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I vacationed on the Wailea beach in Maui, Hawaii, for two weeks in late March this year.  I thought it might be interesting to report on some of the changes in the art scene since the Lahaina fire August 8-9, 2023.  (Full disclosure:  I'm not a reporter, just a curious artist.)

The news of the time reported that the art galleries in Lahaina were either gutted or the buildings completely destroyed. Thousands of original art works were incinerated.  Galleries and artists with with deeper pockets were able to move to new locations on the island but many of the local artists lost everything and it’s  been tough to rebound.  I visited some galleries and talked to artists about what happened in 2023 and where they are today, eighteen months later.  Here’s what I found…

If you have been to Lahaina, you most likely have visited Kush Fine Fine Art (www.kushfineart.com).  Vladimir Kush lives in Maui and has four other galleries in the U.S.  He was able to move his gallery from Lahaina to the Shops at Wailea on the southwest end of the island.  He lost some originals but most of his galleries' stock seemed to be high-end gicleé prints.

The thirty-six-year-old, three-story Wyland Galleries, known for Robert Wyland’s whale paintings, was destroyed, along with the work of its thirty-one represented artists.  It has not reopened on Maui.  Meanwhile, the Wyland Foundation has been helping artists recover.  One of their projects provided art materials to artists who had lost them in the fire.

Ruby Mazur, an artist famous for his rock & roll album covers ( https://rubymazurgallery.com/  ) ,was on the verge of opening his new Maui gallery when the building and all of his art work was destroyed.  He opened at Bill Mack Gallery in Laguna Beach, California in February, 2023.  

 Earl Thompson of Da Kine Fine Art lost his home and “every piece of art he’d created”.

The Village Gallery that showcased work of Maui artists since 1970 was impacted.  They have started building a gallery at the Lahaina Cannery Mall and intend to open in 2025.  Meanwhile, they have some work on display at the Ritz-Carlton Kapalua.

 Patrick Parker opened Upcountry Gallery in June, 2024, in Makawao to provide a venue for Lahaina artists displaced by the fire.

The Lahaina Arts Society (LAS) has been around since 1970.  They lost their historic building, Old Lahaina Courthouse in Banyan Tree Park, along with tens of thousands of dollars in members' art.  They currently host a weekend art show at the Old Lahaina Cannery.   LAS has a mission to both provide both a community for its members and to teach arts to children. Prior to the fire, they had an enrollment of 700 children in their art program.  Only three weeks after the fire, they had rallied and were teaching art classes in a donated vacation location.  They used art to help the kids express their feelings about the fire and the aftermath.  LAS has subsequently moved to the Sheraton Maui Resort & Spa for twice-a-week classes.  

I visited the LAS weekend art show at the Lahaina Cannery.  There, I talked to Mary Anne Leigh (maryannleigh.com), a ceramicist.  When the fire started, she and her husband were traveling while her daughter was house-sitting their two-acre property.  Communications were down and the fire was moving fast.  It was ten terrifying hours before their daughter found an evacuation location and could make a call.  The fire had come within a quarter mile of their home.  Mary Ann said they were lucky to have their daughter, their house, and her studio after the fire. Quite a few of members of LAS were not so lucky.  Many of them lost all of their artwork that was stored either in their homes or in the LAS gallery.  Mary Ann said, it’s not just the the loss of things that can be replaced.  For an artist, it's also the losses of a favorite brush,  special paint "recipes", a lifetime of sketchbooks, and other emotionally important things.

Mary Ann said things are recovering but progress is slow.  When LAS started their weekend show at the Cannery, “some members would show up with three or four pieces.  It was all they had made since the fire.”

I also talked with Bobby Joe Curley, a harpist, wedding planner, and artist who makes jewelry using shells and other traditional Hawaiian materials like velvet seeds.  She has lived on a boat and sailed the world for 30 years, “collecting every kind of shell you can possibly find.”  As a newer LAS member, she lost only $1,000 of work when gallery burned but there were tens of thousands in art and many people lost so much more than their homes and studios.

Bobby Jo was happy to see that Ellen Lewinsky was back again at the weekend art fairs.  Ellen creates art by adhering multi-colored feathers to canvas.  Ellen and her husband lost a home, a studio, and all her artwork, everything except one bicycle.  Even so, after eighteen months, Ellen is back.

The come-back will be slow but they are making progress.