Letter to Members and Supporters

Dear Members and Friends of Honolulu Printmakers,

Almost 30 years ago, the Honolulu Academy of Arts invited the Honolulu Printmakers to take up residence in the newly-renovated Linekona School. Trustee Henry Clarke and then-director George Ellis saw the value of having a grassroots creative community embedded within their institution and understood how we would help open up the Museum to a more diverse population and breathe life into the nascent Academy Art Center. As a de-facto nonprofit-in-residence we did just that, contributing significant energy to that place through our open studio, exhibitions, workshops, and outreach programs. Over the last three decades tens of thousands of people have attended or been impacted by our events and operations. We’re proud of our contributions and grateful for the long-term collaboration.

You may have heard that the Honolulu Museum of Art intends to close Linekona for extensive renovations in the near future, and after multiple discussions with leadership at the Museum, it seems the best path forward for all involved is for the Honolulu Printmakers to secure a new studio space as soon as possible. We will establish a vibrant, independent, and permanent home for Honolulu Printmakers, where we can fully develop our programming and continue to fulfill our mission.

Prior to establishing the Honolulu Printmaking Workshop at the old gas station at Honolulu Community College, there was no community-access printmaking studio available to members of Honolulu Printmakers. Although there were private presses and institutional studios over the decades, the organization had for years existed as a virtual entity, supporting print culture through their exhibitions, the Gift Print project, and by hosting visiting artists in collaboration with institutions such as The Academy and UH Manoa.

(at left, the now-demolished gas station on Dillingham Blvd.; at right, the nascent HPW studio.)

As a member or friend of ours no doubt you’re aware of the good work that the Honolulu Printmakers is known for, but I’ll reiterate it here. Our mission is to promote print culture in Honolulu and throughout the state of Hawaii, with the goal of nurturing a sustainable creative community within which artists can realize their potential through print. We accomplish this through community outreach and education, a high-caliber exhibition and visiting artist program, and perhaps most importantly, our community-access printmaking studio, the only one of it’s kind in the state. 

That last bit is crucial: a physical space where the community can come together (socially-distanced these days, of course) and which supports the artistic and professional development of local artists of all ages and backgrounds. 

Honolulu Printmakers has been hammering out a vision of an expanded scope of programming and operations that puts artists first and positions printmaking as a unique and powerful tool for individual and community development and expression. To do this we need a physical space that is large and flexible enough to accommodate our technical requirements, and within which we can expand our goals for education and outreach, and grow our exhibition and visiting artist programs. We have been thinking along these lines for a couple of years, and have developed a sustainable plan for programming, which, with a little creativity, we can quickly refresh and implement in light of the current pandemic. There’s no reason why Honolulu shouldn't have a world-class, independent print center supporting the technical needs of a diverse local arts community while hosting innovative exhibitions and visiting artists from around the Pacific Rim. 

In the early nineteen-nineties, Honolulu Printmakers and the Honolulu Printmaking Workshop merged as they established the studio in the Academy Art Center at Linekona School, providing a crucial home-base for print culture to flourish. In the ensuing decades HP brought energy and life to Linekona as we nurtured a creative community centered on print.

(at left, moving presses into Linekona around 1993, for which we completed structural and electrical upgrades; at right, the crowd spilling out at the opening reception of our 2020 Annual Exhibition.)

Frankly, what we really need now is someone, or a few people, who want to help us move on to our next chapter, who want to see something truly remarkable established in this town — something community-focused, artist-run and artist-oriented, independent from existing institutions. We will soon share this news with the greater Honolulu community as well, casting a wide net for leads on a space and support. 

We have scheduled a Zoom talk story session on Saturday, August 22, at 3:00 pm, and invite all members and friends of Honolulu Printmakers to join in to ask questions and brainstorm about next steps. You are a valuable part of the organization, and we want to include you throughout this transition. Please see the invite information below. If you have specific questions or connections to share, please feel free to email beforehand so we can have a productive and positive conversation about the future of Honolulu Printmakers. 

Regards,

Duncan Dempster, Executive Director

Honolulu Printmakers Board of Directors

Hannah Craft, Jeffrey Davis, Brady Evans, Paul Anthony Galang, Vince Hazen, Leslie Hopf, Alan Levy, Elizabeth Lowrey, Marcia Pasqua, Dieter Runge, April Sham, John McCaskill, Paul Weissman, Yuhuan Zhang

Join us on Saturday, August 22, at 3:00 pm

https://zoom.us/j/2756382809?pwd=ZnhBMlBDRTRETE1Wc2c5cFFLNDFaZz09

Honolulu Printmakers Will Reopen on 7/16/20!

Honolulu Printmakers is thrilled to announce that we will be re-opening with a modified schedule on July 16, 2020! Access to our studio will be by appointment only, on Thursdays (10-6), Fridays (10-9), Saturdays (10-9), and Sundays (10-6).

In order to open safely, we have instituted a system of exclusive working zones that keep studio users physically separate, we will require mask use at all times, and we will have a regular schedule for cleaning and disinfecting commonly touched surfaces. At any given time a maximum of 4 printmakers can be working, spread across 1500 square feet of studio, separated by closed doors. All payments and transactions will be handled via our website. In the event that an open studio user gets sick, we will automatically close the studio for 2 days for cleaning and sanitizing. We are committed to keeping both our studio volunteers and our members well, and will not compromise on health and safety precautions.

