This year’s juror of the MAC Member 2021 Show was Kat Kazlauskas. Kat was gracious and generous enough to take time out of her busy schedule to share some of her thoughts about the works submitted by our artists. You can view the works that were juried in at the current gallery (which will be up for a limited time).

Best in Show
“Mock Chicken” Misty Mollena
This work displays an incredible attention to detail in its execution as well as an innovative approach to cultural references. I love that it is a wearable piece of art, yet it can stand alone as a sculptural work. This work shows a high level of consideration to aesthetics and a graceful balance of form and function.

Best in 3-D
“Pā Hau” Gandharva Mahina Hou Ross
This work displays technical mastery combined with whimsical imagination. It is unique and contemporary while referencing traditional carving techniques and styles.

Best in 2-D
“ʻIʻiwi Bird” Nan Walters
The craftwork of this piece is meticulous and the composition is thoughtful. One can see the love and care that went into this work. It is aesthetically beautiful and I want it in my home.

Best in Kupuna
“Remembering Dad” Vashti Lima
This piece immediately made me think of a gift one would make for their father. There is obvious skill in the craftsmanship of the cup but the style of craft and painting is reminiscent of objects children make for parents when they are young. The artist captured this feeling while showing a skillful hand.

Other chosen works in alphabetical order of artists’ names

Arabella Ark
“Lily Tea”
The delicate lily flower that sits atop the lid plays beautifully with the luminescent glazes of the body of the vessel.

“Oceanscape Temple”
The combination of mark making, glazing choices, gold leaf accents and scale of this sculpture all display a skilled hand and astute aesthetic consideration.

Marshelle Castro
“Purple Vase”
There is a whimsy that comes through this piece which shows a light heart and a sweet soul.

Jason Elder
“Deer Trashbacus”
Antlered deer heads have become a popular motif in design. On Molokaʻi, I realize these are a sign of hunters, as they are strung up along front gates. What drew me to this sculpture was the innovative use of the antlers to create an abacus with found marine debris plastics. There is a darkness in this tool of calculation that begs the question: what is it we are calculating?

“Hula”
This work is beautifully constructed. The choice of using all dark found plastics for something as beautiful and bright as hula is compelling as the Hawaiʻian islands and people are continuously battling the double edged sword of maintaining cultural integrity in the face of tourism and military occupation that has hijacked the local economy.

“Sunbather”
This work is skillfully constructed and could border on kitsch if it weren’t for, again, a strange darkness. To me, it speaks of the tourist enjoying “paradise,” blind to the effects that the tourism industry has on said “paradise.”

Nena Evans
“Underwater Sea Dragon”
This sculpture has a delicate structure that shows a skilled hand. The surface treatment has an intricacy that is both smooth and luminous on its edges and rough within, giving it a sense of dangerous beauty.

Patti Golebieski
“Transformation & Enlightenment”
The construction of these idols, placed within a found frame that binds them together, shows the hand of the artist in a striking way. The attention to detail shows a careful consideration of composition.

“Tribe Chakra”
Each part of this tryptic is beautifully executed. They could each stand alone, but together they form a narrative and play off of one another in a delightful way.

Vashti Lima
“From the Eyes of the ʻIʻiwi Bird”
The illustrative and 2 dimensional quality of this painting is clean and simple, truly highlighting the ʻiʻiwi bird.

April Madela
“ʻAuʻAu”
This work is simple in its concept, yet the surface treatment and glaze highlights the intensity of the raku process.

Gandharva Mahina Hou Ross
“Pā Ulua”
The intricate carving and scale of this sashimi platter is stunning. It evokes the large gatherings we all long to return to.

“Pā Koa”
The artist, once again, displays a mastery of carving formal and functional works from single pieces of wood.

Kim Markham
“Love Marilyn”
This vase is a bit sinister in its beauty. The overlay wrap of thin rolled clay and its markings, paired with the fiery raku finish texture elicit both strength and fragility, as does the title.

Carol Rocha
“Deer Me”
This assemblage is absolutely delightful. The weight of each object sets the next in motion. It is reminiscent of totems and the rust finish reminds one of being surrounded by the ocean.

“Open Minded”
This work could have easily fallen to being a one-liner but the weight of the base structure and the attention to expressiveness in the carving give it life. I love that it has living growth coming out of its head, yet it does not read as a planter pot.

Artice Swingle
“Wool and Hand Spun Skein”
The simplicity of this work can lead one to cast it aside as solely raw material. In all honesty, I needed help understanding its intricacy due to my lack of a fiber background and understanding. Once I knew that this was created from raw wool on a spinning wheel, I understood the pure craft and mastery that went into this work.

Nan Walters
“Humuhumu Molokaʻi”
The attention to detail and mastery of craft is exquisite. The work’s title seems to be a play on words and meanings, referencing both the art of quilting and the triggerfish.

“Merjito and Guavas”
There is a simplicity that runs through Nan’s work, which is difficult to achieve when working in such an intricate medium where everything is there for the eye to see. Her compositions are simple yet her technique is complicated and skillful.

Lisa Welcher
“Sea Urchin Jar”
This delicate vessel incorporating a piece of found dead coral in its lid is precious. The detailed markings and fitted construction is exquisite.

“Sea Monkey Village”
Firstly, I love the image that the title invokes. One cannot go on titles alone, though. The form, markings, and weight of this vessel create a playful space for the imagination to wander in.

John Wordin
“Go On Hexagon”
The found object construction of this work paired with a careful mathematical calculation of placement and color theory to achieve a flat polygon in 3-dimensional form makes the nerd in me smile.