Art Is Healing

Featured artists can attend for free by using the promo code ARTIST during ticket checkout.

Join us for the Art is Healing Opening Ceremony, a celebration of creativity and community at Hawaii Island Community Health Center. Guests will enjoy heavy pupus and drinks while browsing and purchasing artwork. This event highlights local artists whose work will become part of the center’s permanent display, promoting healing and inspiration for all who visit.

Setsuko Watanabe and Mina Elison

Setsuko Watanabe, a self-taught artist originally from Kanagawa, Japan, has explored a variety of art forms, from photography and fiber arts to clay, mixed-media painting, and printmaking. Watanabe has exhibited widely and received awards for her work, with pieces in public and corporate collections, including the Hawai‘i State Foundation on Culture and the Arts.

After moving to Hawai‘i in 1970 and marrying Hiroki Morinoue, she founded Studio 7 Fine Arts Gallery, the longest-standing contemporary art gallery in Hawai‘i. She played a key role in the creation of the Donkey Mill Art Center and served as its volunteer program director for over a decade, developing educational programs that continue to shape the center’s youth initiatives.

Watanabe was also a pivotal organizer of the 2017 International Mokuhanga Conference, bringing Japanese woodblock printmaking to Hawai‘i. Throughout her career, she has been a passionate advocate for art education and cultural community building.

Mina Elison is a Kanaka ‘Ōiwi curator who was born and raised in Kailua on the island of O‘ahu. With generational ties to South Kona on Hawai‘i, Mina currently serves as Curator at the Donkey Mill Art Center in Kona, Hawai‘i, where she curates exhibitions and programming featuring local and international artists working in diverse media from kapa to film.

She sees the gallery as a classroom, laboratory, and gathering space which inspires exploration, reflection, and healing; art can be a catalyst for meaningful and challenging dialogue. Embracing the kuleana of her position as curator, Elison aims to develop collaborative exhibitions which amplify stories and perspectives of those whose voices have been suppressed, misrepresented, or have not yet been heard.

Previously holding the position of Museum Curator at the Kona Historical Society, Elison earned Bachelor of Arts degrees in Anthropology, and French from the University of San Diego, and a Master of Arts in Museum Studies from New York University.

Host or Publisher Hawaii Island Community Health Center