HANAPEPE — Jan Hashi fulfilled a life-long dream Friday evening, when Hashi’s Fine Arts in Hanapepe opened it’s doors for the first time.
Kauai Mayor Derek S.K. Kawakami showed up to cut the ribbon. One of Jan’s paintings hangs in his office in Lihue. He bought it last year, when the oil on canvas depiction of a toppling green-blue wave caught his eye at a charity event. Jan said Kawakami spent the better part of an hour asking about her artistic process and inspiration.
On Wednesday morning, Jan and her husband Steve Hashi sat in the space they recently decided to rent and fill with art they created. Here is an excerpted transcript of a conversation they had with The Garden Island’s reporter.
Jan: I love the fact that I can see something and, you can take a picture of it, but the picture doesn’t do it justice. But my brain can, because I can pump those colors in. I know what they were and what I saw, you know? That’s really fun.
You know what you should write about? Steve and I live in Lawai Valley. And we’ve got an old barn behind our house, and that’s where we paint. Steve remodeled it and turned it into a studio for both of us. It’s a really old barn
The only thing that’s kind of funny is, every once in a while, I’ll be working, and I’ll turn around, and I’ll go, Oh!, like i’m gonna bump into somebody. And nobody’s there. So it’s a little bit…spirited.
Steve: The whole valley’s got a bunch of spirits.
Jan: I kind of feel sometimes when I do a painting and I’ll just…I’ll just…it’ll be done! And I’ll look at it like, wow, who painted that? You know what I mean? Maybe you don’t, but sometimes you struggle with paintings. I have many that — or two or three that I just paint over cause I don’t like what they do. And then, sometimes I just get this vision.
Steve: You’ve heard that — being in flow — that term? Athletes have it sometimes — and artists. It’s just when things are happening automatically. You’re not hardly thinking about it.
Jan: You’re not thinking about it, and then you get done. You’re blown away by what it’s telling you.
Steve: So you know, Jan, as an artist, is super versatile. She’ll use water colors. She can use oil. She can use acrylics. She can do abstracts, like these, or more realistic. Super versatile, and she covers the whole range.
Jan: “This is one that was in the flow,” she said, pointing to a large canvas hanging on the wall behind her. “‘Island Sisterhood,’ I call it.”
Three brown female faces rest calm, poised like cats. Their gazes don’t meet those who look at them. The queen in the foreground holds her chin high, above a neck so long and slender that it’s like something in the hazy realm between freakish and beautiful, alternatively sexy and dignified and gross. Her girls lurk in the shadows. Their skin is the color of the sea.
TGI: Well, I’ll tell you, I think that one’s my favorite, personally.
Jan: It’s funny you said that. We had an art critic come in who was buying some art from here for a new building. And this was his favorite, of all. He said, I wish that the theme was something that I could place that painting in.
TGI: Well you can never go wrong decorating with a beautiful woman, and you got three of ‘em there. There ain’t no theme it don’t go with… How much that go for?
Jan: That one is $4,800.
TGI: How many hours of work did it take you? I mean, not counting the thousands and thousands of lifetime hours you put in painting to get to that point?
Jan: That actually took me about a month. But, keep in mind, I only get to paint at night and on the weekends. So it’s not like I can paint 40 hours a week. This one evolved. It started as one thing, and turned into something else.
Jan’s day job is designing kitchens. She likes doing it, but art is her real passion.
TGI: What’s the dream?
Jan: I’m hoping that, within the next five years, i can do this full time. It’s already full-time, but…
But you know what? When we opened, it’s like everybody stepped up to help. The gallery that I was in donated my lighting to me. A friend of mine did my signage out front. My artist friend said she’d cover hours for me. It’s just been…it’s been super easy.
Steve: That’s kind of how Kauai is though. Community, yeah?
Jan: I love the landlord. She’s great to work with. Just everything, kinda, happened.
Steve: It was meant to be.
Jan