Hawaii Tribune-Herald Celebration ofART Wailoa Center beginning 50th year with cultural, historical exhibits 2017marks the start of Wailoa Center’s 50th anniversary, and center director Codie King says there will be fun and interactive exhibits planned all year. “My goal is to make every month a special celebration within the context of each exhibit,” King said. “We have returning yearly exhibits and are adding new exhibits this year to enhance our calendar.” Two new exhibits will be on display this month: “Burnt Rice,” which features works mostly of contemporary artists from San Francisco in the main gallery through Jan. 26, and a model of the Wailoa River State Recreation Area prior to 1960 in the Fountain Gallery through Feb. 23. The latter exhibit took two years to complete and features the town of Shinmachi and everything in the current footprint of the park. “1959 Before the Tsunami: 50 Years Later” includes scale models, aerial photographs and maps. “William Sewell is the artist who took up the challenge of creating a 1/375 scale model of the Wailoa River State Recreation Area prior to 1960,” King explains. “He spent most of the last two years researching the area through aerial photographs, internet searches, personal interviews and digging into many sources to try to answer questions that came up in the process.” The idea for the model began when King started thinking about what she could do that would be special and educational for the public in celebration of Wailoa Center. “I have been involved with Wailoa Center now for 20 years and a recurring question by visitors and members of the community not old enough to remember is, ‘This is such a beautiful area. What was here before there was a park?’ “I could only say that the town of Shinmachi was damaged by the 1946 By KATIE YOUNG YAMANAKA Special to the Tribune-Herald See WAILOA Page 8
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