Molokaʻi High students visit UH Mānoa

Link to video and sound (details below): http://bit.ly/2BxORRn

WHO: Six Molokaʻi High School seniors; Molokaʻi High School art teacher Robert Bento

WHAT: Molokaʻi High School students spend a half-day interacting with undergraduates, graduate students and professors in the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa art department.

WHEN: Friday, February 16, 2018

WHERE: UH Mānoa department of art and art history

WHY: The visit was the brainchild of Robert Bento, a UH Mānoa graduate who has taught art at Molokaʻi High for 18 years. Bento wanted his students to see and experience facilities and ideas they rarely, if ever, get to see.

OTHER FACTS:

• Robert Bento earned his bachelor of fine arts degree from UH Mānoa in 1981 and his master of fine arts degree, also from UH Mānoa, in 1991. He has taught art at Molokaʻi High School since 2000. He also teaches agriculture. At Molokaʻi High he reintroduced ceramics using an existing kiln on campus.
• The students are staying on Oʻahu all weekend at Lincoln Hall at the East-West Center. They plan to see a play at Kennedy Theater on the UH Mānoa campus, visit the Honolulu Museum of Art Spalding House, Shangri La Museum of Islamic Art, Culture and Design and attend a concert at Hawaiʻi Public Radio’s Atherton Performing Arts Studio.
• While at UH Mānoa the Molokaʻi students spent time in a ceramics class, got a lesson glass blowing from Art Department Professor Rick Mills and spent time in the printmaking facility.
• The students want to design and sculpt a piece of art for Molokaʻi High before they graduate later this semester.
• The trip was paid for via fundraising efforts and donations.

VIDEO:

B-ROLL: 1:35

10 shots: Molokaʻi kids watching glass-blowing process

5 shots: Molokaʻi kids trying their hands at silk screen printing

SOUND:

Robert Bento, Molokaʻi High School teacher

:17 I just wanted to expose these kids, who are from a much smaller universe if thatʻs what you want to call it...than being over here on O‘ahu. They donʻt get to see facilities like this.

:25  They wanted to make their dent at school by doing, they’re all in a ceramic class together, and they want to make a, like a piece of public art so the exposure is so they come up with ideas beyond what they’re thinking, because right now they’re kind of stuck for ideas.

:16 I wanted them to get some bigger ideas and be exposed to some bigger ideas so UH campus offers a lot of that many public sculptures and things around here

Aliana Eustaquio, Molokaʻi High senior

:20 This trip is going to help us give, we already have a sketch and everything but Mr. Bento said maybe this can open your eyes just a little bit more and open the door just a little bit wider so we’re, I’m hoping to get a lot of ideas and inspirations out of it so we can probably put it into our project.

Camille-Paige Ledesma, Molokaʻi High senior

:17 We have a project where we trying to figure out what our thoughts to put on a paper to present it for our whole school. Yeah weʻre coming over here and experiencing different ways of how people put their art together.