Image: Honolulu Museum of Art
The Honolulu Museum of Art is using August to push both its galleries and its tour schedule, with a mix of recurring guided programs and exhibition-related events that run through the month. The museum’s newsletter highlights several ways to engage with the collection, from a standard highlights tour to more focused walks on courtyards and music, alongside two exhibition programs tied to upcoming and current shows.
At the center of the August offerings is HoMA’s tours calendar, which includes a 'Highlights Tour' on Wednesdays and Sundays at 11 a.m. and Fridays at 2 p.m. The museum also lists 'New Exhibitions Spotlight' tours on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 2 p.m. and Fridays at 11 a.m., 'Courtyards of HoMA' on Thursdays and Saturdays at 11 a.m., 'The Collection in Context: Music and Painting' on Saturdays at 2 p.m., and 'Tour & Talk Story' on Sundays at 2 p.m. The museum describes these tours as a way to learn about popular works in the collection, the eye-catching courtyards, and special exhibitions.
The 'The Collection in Context: Music and Painting' tour has its own dedicated listing on HoMA’s website, where the museum says it invites visitors into thought-provoking conversation, observation, interpretation and reflection, exploring cultural and social themes throughout the museum. The tour runs Saturdays from Aug. 1 through Sept. 26, with sessions listed from 2 to 3 p.m. at the museum’s main entrance. HoMA says the program is included with admission and gathers in front of the Central Courtyard for a 45- to 60-minute tour. The website also notes that tours are subject to group size restrictions, gallery occupancy limits and possible last-minute cancellation.
Among the exhibitions spotlighted in the newsletter is 'Imagined Flora: Ralph Iwamoto’s Surrealist Beginnings', which opens Aug. 7. The museum says the show offers a rare look at an earlier moment in the career of Hawaiʻi artist Ralph Iwamoto, using seven paintings from 1955 on loan from the Vilcek Foundation. The newsletter’s image caption identifies one work as 'Green Moss Figure' (1955), by Ralph Iwamoto, and notes that it is from the Vilcek Foundation.
HoMA also points to programming for 'Divine Disruption', with a talk on Aug. 21 focused on the work of Tsherin Sherpa. The museum says the session will feature curators John Henry Rice of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and HoMA’s Shawn Eichman. The newsletter frames the talk as part of the exhibition’s programming and uses Tsherin Sherpa’s work, including 'Spiritual Warrior' (2020), in its promotional material.
Another August gallery talk is linked to 'Quiet Luxury'. On Aug. 16, Assistant Curator of Japanese Art Kiyoe Minami will lead a discussion about how government restrictions inspired clever, clandestine fashions. HoMA presents the talk as a way to explore the exhibition through curatorial interpretation, and the newsletter pairs it with the exhibition title and a direct invitation to book tickets.
The museum also promotes a new drop-in art-making activity every Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., where visitors can explore the art principles of line and shape by making prints using styrofoam. The newsletter suggests viewers look at photos in 'Out of the Shadows' for inspiration, while also linking the activity to the broader weekend schedule of tours and talks that HoMA has set for August.
