 and welcome to Books, Books, Books. I'm your host, Mihaila Stoops, and my guest is Lois Reiswig, avid art collector, community volunteer, president of the Maui Arts League, and now the team leader for the publishing of an art book that is titled Remembering Lahaina. Lois, thank you so much for joining me today. Well, it's my honor to be here and I'm excited to talk about the book. Well, we all knew that Lahaina carried the title, I would say, of the art capital of the Pacific, and that was because of all the art galleries that lined Front Street. All those art galleries are now destroyed and reportedly thousands of artworks were also destroyed in the fire. So I'm very grateful to you and your team for having this idea to publish an art book that celebrates not only Lahaina but its artists and their artwork. So would you please give me more information on how did this idea come about? Sure. I had a phone call from an artist that lives in California. His name is Scott W. Pryor and I use this as the initial because I believe it or not there are two Scott Pryor artists in the United States and he lives in Oceanside, California. And he called me to discuss the idea that he and a friend of his discussed about creating an art book from all of the images that Maui Arts League owns because of our Maui Plain Air Painting Invitational. So that was true. I have over 2,000 images and it was really a question of having the volunteers to put a book together like this. And Scott recommended a friend, a peer friend, her name is Patty McKinney and she's from San Diego, California. And she was thinking the same thing about doing a book because she had visited Maui and other Hawaiians many times and she knew Scott had participated in the Maui Plain Air Painting Invitational and we most likely took images of all their artwork. So that's how it got started. And you had over 2,000 pictures of artwork and you had to narrow it down to how many? How many are in the book right now? 250. And how hard was it to choose one? It was very difficult. Probably I wouldn't do it again if I knew how much work because 2,000 images that were scattered on discs, D-I-S-C-S discs that we used to use in 2006. And some on my hard drive on my PC and others in various volunteer's files. So I had to correlate getting all of those together and uploading them to one common place and we did use my drive to do that. And from that effort, which was 2,000, we went through each year and categorized them into yes, no and maybes. Then we could decide from the yeses do we have enough for the book and if they had met the resolution qualification for a printed book, which some of them do not. So it was a process of elimination and that probably took us a good month probably to do. Are there any of the artworks that are included in the book? Is this maybe the only record of that artwork that they may have been lost in the fire otherwise, or they're still out and about? Well, it's a combination. Collectors buy art at our event each year. And so if the artist sold the painting that happens to be in our book, that person would have that original artwork. There would be no other images in any other books or newspapers or anything like that I'm aware of. You're not aware of any specific artworks that were lost in the fire and now the only way to see it is basically seeing it in the book because it doesn't exist in real life anymore. Well, you're correct because the galleries of course had a lot of inventory. So if an artist didn't sell at our particular event, he would have them at the gallery that represented him, typically somewhere in Maui and there are several galleries. And that owner of that gallery would try to sell them from then on. But in general, those are all gone. If they were hung on the walls in the various galleries in Lahaina on First Street, they're all gone and that's their red butter. So it's very devastating to the artist to say the least. Yeah, I think I went on Ronaldo Macedo's website right after the fire and it was so sad to see a picture of his artwork and below it said destroyed in the fire. There's no words to describe the sorrow and I assume that it's even harder for him as an artist. It's not like he could just make another one. Well, it is sad for them and especially right at the time of the fire. I mean, I think they're still recovering from what's happened and this is our way of trying to raise funds to give back that money that we have raised from selling the book to the artist that live on Maui that were affected by the fire. Well, that's really a nice endeavor and I know we have an opportunity to see some pictures, I guess, of artworks that are going to be included in the book and our tech has the pictures and let's show them to our viewers. So the book cover is a painting called La Jaina Luna Views and it's by Ronaldo Macedo and this is the street that the fire came storming down from the mountains to the ocean and this view no longer exists and we selected it for the book cover or the dust cover jacket to really bring home the fact that this is what La Jaina was like. So he is our co-sponsor for the Maui Plain Air painting Invitational and it was appropriate to pick one of his paintings for the dust cover jacket. This is a painting by Mark Brown from Oahu and this is of the harbor with Pioneer Inn in the background and again Pioneer Inn is a historical hotel. I think it may have been the first one on Maui I'm not sure and it is no longer there and it was sort of the meeting place for everybody who congregated in La Jaina especially during the art events. And I found out from various residents of Maui that are elderly and locals that this is where they learn how to swim at the Pioneer Inn there was the only pool in town I guess in the 30s and that's where they learned how to swim so it's nice to be able to see that painting and remember all of that. Now this is a painting by Michael Clements Michael lives in Kula and he is a pastel painter and this is of the harbor so this is if you're standing on the walkway in front of the docks they're looking towards Lanai the way the boats look while they're you know in their dock slips everybody will recognize this view once if they've ever been to Maui in La Jaina. And this is the courthouse am I right? Yes on the left hand side is the courthouse and this is a painting by a gentleman named Karl Bretzky and Karl was one of our invited artists to the Maui Plain Air event. We always had 25 artists five were from Hawaii