If the aim of art is to lift our spirits to live softer, gentler lives connected to the natural world, Harry Wishard’s oil paintings hit the bull’s eye. His paintings capture the 18th and 19th century beauty of Hawaii before modern civilization left its imprint. As viewers transported to this earlier time we can’t help but question if modernization helped or hindered island life.  

A recent visitor to the gallery commented, “A part of Harry Wishard lived several hundred years ago.” Her observation was insightful. Wishard’s representational paintings don’t simply give us a historical glimpse of old Hawaii. They transport us into that world. There is a keen intimacy between the painter and his subject that is startlingly apparent. As viewers we are ushered into this almost sacred realm where Hawaiian heritage connects with the land or aina.  

(Above) Harry Wishard, Pohaku Opio (Hanalei), 2010, 20×30″ available as Giclee on canvas fine arts magazine  

Unlike viewers of Edouard Manet’s Luncheon on the Grass, we are neither caught off-guard nor embarrassed by Wishard’s scenes. Awe, reverence, and respect are our responses. If great art is autobiographical, Wishard’s paintings tell his story. Growing up on a plantation in Hawaii, Wishard lived a Huckleberry Finn existence—hunting, fishing, hiking, surfing and painting. It is this natural landscape of his childhood innocence where he is most comfortable. His paintings beckon us to follow him deep into the forest, to crouch on a stream rock overlooking a vast canyon, to fly like a seagull into lush waterfalls, and to feel the surf tumble at our feet.  

What keeps his paintings from being sentimental or simply nostalgic? His realistic style is meticulously accurate in foliage, geography, atmosphere, color and light. Using the centuries old glazing process of the masters, which he learned as a boy by watching his uncle, renowned artist Lloyd Sexton, he recreates forest terrains, stream beds, and ocean scenes he has explored all his life. Although related to Sexton by marriage, Wishard is self-taught.  

His limited formal training may also be what keeps his art fresh. He continually experiments with painting techniques and insists on having fun with his subjects. Recently he began using an abbreviated form of pointillism and the vivid colors of the California Impressionists. Clearly his images have become lighter and brighter over the years.  

Although Wishard depicts idealized scenes of long ago, his personal love of the islands and the vantage point he selects for his paintings immerse us directly into his scenes. As observers we are always clear where we are in the painting—waist deep in the waves, walking along a forest trail, or at the top of a lava formed hillside (pu’u). This double connection: first between the painter and his scene, and secondly between the viewer and the painting is present in the best Wishard works.  

As viewers we are transported inside the painting until we feel our spirits join hands with Wishard and journey back to our true island home. His framed paintings literally function as windows of a world of long ago where panoramic vistas of snow capped mountains fall into lush canyon walls and blush colored Ohia trees.  

Wishard’s art translates into a desire to conserve and preserve all that is unique to the islands. The best of his paintings literally take our breath away so that for a moment we can feel the wind against our cheek and the water lapping at our feet.  

Wishard Gallery is host to other ground-breaking artists as well; notable among them are wood workers Elmer Adams and Tai Lake, sculptor Holly Young, photographers Michael Cromwell and Julie Eliason, and fellow painters Lynn Capell and Edwin Kayton.  

Recently deceased wood turner Elmer Adams has several pieces in the gallery. Using massive logs of Mango, Milo, and Cook Pine, Adams created gigantic Mediterranean style vases measuring over 40” tall, 70” in circumference, and weighing less than 10 pounds!  To do this he custom built a lathe made to handle the weight and large logs. He devised a series of 2” X 3” steel beams with a hollowing tool the size of a pencil attached to the end. These allowed him to hollow out wood length weighing up to 170 pounds from a distance of eleven feet. The results are stunningly light, graceful, yet massive wooden vessels.  

Preeminent Koa craftsman Tai Lake is also represented in the gallery. Tai’s work tours with the SOFA shows. You only have to look at his Koa table to understand why he was chosen President of the Hawaii Wood Guild and the Hawaii Forest Industry Association. Tai designs and builds fine furniture from island hardwoods and from the Koa forest project he manages in Kailua-Kona. His work has received numerous awards, and images of his work have been published nationally.  

The Koa dining table in the gallery is over 90” inches long and 40” wide. Aside from the Ebony inlay, there is not a ninety degree angle anywhere. Every edge of this red Koa table is slightly curved. The legs are fashioned after a Kyoto temple and allow for people seated at the corners to have ample leg room. Although large in dimension, this classic table is both elegant and unassuming. His dining table chair legs and back duplicate the arc of the table leg creating an overall unity to the set.  

Sculptress Holly Young uses bronze and marble to build life size monuments, as well as portraits, reliefs and abstracts. A former biochemist, Young’s work has gone from the chemical to the realms of the alchemist. Her sculptures capture the harmony, gratitude and peace she feels when sculpting.  

Photographer Michael Cromwell’s work is reminiscent of Georgia O’Keefe canvases in size and focus, but his subject is Hawaiian flora. Julie Eliason uses her marine biologist background to strengthen her sea images and to create unique borders for her photographic paintings. (Photos on right, left-to-right: Julie Eliason, Dancing Light; Michael Cromwell, Amber Night Bloom)  

Lynn Capell loads her oil brush and palette knife for her mason board paintings. Gauguin and Hawaiian artist Madge Tennet appear to have influenced Capell. Her paintings depict modern scenes with a relaxed but haunting loneliness. Loosely painted couples cling together in a dance hall amid dim lights. A girl lounges in bed with a TV in the foreground. Seascapes are un-peopled.  

Prize winning Edwin Kayton uses muted tones to capture the Hawaiian cowboy “paniolo” life. Pau Hana (“finished work”) shows the back of the cowboy as he and his horse gallop toward home. Comin’ in Outta the Rain, one of his most popular paintings, unites horse and cowboy as they struggle against pouring rain.  

By Nancy Slain, Guest Contributor  

Wishard Gallery, Parker Ranch Center, Waimea, Hawaii  

Representing over 30 different artists, Wishard Gallery is definitely the place to visit, when you come to the Big Island of Hawaii, or at our website www.wishardgallery.com. For further information or to view more artists and their work, contact Nancy Slain at art@wishardgallery.com, or by phone at (808) 887-2278. [Right: Wishard’s, The Front Yard (2010), 30 x 40”]