Geoffrey Mundon, demonstrates printmaking techniques to a group of students. (Photo courtesy of Tom Mehau | WAG)

MEDIA RELEASE

Waimea Artists’ Guild (WAG) offers a series of workshops for all ages, Ohana in the Arts, launching this month in its new Waimea studio space.

All classes take place on Fridays: 5-6:30 p.m. for children 6-12, and 7-9 p.m. for age 13 through adults.

Currently, Geoffrey Mundon is teaching a four-part Printmaking Workshop on Fridays March 23-April 6. Using natural forms and cultural symbols with varying print techniques, Mundon shares his skills and inspires students from first-timers to advanced artists, in the WAG studio.

The cost is $20 per class for the Printmaking Workshop, and students may attend one or all class sessions in the series.

Mundon completed the Hawaiian arts program at HOEA (Hawaiian Ohana for Education in the Arts) in 2011 and currently focuses mostly on bone jewelry and printmaking.

Typically, he works “on the fly” with anything available to capture those fleeting, otherworldy moments that happen daily. Compelled to build a kind of vocabulary for that and for the personal connections he makes, he says it makes him feel a little more rooted in this world and a little more cosmopolitan in other realms. He’s thrilled when it turns into art.

The next Ohana in the Arts Workshop takes place April 20-May 18, when Marshall Leonard Kary, Jr., teaches a four-week course in Visual Fundamentals at the WAG studio.

A professional artist and photographer, Kary is also an instructor at the UH West Hawaii Campus. He will explore with students the dynamics of drawing, including line form, texture and shape, using a variety of tools and papers.

In June, Toma Barboza presents a five-week woodworking course, on five Fridays, beginning June 1. Barboza guides students through their first project — carving a fishhook — while learning techniques and tools. He then helps carvers select and create other cultural implements for additional projects, based on their own interests.

Also in June & July, WAG presents its Summer Session classes, an exciting and inspiring series, with a wide variety of media, including Oil Painting with Patrick Ching, Relief Printmaking with Harinani Orme, and Cultural Jewelry with Stacy Gordine (beginners and advanced).

Summer Session courses are multi-day workshops at the WAG Workspace. Further information is available on the website.

WAG is located in the industrial complex adjacent to Mama’s House thrift store, just past NAPA Auto. The Guild was created by graduates of HOEA, the Hawaiian Ohana for Education in the Arts, whose mission is to “increase the number, accessibility, and visibility of Native Hawaiian Arts and Artists.”

Although Native Hawaiian ancestry is not required for membership in the Waimea Artists Guide, sensitivity for cultural themes, materials and practices is of primary concern in the operation of the program.

For additional information, contact: Beth or Tom Mehau at 887-2289, email waimeaartists@gmail.com or visit www.waimeaartistsguild.com