17th Annual Hawai'i Nei Art Exhibition.

The community is invited to the 17th Annual Hawai‘i Nei Art Exhibition Opening Night on Friday, November 7, from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at the Wailoa Center in Hilo.

Artist Suzanne Wang and forty kūpuna at Hawaiʻi Island Adult Care created "Niuhi Rising," a six-foot ceramic sculpture. Participants hand-coiled clay and formed miniature pinch pots into barnacles for the sculpture's surface. Wang designed the ceramic armature, arranged barnacles, and glazed the work, guiding the process while adapting to participants' cognitive challenges.

HIAC staff helped assemble barnacles onto the armature. The tiger shark, a revered ‘aumākua in Hawaiian culture, symbolizes strength and resilience, yet faces global decline. The barnacle metaphorically represents endurance and transformation through clay-making. This collaborative sculpture honors both the niuhi spirit and the wisdom of our kūpuna, merging art, memory, and community.