SMALL TOWN * BIG ART ARTIST LORI HEPNER
Click above to view our 5-minute project film.
E ala! E alu! E kuilima! (Up! Together! Join hands!) (September - October 2021)
Light Painting with Visiting Artist Lori Hepner
Mural decals formerly located at 62 N. Market Street + Projection artwork at 7 N. Market Street in Wailuku
E ala! E alu! E kuilima! (Up! Together! Join hands!) (September - October 2021)
Light Painting with Visiting Artist Lori Hepner
Mural decals formerly located at 62 N. Market Street + Projection artwork at 7 N. Market Street in Wailuku
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Lori worked with ʻĪao Intermediate School and Hālau Makana Aloha O Ka Lauaʻe during an educational Light Painting Wailuku residency that began on September 30, 2021. A video projection, two wall mural decals, and augmented reality (AR) animation via mobile app resulted from a series of educational workshops, which will remain in the community long after the art-making experience has taken place. Using LEDs for individuals to light paint together and to create silhouette portraits of one another symbolically joining hands, local musicians and performers provided the inspiration for each resulting artwork that Lori captured with her real‑time, light painting system that is used to draw with light using the body.
ARTIST STATEMENT: I was inspired by this proverb during the COVID Winter with the hopes to be able to bring together the community to together create art, joy, music, and dance with each other. In October 2021, we were able to come together in small groups and were able to share music and dance at both the ʻĪao Intermediate School and Hālau Makana Aloha O Ka Lauaʻe at the Bailey House Museum.
At these events, we were able to use light and movement to create light painting portraits of dancing and movement to live music. These artworks are a small piece of these Wailuku experiences, which come to life through augmented reality animations that feature a small piece of the music made at each location. I was deeply moved by the community spirit of everyone coming together after being apart for so long and have tried to bring the ephemeral magic that was present at our gatherings to these digital murals.
Use the QR Code to get the link to download the free Artivive app for iOS or Android. Use the app and stand so that one mural is entirely showing on your screen. You will feel your phone vibrate and a spinning circle will appear as the animations download and begin to play.
At these events, we were able to use light and movement to create light painting portraits of dancing and movement to live music. These artworks are a small piece of these Wailuku experiences, which come to life through augmented reality animations that feature a small piece of the music made at each location. I was deeply moved by the community spirit of everyone coming together after being apart for so long and have tried to bring the ephemeral magic that was present at our gatherings to these digital murals.
Use the QR Code to get the link to download the free Artivive app for iOS or Android. Use the app and stand so that one mural is entirely showing on your screen. You will feel your phone vibrate and a spinning circle will appear as the animations download and begin to play.
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LAULIMA | Mahalo to the following individuals for your contribution of time, mana‘o, expertise and kākoʻo to this public art collaboration!
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About the Artist: Lori Hepner is a Pittsburgh-based new media artist, working primarily in new media performance, fine art photography, and community centered public art projects. She has spent considerable time over the last five years in community centered artist residencies in two Pittsburgh neighborhoods, in a small Arctic Community in coastal Norway, as well as in Finland, Iceland, and the Canadian Yukon.
A collaboration with singer Kendra Ross has manifested itself into live performance as Hepner & Ross in Intersection*ology. A feminist exploration into the power of women, technology, and individual voices, she developed the real‑time, light painting system that is used to draw with light using the body. Intersection*ology has been awarded grants by the Heinz Endowments, the 2018 Carnegie International, and The Opportunity Fund and has been performed at the Kelly Strayhorn Theater’s Alloy Studios, in Durban, South Africa, the InLight Richmond Festival in Richmond, Virginia, and at the Luminaria Festival in San Antonio, Texas. Lori's personal photographic work has been featured in Time, Wired, and Next Level Magazine and has been exhibited at the Houston Center for Photography, Carnegie Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum, in photo festivals in the Netherlands, China, & Spain One of her Twitter portraits from Status Symbols, as well as her performative photographs from #Crowdsourced Landscapes project, will be sent to live on the moon in 2021 in The MoonArk project. Hepner holds an MFA in Digital Media from Rhode Island School of Design and a BFA in Fine Art Photography from Rochester Institute of Technology. She is a professor of Integrative Arts at Penn State University’s Greater Allegheny campus. |
COMMUNITY CONSULTATIONS:
ʻĪao Intermediate School talk story
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‘Ōlelo No‘eau meeting with Sissy Lake-Farm
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>> conversations that contributed to the spirit and sense of place of E ala! E alu! E kuilima! (Up! Together! Join hands!)
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Sample Work: Color Beechview | Intersection*ology (by Hepner & Ross)
PROJECT TRACKING:
- 10/25/21: Project film is released, which aims to tell the story of E ala! E alu! E kuilima! for folks that see the artwork on the streets of Wailuku.
- 10/7/21: Hepner installs her final 40" x 60" artworks at the Lokahi Pacific PONO Center alongside SixtyTwo Marcket + her projection lightwork at Paradise Now, which will be on view each evening until 8 PM, reflected onto Market Street from the shop window.
- 10/3 & 10/4/21: "Open Studio" days at Wailuku Coffee Co., where community members were encouraged to meet & greet the artist, experience her process of editing the Light Painting Workshop footage on her laptop, ask questions, and ultimately be included in the art-making.
- 10/3/21: SMALL TOWN * BIG ART Welcomes Lori Hepner (Maui Now Article)
- 10/2/21: Press Release: SMALL TOWN * BIG ART Welcomes Lori Hepner (VIEW)
- 10/1/21: Small-group, pre-registered educational Light Painting Workshop #2 at Hale Hōʻikeʻike at the Bailey House with Hālau Makana Aloha O Ka Lauaʻe, joined by community musicians Joshua Kulhavy-Sutherland, James “Koakāne” Mattos and Lukela Kanae - known as Kūikawā - who played hula ʻauana (modern hula) for performers and participants (6 - 8 PM; with Light Painting beginning after sunset/ approx 6:30).
- 9/30/21: Socially-distanced Light Painting Workshop #1 at ʻĪao Intermediate School, with music provided by Mike Rose's Ukulele Club. The artist handed out wearable LEDs to students and encouraged them to dance in front of a screen to capture their movements for her final video and mural pieces.
- 9/20/21: eNewsletter announcement (READ)
- 9/15/21: "ST*BA Welcomes Visiting Artist & Penn State Arts Professor Lori Hepner" (READ)
- 9/15/21: Jackie Goring/ Wailuku Coffee Co. approves 1 of 4 outdoor tables for Lori's "Meet an Artist" work space
- 9/10/21: Talk Story with Mike Rose & Zacc Kekona of ʻĪao Intermediate School (VIEW)
- 8/19/21: Source partners
- 8/11/21: ‘Ōlelo No‘eau meeting with Sissy Lake-Farm, Hale Hōʻikeʻike at the Bailey House/ Maui Historical Society + ST*BA (VIEW)
- 8/6/21: Talk Story with County of Maui + ST*BA re potential sites, partners and overall goals of the initiative
- 8/5/21: Introductory meeting with ST*BA's Kelly McHugh-White re basic logistics and sense of place
- 1/30/21: Hepner applies for ST*BA 2021 via callforentry.org