Art in The City
If you are in downtown Honolulu at lunchtime, consider feeding your mind as well as your body.
The downtown annex of the Contemporary Museum is in the soaring First Hawaiian Center at 999 Bishop St. The gallery is upstairs from the lobby, accessed through a magnificent stairway sheltered by a James Carpenter glass wall installation, where prisms capture and fracture the light as it changes through the day.
The gallery focuses on art about Hawaii and by its artists. The newest exhibition, which will run through September, is the Schaefer Portrait Challenge, an ongoing multimedia series, begun on Maui in 2003, in which local artists look at themselves, their neighbors and others who are important to them — in effect, an artistic view into Hawaii’s soul.
The gallery is free and generally open between 8:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. On downtown’s First Friday’s art walks, it is open late. Docents are available for free guided tours every Thursday at noon. If you put a group together, they will schedule
a special tour for you.
If you still need to feed your body, First Hawaiian’s cafeteria, not specifically aimed at the public, is available on the sixth floor daily until 2 p.m.
For guided tours of the museum, call 237-5217.