PO‘IPU — The lotus bloom, weathering the gusty winds, tied the Women Artists of Kaua‘i “Paint Our Garden” sold-out workshops Sunday and the upcoming “Moonlight and Music in the Garden” fundraiser for the National Tropical Botanical Garden. “We’re painting flowers
PO‘IPU — The lotus bloom, weathering the gusty winds, tied the Women Artists of Kaua‘i “Paint Our Garden” sold-out workshops Sunday and the upcoming “Moonlight and Music in the Garden” fundraiser for the National Tropical Botanical Garden.
“We’re painting flowers today,” said Marionette Taboniar of Women Artists of Kaua‘i Sunday, looking up from helping a student in the Paint Our Garden workshop at the NTBG. “One of them is a lotus which is blooming in the gardens.”
Taboniar was joined by Patrice Pendarvis who worked with students in creating watercolor landscapes. Both subjects were inspired by the surroundings of the NTBG South Shore Visitor Center.
“Both classes are sold out,” Taboniar said. “And the weather is cooperating. We’ll have a lot of good pieces.”
Jim Thacker of Reno, Nevada, sat patiently under the boughs of a nearby monkeypod tree, taking in the serenity of the garden after driving from Princeville so his wife could take the class.
“My wife, Momi, has an interest and signed up,” Jim said. “She has taught herself a lot of different things. She belongs to a hula halau in Reno where they perform at the Atlantis Hotel on Friday and Saturday night. She’s done art before, but this is different.”
Taboniar said the Women Artists of Kaua‘i haven’t scheduled any future classes at the NTBG.
“They tell us when they want to do one, but they have their ‘Moonlight and Music’ event this weekend,” Taboniar said.
The Women Artists of Kaua‘i will be hosting a Silent Art Auction on Sept. 14-16 to benefit Nana’s House and Hale Ho‘omalu, both family support centers and food pantries serving the Westside and Eastside.
Taboniar said the opening reception is Sept. 14 from 5 to 9 p.m. at the Kaua‘i Society of Artists spot at the Kukui Grove Center and will feature a silent auction with the winners being announced at 8 p.m.
All of the proceeds from the silent art auction will go to the charity beneficiaries. During the art exhibit, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sept. 15 and 16, 20 percent of the sales will be donated to the beneficiary agencies.
Visit www.womenartistsofkauai.org, or call 631-9173 for more information on the silent art auction.
NTBG is offering tickets for its “Moonlight and Music” fundraising event at $150.
The event will be hosted in the McBryde garden on Saturday starting at 6 p.m. The price of admission includes pupu, a buffet dinner, wine and beer, music and a visit to the auction area.
“The Bond Boys will play for guests who dance barefooted under the moonlight, or under the tent, if they prefer,” said Donna Wilcox, in an NTBG email. “A walk through the heliconia garden, magically lit for the evening, is another treat.”
Wilcox said each of the items for the auction was created especially for the garden, including some specially blended wines which fill giant bottles that were hand-painted by San Francisco Bay Area artist Michel Robles who visited the garden earlier this year.
A Salmanazar, the largest bottle holding nine liters, or one case of wine, depicts the Moreton Bay fig tree growing by the Lawa‘i stream that used in the filming of “Jurassic Park,” Wilcox said.
“The wine in the bottle is a special blend from winemaker Rob Simon of Ficklin Vineyard,” Wilcox said. “He has assembled a wonderfully complex lberian blend for this one.”
The Mermaid Fountain graces the Methuzaleh, a six-liter bottle which is filled with an exclusive 2010 Tempranillo.
Robles selected a lotus blossom for the Jeroboam, the smallest of the large format bottles at three liters. The bottle contains 2010 Tinta Cao, a red wine similar in characteristics to Cabernet Franc, but normally used for port, Wilcox said. In this case, it is a dry style and will be ready to drink in three to five years.
Also included in the auction is a bottle of the 1957 Vintage Port made by Peter Ficklin’s father. He donated the bottle from his own personal cellar following a visit to the garden earlier this year.
Other items include a private dinner by celebrity chef Adam Seger, a birdhouse made to specifications to look like the winner’s home, paintings by regional artists, trips to New York and San Francisco, VIP visits to other botanical gardens, Trek bicycles and more.
“The auction committee is made up of volunteers who all share of deep appreciation for what the NTBG can do for the world,” Wilcox said. “The efforts to save plants from extinction may one day find the cure for a disease. At the very least, it saves the plants in the library and seed bank. The Breadfruit Institute has shortened the time a tree is planted until it bears fruit, the fruit is so high in carbohydrates it could help tropical countries stave off hunger. The institute is shipping the trees as fast as it can.”
Visit www.moonlightmusic.ntbg.org, or call 332-6500 for tickets. Visit www.ntbg.org for more information on the NTBG.
∫ Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@ thegardenisland.com.
