Upcoming exhibit features works from Schaefer Portrait Challenge 2025

A signature of Maui Arts and Cultural Center, the Schaefer Portrait Challenge, has been held as a triennial since 2003. This year’s challenge will mark the eighth iteration of this statewide juried exhibition, which presents the unique diversity of the people of the Hawaiian Islands through explorations in portraiture.

The jurors from this year’s event have selected works by 40 artists from Maui, Hawai‘i Island, Lāna‘i, O‘ahu, and Kaua‘i. Portraits from the following artists will be featured in the Schaefer International Gallery from Jan. 14 through March 22, 2025:

• Adare
• Neida B. Bangerter
• Arnold Bornios
• Mike Carroll
• Jodie Chock
• Eddie Flotte
• Ingrid Frégeau
• Jett Green
• Barclay Hill
• Jon Hunt
• Ildiko Istvan
• Camille Izumi-Page
• Joyce Jeffers
• Eduardo Joaquin
• MinChong Kim
• Jairus Kiyabu
• Gloria Kniazky
• Kirk Kurokawa
• Lynn Liverton
• Charles Lowrie
• Richie Lucero
• Laurna Malkovich
• Ethel Mann
• Deborah Masterson
• Rachel Melander
• Patrick Mizumoto
• Penny Nichols
• Jennifer Owen
• Challys Pascual
• Abbie Rabinowitz
• Mona Rinaldo
• Nichol Robinson
• Wendy Romanchak
• Joyce Schaunaman
• Sakiko Shinkai
• Damian Smith
• Kathleen Storm
• Eve Teraoka
• Devi Town
• Albert Weight

The challenge has three substantial cash prices, including:

• The Jurors’ Choice Award for $15,000, sponsored by Carolyn Schaefer and selected by jurors;
• The Gene Freedman Artists’ Choice Award for $5,000, sponsored by the Eugene and Ruth Freedman Family Foundation and selected by vote of SPC 2025 exhibiting artists;
• And the Ruth Freedman People’s Choice Award for $5,000, sponsored by the Eugene and Ruth Freedman Family Foundation and selected by popular vote of gallery visitors.

The jurors of the Schaefer Portrait Challenge are:

• Sonnet Coggins, executive director at The Merwin Conservancy, Maui
• Mina Elison, curator at Donkey Mill Art Center, Hawai‘i Island
• Wendy Kawabata, professor of art at University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, Oʻahu