CALL FOR ARTISTS FOR:

"Ten Years of Changing Minds": Breaking Barriers, the title of the 10th annual juried exhibition, aims to refute the stigma of mental illness. Artists with and without disabilities, statewide, will be featured in the show in the Mezzanine Gallery, Honolulu Museum of Art Center at Linekona in May 2012. The public is invited to the Artists Reception. Light refreshments served.

VSA Hawaii and the Adult Mental Health Division (AMHD) with the University of Hawaii Center on Disability Studies have annually sponsored the event for a decade.
"We applaud this important show of work by artists with and without disabilities willing to use their art to dispel negativity to end discrimination against people with mental illness," said Jim Mihalke, VSA Hawaii president of the board.

"Fear and misinformation about mental illness is often shaped by sensationalized media coverage of tragic events," said Mihalke who is also affiliated with the Hawaii chapter of the National Association on Mental Illness (NAMI).

"People with mental illness become ashamed to seek mental health treatment and those already in treatment are often further marginalized," he said.

The goal of the exhibit is to give a positive voice and visibility to all individuals whose lives, directly or indirectly, have been affected by a mental illness. For more information on the exhibition, contact Kathleen O'Bryan, Creative Director, 808-469-6651 or vsahawaii@gmail.com

The VSA  Playwright Discovery Program invites middle and high school students to take a closer look at the world around them, examine how a disability affects their lives and the lives of others, and express their views through the art of play writing. 

Young playwrights may write from their own experience , the life of another person,  or a fictional character.

Scripts can be comedies, dramas, or even musicals--be creative! 

Young playwrights with and without disabilities are encouraged to submit a script . Entries may be the work of an individual student or a collaboration by a group of up to five students.

To download the 2012 Application form and submission rules and procedures in PDF format CLICK HERE!

Weavers will be demonstrating their fine craft at the VSA Hawaii exhibitor table at 2012 Pacific Rim Conference, March 26-27, 8am-5pm, Convention Center, Honolulu

The KOLEA brand symbolizes Hawaii working artists with disabilities in their "way finding" to a better life through the making of fine art and cultural crafts.

More to come...watch for VSA Hawaii artist and craft products on our website gallery page....SOON!

Introduction to Supported
Self-Employment in a
Creative and Cultural Crafts Production Studio
Academy of Art Center at Linekona
Feb. 1- Dec. 31, 2012
1-5 p.m., Mon.-Wed.-Fri. Tues., - Thurs. 2-5 p.m.

• Creative Development in Fine Art and Cultural Craft
•    Start-to-Finish Production Technical Assistance
•    Retail Sales and Wholesale Marketing at “Made In Hawai‘i”
•    Small Group and/or Individual Projects — Self Paced Project
•    Drawing, Painting, Weaving and Sewing (looms, Lauhala), Ceramics (handbuilding/press molds), Block printing

Appointments and Registration (DVR referral required)
Contact Susan Miller 295-0659 • millers@hawaii.edu