Those interested in making a reservation to work in Open Studio can do so here. Please get in touch if you need any assistance with the reservation process or have questions about our new Open Studio policies or health and safety issues.

At this stage, things obviously have to be a little restricted in terms of open hours, maximum capacity, etc. Our hope is that we’ll be able to modify some of these conditions over the next several months and provide more access in support of our members’ needs. It’s a start, let’s see how it goes…

Honolulu Printmakers -- virtual community

The Honolulu Printmakers has taken its first steps towards adopting videotelephony as a means to maintain connections with our members and the larger print community. This technology — video conferencing using such platforms as Zoom, Google Meet, and others — is familiar to many but is new to some of us, including this writer, and is proving to be a critical tool for communication within and beyond our organization. Something of a pandemic cliche at this point, the videoconference nevertheless has great potential for community building for Honolulu Printmakers.

On April 25 we held our Annual Meeting via Google Meet. I’m happy to report that we actually had a record turn out, and attendees seemed genuinely grateful for even this remote connection to their community. The purpose of these annual meetings is to approve a new board of directors (see them here) as well as for the Treasurer and Executive Director to deliver their annual reports. Google Meet allowed us to get these routine business tasks accomplished, but also provided a much-needed human element and a modicum of fellowship, however mediated. By the way, if you missed the meeting, you can get in touch for a link to watch the archived video.

The current Board of Directors has adopted videoconferencing in order to continue the governance of the organization via monthly zoom meetings. The first such meeting was on May 6, and despite a few glitches, was genuinely productive. As time goes on I think this will prove to be an invaluable tool for accessibility and inclusivity, as well as productivity, as it allows board members to work more efficiently around busy schedules and stay connected while traveling or even living off-island.

Videoconferencing has also been a handy tool as we begin to develop online content for our members. I recently conducted two interviews with past jurors and visiting artists, and was able to record the discussions, then edit them and upload them to youtube (did you know we had a youtube channel?). You can watch my zoom interviews with Sonnenzimmer (Nadine Nakanishi & Nick Butcher, jurors in 2015) and Jeffrey Dell (2019) here and here; please go check them out, and hit “subscribe” to get updates on future uploads.

There’s quite a bit of interesting work being done online right now involving arts education, presentation, and organizing, with the goal of improved community engagement in these uncertain times. Would you be interested in attending printmaking discussions, demonstrations, or other programming and “events” via videoconferencing? Get in touch with your ideas, or leave them as a comment below.

Regards,

Duncan

Honolulu Printmakers... at home

In-between Times.

I hope this message finds all of you healthy and staying home during these uncertain times. Like everyone else, Honolulu Printmakers has been forced to adjust, postpone, and generally change everything about how we’re operating. With our studio closed and our regular programming on hiatus we’re actively searching for ways to continue our mission and provide value and and service to our members. Please stay tuned, and get in touch if you have some ideas to share. I strongly encourage you to follow us on instagram if you don’t already. It’s the most immediate channel of communication we have right now and is a great way to get updates on our activities. As things change, you’ll hear about it first there.

Annual Meeting on 4/25/20 and a new board of directors.

In spite of the current situation, our Annual Meeting must go on! We’re mandated by our bylaws to hold an annual meeting for our membership, during which we ratify a new board of directors for the coming fiscal year, as well as receive annual and treasurer’s reports about the past year. Of course we’ll have to do things a bit differently this year.

First off, we will be providing all current members an opportunity to vote on the proposed slate for the 2020-21 board via an online form, beginning now, up until April 22. The proposed slate and voting form are located here:

honoluluprintmakers.org/2020-board-of-directors

Please note you must be a current member in good standing to vote. If you need to check on your membership status, please get in touch (and renew here if you need to!). The voting period will end on 4/22/20.

Secondly, as we cannot assemble in person as usual we will be holding a video conference meeting using Google’s Meet service on Saturday, April 25, at 4 pm. The purpose of doing this is to provide connections for our membership, however mediated, and to maintain some sense of community. In the meeting I will present my annual report; our treasurer Paul Weissman will present his financial report; we’ll thank our out-going board members and welcome the new ones (vote before 4/22 please); and we’ll take a moment to reflect on some recent projects from the past year. I hope many of you will join us!

MEMBERS: to join in our meeting on the the 25th, you must opt-in via the same board of directors voting form above.

If you haven’t used Google Meet before it’s very simple, doesn’t require you to download any software or have a google account, and you can even join the meeting via telephone if you have connectivity issues. You will need a computer or mobile device connected to the internet with reasonable bandwidth if you want watch. We will be sending out detailed instructions in the next week or so for those who would like to participate. Our goal is to make this as accessible as possible for all of our members, so we will try our best to get everyone connected. In addition, we will be recording the whole thing for those who miss it.

We need each other, please stay in touch!

We want to stay connected with all of you so please reach out if you have questions, comments, or ideas on how we can continue to promote print culture together and help our members through this time. We also really appreciate all of our members standing by us at this time. We will get to the other side of this crisis, and when that happens we will have your ongoing support to thank for ensuring that Honolulu Printmakers continues on in our 10th decade! The main ways you can help are by staying engaged (join us on the 25th!); by renewing your membership online; by making a tax-deductible donation at any time via this link (FYI we also participate in Amazon’s smile program for charitable giving - designate us as the nonprofit of your choice); or even by buying some socks from our online store.

Thanks, and stay safe!

Duncan Dempster