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Snowden Hodges with Sean Yoro in 2012. Photo by Peter Owen
Snowden Hodges self-portrait.

A Legacy of Teaching exhibition at Gallery ʻIolani honors the remarkable drawing, painting and Atelier Hawaiʻi programs established and taught by Snowden Hodges for more than 30 years at Windward Community College. The exhibit, which runs through March 2, includes the work of 27 former students that Hodges invited to participate, including former Atelier Hawaiʻi student Sean Yoro, also known as “HULA,” who is on the 2018 Forbes Magazine list of 30 Under 30 in the Art and Style category.

An opening reception with entertainment by Kawika Kahiapo and Kapono Lopez will be held Friday, February 2, 4–7 p.m.

In 2002, Hodges created Atelier Hawaiʻi, a program in classical realism. In this intensive, immersion curriculum, students learn time-honored techniques of drawing and painting. Until 2012, when Hodges retired from teaching, the program was hugely successful, receiving critical acclaim and drawing students from Hawaiʻi, other Pacific Islands, Europe and the U.S. mainland.

Hodges lives in Honolulu and is a University of Hawaiʻi Professor Emeritus of Art. His work is shown by The Fine Art Associates and the Cedar Street Gallery in Honolulu and the Harris Gallery in Houston.

How Snowden inspired Yoro

Yoro, 28, is best known for painting half-submerged portraits of women’s faces on icebergs in remote places such as Iceland and the Arctic Circle to bring attention to global climate change. Since 2015, he’s worked with companies such as North Face and Instagram painting murals.

More about Gallery ʻIolani

Gallery hours

  • Monday—Friday and Sunday, 1–5 p.m.
  • Closed Saturday, federal/state holidays

For more information about the exhibition and/or studies in gallery design and management at Windward CC, contact Gallery ʻIolani Director Toni Martin at (808) 236-9155 or visit the Gallery ʻIolani website.

—By Bonnie Beatson

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