Lynn Shue, Village Galleries owner/director ...

“I am so pleased to present this exhibition honoring the history of Maui’s plantation life along with the artists who have so skillfully documented it for us. In this exhibition we will showcase Jo Rockwell’s beautiful collection of plantation life paintings. Along with this stunning retrospective, our gallery artists have added their own memories with recent available works. I am so impressed with the variety of wonderful works our artists have created for this exhibition.”        

Jo Rockwell.....”How did this collection get started?  What was the seed that generated the interest?

When my late husband Martin and I heard that the Pioneer Mill was to be torn down we were in shock and took our camera to the site and went all around the Mill taking photos. My first mill painting was of of the Pioneer Mill.  It came from a young beautiful Israeli man who came to Maui to paint sugar mills! Lahaina folks who come to my door and see this painting have been thrilled to see it saying ‘my father spent his whole career working in that mill’  or ‘I grew up playing behind that mill with my friends’.

Over the years my collection has grown as I have met the local artists and gotten to know their stories and their techniques. I have tried painting also to get a better understanding of what it takes to create a work of art.  I will never be an artist but I have a great respect for the skills of our local artists.  Every one of the paintings in my collection has a story that I share with interested viewers.” Jo will share more her great stories at our opening reception.

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