6 | FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2017 BIG ISLAND ENTERTAINMENT SCENE | WEST HAWAII TODAY HIT THE ROAD Printmaker Andrea Pro can spend months on a single piece, bringing the natural world to life at her studio on a 5-acre coffee and macadamia nut farm in Kahaluu. Take her well-known piece, the 32-by-22-inch “The Magical Wiliwili Forest,” for example, which depicts 18 species of trees, shrubs, birds, and insects that populate the dry forest ecosystem. From the earliest stages of sketching a vision to hand carving six woodblocks, layering colors and running it through a press, two months can pass before a final product is complete, she said. “Most people have done linoleum cut prints in school, but what they don’t understand is when an artist develops their work in this medium, they are then carving six blocks to make one print, layering the colors, and running it through a press,” she said. “It’s exciting.” Pro, who found her love for printmaking 18 years ago, will share her excitement for the craft during the South Kona Artists Cooperative, or SOKO, Artists Studio Tour this Saturday and Sunday at various locations stretching from Honaunau to Holualoa. Like many of the other 21 artists participating in this year’s tour, she is opening her studio for a one-of-akind experience where art lovers can not only meet and get to know her, but also see her in action. “That is part of why I am so excited to do a tour and have people come up. Printmaking is very unique and most people kind of know what watercolor is and other various mediums that artists work in, but very few people understand printmaking,” she said. “It’s a process that has a lot of heart to it that people find fascinating.” SOKO is a collective of professional artists comprising painters, potters, sculptors, photographers, jewelers, quilters, glass artists and woodworkers working together to generate opportunities for fine artists to expand their vision and audience. It all started as an idea by artist Linda Purcell Satchell in the summer of 2014 to bring together South Kona artists to create an artists studio tour connecting artists with customers. Along with founding members, photographer Kathleen Carr and painter Pamela Colton Thomas, the idea drew eight artists from South Kona. In the first meetings, the group established a name SOKO — short for South Kona Artists Collective — and went about planning for their first-ever studio tour. “It’s about getting people to realize that the South Kona area is absolutely beautiful and driving around is exciting and there are so many things to see and it helps you to understand why some of the artists work is so good because they live and are immersed in South Kona,” said Linda Savell, one of the participating artist who is also handling publicity for the event. In March 2015, the tour kicked off with 13 artists in six locations spanning from Kainaliu to Honaunau. The second year, the tour featured 16 artists in nine locations from Honaunau to Holualoa. An estimated several hundred people took part in last year’s tour. “It’s been exciting to be part of this. It’s rewarding for everybody — whether it’s the artist or the people on the tour,” said Savell. “The people on the tour really enjoy the fact that they get to see things being done. It’s very good for both — I’ve found over the years that customers really like to meet the artist and we really like to meet them.” This year, 22 artists are taking part in the tour at 11 locations from Holualoa to Honaunau. “This year is going to be more amazing,” Savell said. “And, it’s never really crowded because they come in their own separate cars.” One of the must-stopand sees on the tour is at the Society for Kona’s Education and Art, or SKEA, in Honaunau where seven artists will be showing their work and mingling with attendees, said Savell. “It’s just a neat place to stop because they many artists upstairs in the SKEA building and they just come down for BY CHELSEA JENSEN WEST HAWAII TODAY cjensen@westhawaiitoday.com Salmon Clive, of Kona Clive Tiki, poses while working on one of tikis. Clive is one of 22 artists taking part in SOKO’s third annual Artists Studio Tour this Saturday and Sunday. “Koa” from Andrea Pro’s “Hawaii Heritage Plant Series” is pictured. “Printmaker Pro the Artists “From can SEE SOKO PAGE 9 “Lava Flow into Ocean” by Kathleen T. Carr.
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