Call to artists for 20th annual Mālama Wao Akua Exhibition

Hui No‘eau Visual Arts Center and East Maui Watershed Partnership (EMWP) have announced its call to Maui artists of all ages to submit artwork for the 20th annual Mālama Wao Akua Exhibition. 

Mālama Wao Akua is a juried fine art exhibition honoring and bringing awareness to the native plant and animal species of Maui Nui. Entry is open to Maui artists working in any medium with entry divisions for adults, as well as elementary, middle, and high school students. Artwork must depict species native to Maui Nui (Maui, Lānaʻi, Moloka‘i, Kaho‘olawe), a landscape showcasing only native Maui Nui species, or people working to protect Maui’s native species and native habitats. Artists are invited to enter up to three pieces each.

Artwork receiving day for this year’s exhibition will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 3 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Hui No‘eau’s Makawao campus. Artists must complete an online registration form prior to dropping off artwork on receiving day, online registration will open on Aug. 20. A full prospectus and entry forms can be found online.

A jurying team with expertise in both art and conservation will select among this year’s entries. Hui No‘eau and EMWP welcome Mike Takemoto, visual artist and associate professor of Art at the University of Hawai‘i Maui College, and Kat M. Lui, former EMWP Community Outreach and Education liaison (2003-2009) as the 2024 exhibition jurors.  

Mike Takemoto received a BFA in Drawing, Painting, and Printmaking from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. He earned an MA and an MFA in Studio Art from Northern Illinois University. Takemoto has exhibited his paintings, prints, murals, sculptures, and installations nationally and at various locations in Hawai‘i, including the Honolulu Museum of Art, the East Hawai‘i Cultural Center, the Maui Arts and Cultural Center, the Wailoa Center, the Downtown Art Center, and the Hui Noʻeau Visual Arts Center. At UHMC, Takemoto is the program coordinator of the Art Department and teaches courses in art appreciation, drawing, painting, and printmaking. 

Kat Lui is a wildlife biologist/botanist-turned-acupuncturist who comes from a family of artists. She fell in love with the magic and mystery of “Wao Akua” when she worked with the now-extinct Po‘ouli and other endangered songbirds of East Maui, in 2001. In 2004, while serving as the Community Outreach and Education liaison for East Maui Watershed Partnership, she was inspired to take Connie J. Adam’s watercolor class and paint an ‘Ākohekohe. Unsatisfied with how the piece turned out, she wondered if there was a way to harness the talents of local artists to capture the magnificence and fragility of Maui’s native flora and fauna. Hence, she created the Mālama Wao Akua juried art exhibition and ran it until 2009.

Mālama Wao Akua will be on display to the public from Sept. 13 through Nov. 8 at Hui No’eau with an opening celebration to be held on Friday, Sept. 13 from 5 to 8 p.m. For more information about Mālama Wao Akua, visit malamawaoakua.org or huinoeau.com/exhibitions.

This year’s exhibition is sponsored by the County of Maui and Hawai‘i Tourism Authority.