five were returning from the previous invitational and then five new artists so that we always had new images of the city and the surroundings for our collectors to you know consider buying. So he's a very professional oil colors and this is another view looking towards the mount so they had to walk out on that rock walkway to get to that view. This is a painting by Doris McGuire she was our workshop teacher for the youth and this is of the banyan tree and while it's been severely damaged it is one of the few things that is coming back to life in La Jaina as we knew it anyway. It is I had an opportunity to see it myself and I know there are a lot of pictures on social media as well but yes it is coming back to life so it brings a lot of hope. Yes it does and there's other paintings from other artists of the banyan tree in the book I just picked selected one to show to our audience. So this is let me guess let me guess um this is like one of those like surf shacks off by 505 am I right? Well close it's actually of the area where there are homes in behind the wharf and they the community calls it their hood or and so therefore the artist did and this is someone's home and this is why you know they were so easily destroyed they are primarily all wood so when the fire came through the town you know they went up in blazes and this is by Carlton he's an artist that lives in Waikapu and he's participated with Maui Plain Error for 15 years. He has a very distinctive style. Yes that's beautiful so that must have been on what's the street parallel to France street Luakai probably it's where behind the uh I I'd have to check the map that didn't be sure I do want to say when I said surf shack it was not in a derogatory way it was I didn't take it that way but I know there's a lot of surf shacks that look similar so yeah by by 505 I think they were there are quite a few of these little um homes houses so well you'll see other pictures in the book too of um surf shacks and surf stores like we have uh boss frogs that was on the street that Lahaina Gros was located behind Aluna that would be on the main Aluna yeah yeah another one of the um plantation homes typical and uh this was uh another one of Carlton's and this is a he titled it canoe repair so the homeowner the wine was bringing his canoe home and he needed to do some work on it I'd love to know where exactly this was like what street you know I know it's some somewhere off of front street probably but would be nice to know and in some cases um the artists in their text that they submitted to go along with their painting will indicate what street or what neighborhood to give people a better idea that's that that's excellent and since you brought it up I do want to point out to our viewers that this is a book that not only shows you pictures but it also gives you a little bit more information from the artists themselves and I thought that was a brilliant idea to include these messages from the artists well thank you I think it is too because I am a collector's point of view I'm always wondering what drew the artist to that particular scene why did he or she want to paint that and so we asked them to share some of those thoughts with us and we also um do some additional editing by adding um some of the Hawaiian names to particular locations that the artists might not know like Kamehameha Iki Park they might think it's you know 505 front street park but no it's really Kamehameha Iki Park so um I think it'll be very enjoyable for someone to look at as well as read the materials throughout the book and it will be accurate which is important yes we are trying diligently I do have both uh two uh of historical Hawaiian authors that are working on the team one is our um content um creator and so she's the one who creates all the correct spellings and names of places and the kings and so forth and then we have another historical um author I should tell you their names one was um Catherine Kamehameha Smith who men in line would know and the other one is Jill Ingledow and she is our um final editor to make sure that the book is accurate 100 percent and um that's our goal they're both very well known Lahaina authors for those that have not read their books they need to do that and um since you're you brought this up how many people in total were involved in this project of putting together this art companion well the book you mean specifically yeah yeah well in terms of putting the book together I guess there's a team of uh five of us that do that and so it includes the two girls I just mentioned and Patty the girl who is helping me with all of the images and getting them organized she and I have worked on it the longest because it took months to get the pictures you know ready for the graphics designer which is the person who packages everything together and makes it look wonderful and presentable and um so that's five people and then of course we have all the artists because we had to talk with them um remind them that they had signed uh disclosure agreements and that we were going to print this book and please give us some written statements to add to the painting so there are 85 artists that work that represent all the artworks in the book 85 artists yes yeah so 85 people that you had to talk to discuss the project communicate I can't even imagine the number of emails or phone calls but yes yeah and there's only five of you working on this so yes um you put a lot of hours into this but I think it's it's all worth it I can't wait to see it I I know right now it's on pre-order but I can't wait for it to be you know available so I can hold it and gift it to others as well oh well thank you and you know we did do the work with the idea that it would become a treasured you know collectible book so that this book will go on into perpetuity because it does document from 2006 to 2023 you know many of the places within Lahaina and how they looked it does it surely does just these pictures you know stirred up so many memories for me and I know we have a few more pictures the show okay this is um Leon me she is um she was an employee at montage and every year we always have a model that the artists can decide if they would like to paint and so she was a beautiful Hawaiian gal and they come dressed in their traditional Hawaiian attire and it takes about three hours for them to be posing for these artists and it's always outside and it she just was a wonderful representation of what it is to be Hawaiian and