Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Favorite Surf Artist (Heather Brown) & Honolulu “First Fridays”


My favorite local artist is Heather Brown. Brown captures Hawaiian surf life through a two dimensional stained glass style. Her acrylic paintings are bold, active and whimsical. A surfer herself, she captures the day to day activities of beach life. Her paintings often include native flowers, trees, and other recognizable landmarks.

The first time I saw her work, I was strolling through art galleries at the monthly “First Friday,” where the streets are packed with strolling crowds and the shops, lounges and stores stay open late in the gentrified Chinatown artist district.

Brown’s canvas oils were hanging on the wall of an obscure shop. I was so struck by the colors and designs of her work that I was planning to buy a painting on the spot. They didn’t have a canvas of the image I wanted, however, and I swayed back and forth on whether or not I wanted to purchase a print. With friends waiting for me outside, I decided to leave Heather Brown behind and enjoy the rest of the evening—including a live demonstrations of five glass blowers churning hot soon-to-be vases on a tiny street corner.

It was ridiculously dangerous to have five adults twirling hot molten on long metal rods within a small roped off area. As we shook our heads in disbelief, we knew there were looming accidents just waiting to happen. Indeed the glass storefront of Mark’s Art Gallery shattered from the heat of the molten glass. Oh well, that’s Hawaii for you. Easy come, easy go. Do whateva’ until something go broke.

[for background on Heather Brown click on my posted "comment" to this entry]

1 comment:

mainlandgal said...

Someone recently equated Heather Brown and I as similar. Apparently the background on Brown is that she was an art student at a prestigious art school on the mainland. She was frustrated at the institutional constraints that were molding her and forcing her to "do art" a certain way. She dropped out and started to sell her art as is in Hawaii. Now her popularity has grown and she's found her success by being authentically herself and letting her work speak for itself. It was commented that Brown knew her internal worth enough to step away from the institution, and had faith enough in her art as is and didn't need validation from the limiting constraints of art school.