20th Annual International Pacific Rim Conference on Disabilities Will Feature Pendants Made by Lanai Youth

University of Hawaiʻi
Contact:
Susan Miller, (808)295-0659
Center on Disabilities Studies
Posted: Mar 17, 2004

Lanai City youth artists with disabilities will create 1,000 rainbow Raku pendants to sell as commemorative keepsakes for the 20th Annual International Pacific Rim Conference on Disabilities sponsored by the Center on Disability Studies of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa‘s College of Education.

The Lanai High and Elementary School students are part of the Lanai Artists Cooperative, which is a partnership between VSA arts of Hawaiʻi-Pacific, the Lanai Arts Center and the island‘s public school. The cooperative is a part of the statewide "Artists Mean Business in Hawaiʻi" mentorship and self-employment initiative, which aims to create opportunities and promote arts career options in Hawaiʻi‘s creative industries for students with disabilities after high school. It is funded in part by a grant from the Hawaiʻi Community Foundation.

Arman B. Molmen, a local Raku potter, will mentor the Lanai youth potters. Molmen, an Oʻahu trail runner, has created hundreds of medallions and pendants with various Hawaiian petroglyphs for race finishers in Hawaiʻi and California.

Previous art projects created by the Lanai Artists Cooperative have included ceramic Halloween pumpkins with the assistance of Lanai potter Joselyn Taal and beaded bracelets for Valentine‘s Day by elementary school students.

The 20th Annual International Pacific Rim Conference on Disabilities will be held from March 29 — 30 at the Sheraton Waikiki. The proceeds from the pendant sales at the conference will be used to pay artists-mentors with and without disabilities to work with students to advance their creative talents.