who is the artist uh Susie Susie Baker and Susie is from um the west coast of the US I think she's in Washington very um experienced artist and does great work and there are several of her paintings in the book the beautiful portrait just gorgeous yeah you know that brings up this uh idea too that not all artists like to do uh portraits painting people it takes a different you know skill set than doing a scene of the ocean or the banyan tree as an example yeah probably your model keeps moving if they're like sometimes yeah not easy at all right so the next um painting is really special um it is uh Michael uh mahan smith who was the sandal maker in Lahaina and his little uh store front was tucked in behind um an ice cream shop that was on front street and most people you know stumble onto him or are told about him because people are wearing his sandals and he lost his life in the fire I heard I did not know that I I've heard of him and I know a lot of people that um wearing sandals that he made and I knew his shop but I was wondering what's where is he now and Susie Baker who did the um Hawaiian model she also painted this paint and so this also shows how the artists when they're visiting a town like Lahaina they walk around the community and try to find something that really interests them and so this is a very unusual uh painting I think and it's you know of the people in Lahaina it's a piece of history of Lahaina I think we just have a few more and this one is of we always call it Jesus's coming church it's on front street by the uh near the um Jodo mission and Mike Carroll who lives on the Na'i painted this um artwork and he he called it the basket weaver because he had his the basket weaver had his bike parked right in front of the church and so it really makes for a nice composition and everybody knows of this place and it is still there today and we decided to include it because there are iconic locations that all of us remember about Lahaina and we don't we didn't want to focus just on items that were destroyed we wanted to look at the whole town and its surrounding area so we're very appreciative that Mike uh found this composition and and created this wonderful artwork yeah nobody can miss the Jesus is coming soon sign which is also I see it in the painting so yeah I don't good this painting is by Makario Pesquale and Makario won Best in Show with this painting um this last year in 2023 um Maui Plain error painting invitational didn't host an invitational but uh Michael Clements and Lynn Shu from Village Gallery had one and it was called paint Maui Plain error event and um it was the roster was similar to ours and uh John Stern who is the judge for all our events was at that event and he selected Makario's painting for Best in Show which is uh a monetary award as well as just the recognition and Makario you know he lives um he lives before Oluwaluu yeah and that and you know Makario is known uh really for his cane worker paintings if you've seen any of those over the years of course now we don't have sugar cane anymore on Maui but when he painted the workers I mean they were almost jumping out of the artwork brain because they were so realistic I mean and they sold for thousands Makario's a very gifted artist I think we only have three more this is one um by Joe Fletcher Joe Fletcher passed away last year and he lived in Kula and uh Joe was a outdoor artist as well and he also did a lot of workshops for the youth trying to grow new artists and this is of the sugar mill uh sugar cane mill in Puhu Nene so this is around the island again and it's a very iconic location it surely is now this I think everyone will recognize is Haleakala and it was painted by James McGrew who is a uh artist from I think it's Colorado and um he paints many of the national parks throughout the United States so when he participated with us he decided he wanted to go up to Haleakala and paint and there were several and this particular one was Best in Show as well one year a particular year and this is our last painting we'll be showing today but this is um Kahakaloa and this is on that windy road that you're not supposed to drive on and it's in their little village and over the years the church has been renovated it's a Hawaiian church and it's it's just an iconic location once again yeah save yourself the scare of driving towards Kahakaloa and just get the book and admire the painting that was an artwork by Greg LaRocque and Greg LaRocque was from California and he passed away also within this period of 15 years we've been putting on the event so it's kind of sad but anyway there's lots of pictures many more like this I'm sure you're going to spend hours looking at all these pictures I mean uh 250 paintings is quite a bit to look at and read about so we welcome everyone to you know pre-order the book and get on the list I think we've given our viewers a million reasons to pre-order this book and the way they could do it they go to MauiArtsLeague.org slash book and they could see more information about the book there as well and place their order and do we have an estimated time that the books are going to be printed and delivered? Well right now we're looking at the camera ready copy going to the printer I would say no later than mid-march after that time it takes the printer which is a South Korean printer two months to print the book and ship it and we have three pallets of books coming so we have 1500 books that will be coming across the ocean to Honolulu and the publisher will handle the distribution of all the books so it's not that many books so I think if one wants one they need the order because it's not 1500 books are going to go fast it's not that many well and that brings up you know we're taking the pre-orders at MauiArtsLeague website and once we actually launch the public the book to the general public we'll be selling at the publisher's website as well as all of the bookstores that are in his distribution chain and on Amazon so it'll become widely distributed and known about yeah but if you want to secure one you better pre-order one right now basically that would be nice be helpful well Lois thank you so much for giving us information about this art book I can't wait to hold it and spend hours looking at the paintings and also reading the artist's messages and thank you for the countless hours that you put into this project and that is for all of us well thank you so much it's an honor well and to our readers we'll see you next time