Trampling through thick brush and fallen tree trimmings, Rosa Silver and her husband Hugh Russell tour their permaculture farm nestled on a three-acre lot in Kilauea, which looks more like a blossoming arboretum than something from “Old MacDonald.” They point
Trampling through thick brush and fallen tree trimmings, Rosa Silver and her husband Hugh Russell tour their permaculture farm nestled on a three-acre lot in Kilauea, which looks more like a blossoming arboretum than something from “Old MacDonald.”
They point out various fruits they have grown, ranging from the common — such as breadfruit, star fruit and mangoes — to the more unusual — including ebe nut (a Tahitian chestnut), wampi, duku, longsat, sapotes, miracle berries and edibile hibiscus.
Not too shabby for two artists who moved from the urban jungle of New York City to the jungles of Kaua‘i 10 years ago.
The couple’s home, overflowing with art, was converted from a barn to an airy living space for their family of four. Framed paintings from their children hang on the wall, dried lei adorn the entrance to the bathroom, leftover pieces of coil and wood lay on the table.
Silver’s work is currently on display at the Contemporary Museum Biennial of Hawai‘i Artists in Honolulu show, while her husband is preparing for the opening of his exhibit at Alley Kat Art 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday in Kapa‘a.
As Silver flips through images of her current show stored on her camera, she explains the symbolism behind her mixed-media installation.
The exhibit, which is a play on two- and three-dimensions, is titled “Veritatem Propono: Garden Island Immersion,” which in Latin loosely translates into “playing with truths.”
“I’m trying to create an energy circuit,” Silver said. “I see Kaua‘i as a vortex of energy. I feel there is a magic here not seen on other islands, and I wanted to create another place to share that energy.”
The installation was a year in the making. Silver completed 65 pieces in her Kaua‘i studio, and spent 15 hours a day for the two weeks preceding the opening at TCM diligently sketching and installing her piece.
Silver is highly imaginative with her artwork, incorporating everyday items from her life. She uses ink from an octopus she caught for some of the sketches, fabric from an old mu‘umu‘u she bought from a thrift store, trimmings from her farm, a small mirror she kept from her dentist — even an old breast pump she had from the birth of her son.
Silver uses her art to put her life on display.
“Healing is the main theme of my work,” she said.
The center of her exhibit is a glass tree, which stretches out into a branch of an ‘ulu tree. From there, conductive copper wire connects the intricate facets of her work together. The drawings are all sketched in blue, a color Silver chose because of Kaua‘i. “Look out the window, everything is blue,” Silver explained. “Blue sky, blue ocean. It connects everyone on the planet.”
But Silver isn’t the only artist in the family who was asked to participate in the museum’s biennial show. Her husband, Hugh Russell, showcased photographs and sculptural objects in 2001.
Currently, Russell is diligently preparing for his upcoming show at Alley Kat Art — his first in five years — which will feature 21 original pen-and-ink drawings. The drawings are inspired by exquisite sketches that litter more than 20 old journals he’s kept from the past two decades.
The exhibit will also feature “The Sequence,” a selection from his biennial exhibit that depicts the life cycle of a bar of soap, showing how it morphs from one object into another.
“I’ve been working on this show (at Alley Kat) since I was 2,” Russell half-jokes as he holds a sketch he is currently working on.
Russell, whose main studio is a work bench in a converted garage, doesn’t focus on one medium. He photographs, sculpts, sketches — he even created a 200-pound bar of soap he placed in a tub and photographed.
“My work is a lot about the human condition and our limits,” Russell said. “I let the person view the work and take what they get out of it.”
Silver and Russell both made the permanent move to Kaua‘i 10 years ago, leaving behind their fast-paced lives in New York City.
“In Kaua‘i you are stuck with yourself,” Russell said. “I feel accepted to stay and be connected with nature.”
Silver is the host of KKCR’s program, the Loquat Lounge; founder of GMO Free Kaua‘i and member of Kaua‘i Nonviolent Communication Center.
“I came to Kaua‘i and it was much more about connecting with nature, contemplation, passion and spirituality,” Silver said.
While farming and creating are a huge part of this husband-and-wife team, they both agree their children are their passion, and want to bring contemporary art to the children of Kaua‘i.
They have started by teaching art classes to first- and second-graders, touching upon perspective, the work of inventor Nikola Tesla and experimenting with 3-D paper face sculptures.
E-mail the loquatlounge@hotmail.com if interested in creating a children’s slideshow of contemporary art.
Silver’s exhibit at the Contemporary Museum Ninth Biennial of Hawai‘i Artists will be on display until Jan. 26, 2011. Hugh Russell’s exhibit opens Saturday and runs through Dec. 3 at Alley Kat Art in Kapa‘a.
