The opening for Honoring Our Artists will be held at the Hawaii Museum of Contemporary Art, 141 Kalakaua Street in downtown Hilo, 5:30-7:30PM. The show will be on display from January 2 through 28. Museum hours are Tuesday through Thursday 9am-4pm, Friday and Saturday 10am-7pm Closed Sunday & Monday.

The artist will perform a live modeling on January 3, starting at noon, in the EHCC to honor photographer Joe Ruesing. The public is invited to recognize our artists.

Hilo sculptor Ingrid Frégeau will be showing her work, Honoring Our Artists, in January 2015 at the Hawaii Museum of Contemporary Art /East Hawaii Cultural Center in downtown Hilo. Honoring Our Artists is a series of 25 original, life-size ceramic portrait busts of many of the best-known and respected artists of the East Hawai’i arts community. The opening reception is on Friday, January 2, 2015. The artist will perform a live modeling on January 3, starting at noon, in the EHCC to honor photograph Joe Ruesing. The public is invited to recognize our artists.

This unique and remarkable exhibition has been more than three years in the making. Ms. Frégeau describes her inspiration and motivation for the work:

“Sculpture is one of my ways of loving. This series is about allowing me to share my love for artists, and to honor those artists around me here, in East Hawai’i.

“The series started with a happy studio experience involving a good friend, the first to come for a portrait sitting, which, at the time, was for a piece to enter in the prestigious Maui Schaeffer Portrait Challenge of 2012. Having never done this before, I was a bit apprehensive, but the experience was unexpectedly relaxed and enjoyable, with music, good conversation and wine shared with my guest and husband as I worked. The piece was my best ever, and was accepted in the Maui show — a good omen; after this, I realized that I wanted to repeat the experience again and again. The idea for the series was born.

“The busts were never intended to be an esthetic revolution. Busts are an old- fashioned, bourgeois form of art, traditionally destined for a different class than the artists themselves. But for me the busts are a long-lasting celebration of quiet, creative minds of people who commit their life energy, time and passion to an activity unlikely to reward them with power, riches, or fame. With these busts, I wanted to recognize all artists. Artists are like bridges, creating connections between people of all nations and all historical times. For that very reason we share our artists, who belong to the world, to all nations together.”

The busts in this show are hand-built, beginning with 1/4 inch coils, using cone 5 clay and fully fired at cone 5 in a solar energy-powered electric kiln. Some of the clay bodies are a mixture of several clays to create unique natural colors; in some engobe was also used on for color. Techniques were explored as the series progressed. The chest section of each bust is used as a surface to express the sculptor’s further interpretation of each individual artist’s personality. Large photographs are also part of this exhibition, presenting close look at the artist’s studio and work in progress.