November 2023 at the Gallery
Volume 14, Issue 11
As a very young child, living across the road from the beach, I spent a lot of time being tethered to a pole stuck in the sand. This was the only way my mother could keep me from running into the ocean, over and over, and over again. So, my ties to the ocean started early and run deep. The smells of the Pacific Ocean are forever etched into my memory: bait balls, right off the beach, rotting kelp, and oil tar stuck to your feet, the pure pleasure of being alive.
When I first had the chance to strap a SCUBA tank on my back in 1971, it was to clean pools…I knew I needed to do this again, in the ocean. I had that second chance in 1975, when my good friend Butch took me diving. We dived in the harbor and shot very small fish with our pole spears. It was fun, but I knew what wonders were soon to be discovered, outside the harbor!
My first real turn-on to this new underwater world was from my friend, and soon to be mentor, Jim Cooluris. Jim owned The Seafarer dive shop in Oxnard, California, and he was the local underwater photo pro, great guy, loads of fun, full of knowledge that he was willing to share with me, and many of my soon to be dive buddies.
Our playground was the California Channel Islands; Anacapa, Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, San Miguel, San Nicolas, and Santa Barbara Island, all very beautiful and full of marine life. Our favorite was Anacapa, which means “mirage” in the Chumash language. The Chumash were indigenous people living on the islands and the coastal areas around Ventura, Santa Barbara, and Ojai. Their culture, like Hawaiian culture, valued, protected, and shared deep knowledge of the ocean and natural living.
I began my love for photography in the 7th grade, when I, with the help of my grandmother, saved enough Blue Chip stamps from the grocery store to get a brand new Kodak Hawkeye Instamatic camera! My two loves were surfing and skateboarding and soon I was an action photographer, at least in my 13 year old mind. I wrapped the camera in plastic and scotch tape and off I went into the surf.
Fast forward about twelve years, and there I am in the surf with a borrowed Nikon, Nikonos II Underwater camera, getting surf shots of my friends. When the Nikonos III came out in 1977, I got one right away, still no light meter, no visual focus, just a metal box with a lens.
I got some good photos and learned a lot. But, Jim used a Nikon F camera in an Oceanic Hydro 35 UW camera housing; he had a wide choice of lenses, visual focus, an d much more creative control that the Nikonos III. So my next mission was to find and purchase a used Hydro 35 camera housing, used Nikon F2, and used lenses.
KVA Partners With The
Rotary Club of Kona Sunrise
Every December, KVA fundraises on behalf of a chosen local non-profit organization that serves our community. We do this by each making and donating 10+ handmade tree ornaments for sale at our gallery. That would be more than 100 ornaments in total. 100% of the proceeds of these ornament sales goes to the chosen organization. We also host a Holiday Reception, bringing together artists and other members of our community who aim to keep Kailua Kona a great place to live for all.
This year, KVA will be partnering with the Rotary Club of Kona Sunrise. As their club name suggests, this is the group of Rotarians who wake with the birds and schedule meetings at 7 am to plan ways to make Kona and the world a better place.
The Rotarians of Kona Sunrise are focused on youth, scholarships, and international peace. Their local projects are very local, benefiting youths of all ages in our very own zip code. They sponsor an annual poster contest for elementary school kids, "What does peace mean to me?" Students draw a picture about how peace will change their home, school, community, and world. Winners receive small monetary prizes and their drawings are published in a calendar. The Rotary Club of Kona Sunrise also provides for weekly “Meet and Eat” food distribution at Kealakehe Intermediate School, and funds two annual scholarships awarded to seniors at Kealakehe High School.
There is an international component to all of the more than 33,000 Rotary Club chapters worldwide, and it is about promoting non-political, non-religious, non-racial, and non-gender-based understanding, goodwill, and peace among humans. The Rotary Club of Kona Sunrise just recently planted a peace pole at Hale Halawai Park, and is a participant in the Hiroshima Seed projects, which sprouts and transplants seeds from gingko trees that survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in during World War II.
You can read more about the Rotary Club of Kona Sunrise on their facebook page: @KonaSunriseRotary. Visitors are welcome to attend their meetings at Papa Kona Restaurant in the Waterfront Row building on Alii Drive, at 7 am on the first three Wednesdays of the month.
