Island Treasures: Cindy Coats Gallery
Cindy Coats says the one thing that has surprised her as an artist is that she’s never lacking in creativity.
“I really haven’t run out of ideas,” she says with a laugh. “If someone told me 10 years ago that I would be painting as much as I have been painting, I wouldn’t have believed them.”
Cindy moved to Hawai‘i Island 19 years ago from Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she owned an art studio. She had received her formal training at the Colorado Institute of Art and much of her current work resembles the creative style and technique she acquired while living in the Southwest.
“In many of my pieces you’ll see a lot of color,” she explains.
The cheerful and vivacious artist first opened her gallery on the island 10 years ago. Since then her art has continued to develop and she now works with an array of mediums including acrylic, pencil, ink, oils, and gouache on masonite. Most of her pieces pop with the colors of turquoise, red, blue, and green.
Some of her most popular creations include representations of Pele’s Dream, as well as paintings of her two poi dogs—Cosmo and Stevie Rae—dogs she adopted from the West Hawai‘i Humane Society.
She also creates original work for the IRONMAN® competition in Kailua-Kona.
Cindy describes her art as “colorful pieces that make people happy. “Nobody walks into the gallery and say they hate the colors,” she reports.. “People find the colors uplifting and they really respond to them.”
Part of her pride and joy as an artist is working at her 300 sq.ft. studio on Ali‘i Drive. Preferring to keep the doors open to welcome visitors to the space, Cindy enjoys providing a place where people can be inspired and can interact with her as an artist.
Working with her customers and seeing them respond to her work is what keeps this island artist motivated. “It is very rewarding to know my art is hanging in people’s homes all around the world,” she says.
Mon-Sat, 10am–5pm
across from the pier on Ali‘i Drive, Kailua-Kona
