a piece of my art sells and can be enjoyed by someone else.
Kathleen Jaeger, Painter, Mosaicist
Since my art is a response to my whim and mindset at the time, the word that comes to mind is:
Joyful
Why this resonates with me....
When I am on a project that is giving me JOY as it is being created, it seems to shows in the final product. Although I don't ponder that or think about it at the time, nor do I shy away from challenges with trying new approaches or mediums and the inherent difficulties in doing thus, I enjoy working through such problems. Then I boldly go where I may not have gone before. And have fun.
If it's not joyful, why do it?
Bill Jaeger, Stained Glass Artist
Superpower
I turn plain old glass into art, that is my superpower. What is yours?
Contributors to this article:
Tamisha Lee, Ken Geer, Debbie Slay, Kathleen Jaeger, Bill Jaeger.
Guest Artist: Frank Andrews
Frank Andrews is one of our longest standing guest artists. His copper petroglyphs delight so many and remain perennially popular. Part sculpture, part wall art, these uniquely made Hawaiian petroglyphs represent actual petroglyphs located throughout the island chain. They are created using welded, then pounded copper. Each piece is tagged with the location where the petroglyph can be found. Suitable for indoors or out.
“It starts with an exciting field trip”, Frank Andrews said when asked about his process for creating his welded copper petroglyph sculpture. “I hike into prehistoric rock art sites in the Southwest desert and Hawai‘i, take photographs and make drawings, then convert them into sculpture patterns in my studio”, he added.
Andrews has enjoyed a successful career as a sculptor during the past thirty-five years, a second career following his sojourn as a college teacher. His sculpture focuses on images derived from ancient stone carvings, with his stated goal to create wall hangings which capture the simple elegance and mystery of stone-age artistic expression while maintaining anthropological accuracy.
“My raw materials are copper tubing and copper welding rod,” Andrews continues, “I bend different sizes of tubing to the image of my pattern, hammer the pieces fiat on an anvil, then assemble the figure by welding the elements together with an oxy-acetylene welding torch. The design is then coated several times with copper welding rod to build up a texture that replicates the texture of the original stone image.”
When asked about the unique patina colors of his sculpture, Andrews replies, “Copper, when hot, reacts with vivid color to reapplication of heat. I let the sculpture cool for a timed interval then reheat in selective spots with a sharp torch flame. Several repetitions of this process will yield a copper-orange-brown-blue patina which is actually part of the surface of the finished figure.
“The final step,” Andrews concluded, “is to weld on the wall hanging system which consists of a small ring for wall attachment and pins which space the sculpture about one inch away from the wall. The wall shadows cast by this spacing greatly dramatize the figure.”