KVA will be kicking off our season of giving early this year. Our Holiday Reception will be held on Friday, December 1, from 5 to 7 pm at the KVA Gallery. The public is invited to join us (all ten of our member artists) for pupus and beverages and conversations about art and community.
Contributors to this article:
Shannon Nakaya.
Please Join Us
Holiday Reception
Friday, December 1
5 to 7 pm
KVA Gallery
Benefitting Rotary Club of Kona Sunrise
Pupus, Beverages, Art,
Community, Charitable Giving
Peace, Friendship, Aloha
Contributors to this article:
Shannon Nakaya
I have made thousands of dives in many parts of the world
and have been lucky enough to have opportunities to sell my work in various markets, helping to offset the costs of this serious avocation. During this 49 year spend of time, I did start a family, built a successful contracting business, retire and move to Hawaii full time in January 2004.
I currently use a Nikon D850 camera and assortment of lenses, contained in a Nauticam camera housing, and using Ikelite strobe’s for lighting.
My travel plans were put one hold during the pandemic, but I am trying to be on the road again soon.
My all time favorite place to dive has to be Revillagigedo archipelago. Also known as Socorro it is now a Mexican marine reserve. It is a wild area with lots of big critters, such as the giant Pacific manta ray, which are roughly 2-3 times the size of mantas in Hawaii. Huge schools of fish, Humpback Whales, and lots of sharks of many species, including big Tiger sharks are common to see in these waters.
My other favorite places to dive and photograph are Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, California, and of course the Big Island of Hawaii.
In addition to diving, surfing, and fishing, I like to make things out of wood, primarily on a lathe. Several years ago, I saw some woodcraft work at a market where I was selling photos. This inspired me to try my hand at the lathe. I had briefly used one in high school and remembered how cool it was. So, now decades later, I have become semi-proficient at the lathe and I absolutely love it. To date, I have made about 700-800 pieces, all sold, given away, or kept (it’s hard to give up the favorites!). I used all the local Hawaii woods such as Koa, island pine, monkey pod, macadamia nut, lychee, and milo. I take the raw log and turn it into a vessel of some time. I enjoy making the classic “Umeke,” an old, graceful Hawaiian shape, that has a beautiful curving form. I also enjoy making salad bowls, lidded bowls, vases, balls, and anything else that comes to mind. I rarely begin with a plan, just a piece of wood to play with, designing fluidly. This past year, I have been exploring the embellishment skills of carving and texturing, which although time consuming, I really enjoy and which I hope give my work an added dimension.
Please stop by the Kailua Village Artists Gallery to check out my work the work o my fellow artists at KVA. I will be at the gallery on November 1, 17th, and 29th, if you would like to stop in and check things out.
Contributors to this article:
Tom Carey, Tamisha Lee
Every Season is Flower Season in Hawaii
Whether a bouquet or a lei or even a single bloom, flowers can brighten a room and enhance mood. Despite the impermanence of blooms, we still gift fresh flowers frequently - for holidays, graduations, celebrations, recoveries, encouragements, and just because. Flowers are universal offering of good will. Flowers have an organic beauty; they are like bringing sunlight into a space.
Here in Hawaii, we are blessed with year round flower growing weather for a large variety of blossoms from orchids to anthuriums to plumeria to unimaginable varieties of hibiscus and ginger blossoms. There are the more “exotic” blooms like protea, lehua, lilikoi, jade, heliconia, and bird of paradise. And dozens upon dozens of “wild” flowers everywhere, even amidst the “jungles” that threaten to grow across the road without regular maintenance to push back.
No wonder that flowers are a common subject among artists as well. How might one capture that organic beauty in a more permanent form? Last month, we saw how Tamisha Lee captured the waxy perfection of an antherium with glass. Kathleen Jaeger’s art works, regardless of her media, all capture the happy of flowers. Kathleen Carr has an entire book of stunning flower photographs taken with her iPhone! (Best pitch for spending that much on a phone I’ve encountered. Also proof that it’s not just the camera, but the talent of the person wielding the camera.) And so many more paintings, glassworks, origami, and metal interpretations of what makes flowers beautiful and appealing.