Sarah Spurgeon Gallery to feature Native Hawaiian artist in new exhibit

The Sarah Spurgeon Gallery at Central Washington University will host a solo exhibition by Native Hawaiian artist Lehuauakea over the next month.

The opening events for I Nā Kiʻekiʻe Hou: To New Heights are scheduled for Thursday, October 3, with an artist talk from 4-5 p.m. in Randall Hall, room 117, followed by a reception in the Sarah Spurgeon Gallery (Randall Hall, room 141) from 5-7 p.m.

Lehuauakea is an interdisciplinary artist from Pāpaʻikou on the Big Island of Hawaii. Their work has been displayed internationally, and is held in many prominent collections, including the Portland Art Museum, Meta Open Arts, the National Gallery of Victoria, the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art, the Forge Project Collection, and the Museum of International Folk Art, among others. They earned their Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in painting with a minor in art and ecology from the Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland.

While their work is rooted in traditional customs with histories going back thousands of years, they also envision the practice of contemporary kapa-making evolving into new forms that tell new stories.

As a result, this exhibition showcases a wide variety of techniques, materials, and forms that blur the line between traditional and contemporary. These pieces seek to reimagine the limits of kapa as a material and its role as a mode of storytelling through fiber, pigment, and pattern.

I Nā Kiʻekiʻe Hou: To New Heights will remain on display through November 2. Sarah Spurgeon Gallery is open weekdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Saturdays from 1-5 p.m. The gallery is closed on Sundays.