LIHUE — The unveiling of a new gallery highlighted Friday’s opening reception for the Kauai Society of Artists. “The space has a nice eddy to it, the other place was more static,” said Carol Bennett, an artist from Omao who
LIHUE — The unveiling of a new gallery highlighted Friday’s opening reception for the Kauai Society of Artists.
“The space has a nice eddy to it, the other place was more static,” said Carol Bennett, an artist from Omao who has three pieces on display at the gallery in the Kukui Grove Shopping Center.
Bennett has spent the better part of two decades traveling back and forth from Los Angeles to Kauai, and her art has always found a home at the KSA gallery.
“KSA has been very nomadic; I’ve been in a few places with them,” Bennett said. “There’s such a lack of venues, really, out there, (that) to have the KSA venues has been amazing.”
Bennett’s pieces were three of about 120 entries KSA received for this year’s ART Kauai showcase. Half of them were chosen for display in the new gallery by juror Joelle Perz of Maui.
“The juror really put her heart into this show and she placed every piece of artwork so carefully,” said Licia Mcdonald, KSA president.
The new location, in the former home of Pictures Plus, is just down the mall from the place KSA occupied for 15 years.
Mcdonald said the new space, which received some tender loving care over the past six weeks from members of KSA, is going to be a great location for the gallery.
“We literally just had moved in and we had to paint and build a storage area, have the carpets cleaned and make it look like a gallery in time for our biggest show of the year,” Mcdonald said. “It all worked out.”
Throughout the new space, located near Foot Locker, gallery visitors will find sculptures, paintings and photographs, all original works from Kauai artists.
Among those artists was Terri Scarbourough of Lihue, who creates images with hundreds of small pieces of colored paper.
“This space is more open and there are more windows so people can look in — that’s good for a gallery,” Scarbourough said. “This place is more within the flow of things, too. The other place was a bit out of the way for people, sort of tucked into the corner.”
Entries in the ART Kauai event will be displayed in the new KSA gallery until Oct. 28. The gallery is open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Fridays.
