Hello studio fans,
I’m pleased to have my recent art in the HERstory exhibit now on view at ARTS at Marks Garage, 1159 Nuuanu Avenue. You’re invited to any or all of the Friday receptions to meet the artists! I have two brand-new, never-shown-before oil paintings included in the collection. All the information is on the flyer below. I’d love to see you.
Love,
Rebekah
Itʻs today! Today is the Opening Reception for “Fiery Volcano Collages & Doodles” at Ho‘omaluhia Botanical Garden at four oʻclock. My co-exhibitor Kalei Nuuhiwa is on Oahu, and we are spending the morning preparing to welcome our friends and supporters who are coming to view and celebrate our latest artworks.
Weʻre gathering flowers from the garden to decorate, and we’ve coralled our best buddies to help out with refreshments and musical entertainment.
I am so very honored to show with soon-to-be Dr. Nu‘uhiwa, a PhD candidate at the University of Waikato.
From the show catalog:
THE ARTISTS began creating and assembling the pieces for this exhibit in May 2018 when the longest Kilauea Volcano eruption since 1924 began. News photography and reports and the energy of Pele herself inspired the work. While Rebekah worked with dye, tissue paper, glue, and a knife on large canvases, Kalei used colored pens to doodle in a very small 35-page book. The two women first met on a Kaho‘olawe access trip for Makahiki in the late 1990s, Rebekah coming from O‘ahu, and Kalei from Maui.
The art exhibit runs until January 27. Ho‘omaluhia Botanical Garden is on Luluku Road in Kaneohe, and it is open daily from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Many thanks to the inspirers and the helpers, including the folks at Sunshine Arts in windward O‘ahu for my picture frames, pianist Joerg Alfter, Olive at Ho‘omaluhia Botanical Garden, my girlfriends Becky-Lori-and-Peg, and my “easel” Pete.
~ Rebekah
While the inspiration for my latest art was a leaf from the Ma‘afala breadfruit tree outside my window, the finished pieces look little like the actual plant.
The leafy model
My medium—hand-dyed tissue paper collage—lends itself to abstract images. It is tricky to determine the final color of a section that has been layered with the tissue, and the final result is rarely what the artist had in mind in the beginning. When stuck in the creating process, my teacher the late Susan Rogers-Aregger would say, “Glue another paper over it!” But because of all that, surprising results of color and luminescence can be had.
Several folks commented they liked a preview of the finished collages that I posted as photos on social media just before I took them to the frame shop. I was so excited to finish and show them. I admit they were a tad tacky from the final varnish. Framers don’t like that, but this time it was darn near dry!
The actual dimensions are 22″ x 28″ each, and the two were designed as a diptych to hang together, yet each panel can stand alone. I started with a palette of greens and reds and soon changed it to a triad of complementary colors: violet, green, and orange. I haven’t even given the collages a title yet. Hmmm, maybe it will be “Breadfruit” and “Ma‘afala.”
Pattern
Dried and fallen
The Hoʻomaluhia New Year Invitational 2018 art show opened today with works depicting—you guessed it—Hoʻomaluhia Botanical Garden! At the base of the Koʻolau Mountains on Oʻahu, the park’s natural beauty is a “can’t miss” subject for any artist.
Go to the visitor center main gallery between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. any day this month through January 26 to view an inspired collection of works, including two of my oil paintings pictured below. Many are for sale. Greg Pai is the juror.
The public is invited to a reception from 4 to 6 p.m. on Sunday, January 14.
Hoʻomaluhia means “let’s make peace and tranquility.” Enter the park at the end of Luluku Road in Kāneʻohe.
Mahalo for taking an interest in art! ~ Rebekah
“Clouds Lifting Over Lanihuli” reveal fresh waterfalls. 20″x 16” oil on canvas by Rebekah Luke
“Rain Fantasy,” 24″ x 18″ oil on canvas by Rebekah Luke
“The Bathhouse (Kaʻaʻawa)” oil on canvas by Rebekah Luke. Private collection.This photo arrived in the email today. What a surprise and a thrill! “How much is this painting? My mom wants to know. She got it in 1991,” the inquirer wrote.
There was a photo of the back of the painting on which I wrote “1991,” but on looking at my record book, I saw that the painting (no. 29) was purchased in 1993 by a nice couple of Kaʻaʻawa who collected memorabilia of our town.
Some years afterward I looked for the buyers to ask if I could make a digital photo of their painting and was told they had moved. But now, I have a photo!
I told Tj*, who emailed me, the amount I sold the painting for, and to whom, and the average price of my paintings today. (Watching “Antiques Roadshow” on TV, I really should raise my prices! 😉)
The painting was part of a series of images of all the manmade public structures in Kaʻaʻawa, including the two bridges. They were unveiled at Swanzy Beach Park where park director Patty Greene had the kids hand paint and put out a sandwich board sign that read simply “Everybody Come.” I still have that sign. Minnie Akiona from the Kaʻaʻawa Country Kitchen across the highway brought over a tray of Chinese noodles and other refreshments.
Then the pictures were shown at an exhibit entitled “Painting the Town” in conjunction with the play “Chicago” at Diamond Head Theatre. Some of the paintings were bought by neighbors, and at least two pieces of the collection (the 8 a.m. flag raising in the school yard and the bookmobile) are hanging in the Kaʻaʻawa school office because the principal bought them.
So much for no. 29. My most recent oil painting “Glass Full of Daisies” was no. 202. I sent it to Texas in June as our wedding gift to Aunt Ross. It’s good to keep records, and I am happy to provide the provenance of an art piece.
* Epilogue: Tj emailed back to say her mom is the daughter of the original purchasers of “The Bathhouse…” and that the painting is still hanging in the house.
~ Rebekah Luke
Something totally different from me, studio fans. Yes, a cat! I created this piece with hand-dyed tissue paper and framed it just in time to offer it to the Punahou Carnival Art Gallery, open during Carnival hours 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. on February 5 and 6. Half of the sales collected is donated by the artists to the school’s financial aid fund. I love this kitty!
Below are two more creations of mine that will be in the exhibit, too.
Bromeliads (paper)
Life at Ka Punahou (oil)
Copyright 2016 Rebekah Luke
For a memoir of Oahu and Waikiki, this image of Leahi (Diamond Head) and the carriageway in Kapiolani Park may be for you. It is available now for your consideration. The path, familiar to island residents like these Sunday painters, is lined with ironwood trees and extends from the Bandstand to the tennis courts. $250 with hardwood frame. $200 unframed. VISA and MasterCard accepted. For delivery information, please email rebekahluke@hawaii.rr.com.
“Shadows on the Carriageway” 20″ x 10″ giclée reproduction on canvas of an original oil painted in 2013 by Rebekah Luke
Rebekah’s Studio 
Recent comments