Featured Artists: Brenda Meriwether & Deborah Beaver
Featured Cover Artist: Brenda Meriwether
Decorative ceramic tile artist Brenda Meriwether was influenced by the 60s culture of the San Francisco Bay area. Brenda’s mother had artistic tendencies and her brother is an amateur cartoonist—art was encouraged in their home. Brenda was married at 18 to a military person who worked on the ceramics wheel as a hobby. Ceramics became a part of her life at and opportunities developed with experience.
Originally drawn to clay by the “something from nothing” concept, Brendaʻs experience in the ceramics industry developed steadily for more than 46 years. She and her first husband traveled the world to places of great influence for tile work, such as Spain, Portugal, and Morocco. Brenda held positions internationally which included being a potter’s assistant in California, and ceramics shop manager/instructor on military bases in Texas and Iceland.
Now married to a man from Hawai‘i, Brenda moved to O‘ahu in 2000 and had a studio there for six years. In 2011, she and her husband Kanoa closed that studio and moved to Hawai‘i Island, where she now has a full ceramics studio at their home in Kea‘au. They opted to forgo their electric stove and clothes dryer at their new home so Brenda could plug in two kilns—instead they installed a gas line for new appliances.
Brenda had her own art shows at the Ong King Gallery and Art at Mark’s Garage on O‘ahu, was entered in the Hawai‘i Nei Show at Hiloʻs Wailoa Center in 2013 and 2019, then sold her entry at the 2019 show. She was a featured new artist in January 2015 at Waimea’s Firehouse Gallery. Her tiles have also sold at Polynesian Cultural Center, Nohea Galleries and Polynesian Treasures on O‘ahu, House of Fire in Kalapana, and Kukuau Studio in Hilo.
Brenda’s current ventures include maintaining her gallery wall at Kukuau Studio, keeping her art stocked at House of Fire in Kalapana, and a new online store for her company, Full Moon Factory.
Brenda has also done quite a bit of custom work. There have been several large orders involving jigsaw mosaics of whales and honu (sea turtles) that have been installed in her client’s walls and floors. Several tables have been tiled and now that she has her own house to work on, her entire bar front has been tiled. Multi-tile murals are favorite projects that she has custom designed with her client’s design needs. She uses the islands as inspiration for her art, focusing primarily on Hawaiian creatures of land and sea, carving and building surfaces for dimension. She also enjoys Day of the Dead designs for comedic relief and has done many animal and human portrait tiles. Clay is her calling. Framed or unframed, installed into a wall or tabletop, tiles and tile jigsaw mosaics are a perpetually expanding labor of love, making every day a clay play day.
For more information:
happycricketceramics@gmail.com
hawaiikinemarket.com/big-island/full-moon-factory/
Table of Contents Artist: Deborah Beaver
Deborah Beaver moved to Hawai‘i Island in 2008, with a plan to make her art a priority. Inspired by Hawai‘i Island’s natural beauty, Deborah began creating oil paintings of realistic landscapes and marine scenes which feature vibrant colors. She is a prolific artist and offers original paintings and giclees at One Gallery in downtown Hilo.
Deborah also owns the gallery, an artist collective on Bayfront, which opened January 1, 2011. She spends most days there, where she often sits and paints her latest piece. One Gallery, located at 186 Kamehameha Avenue, also features the work of more than 70 other artists of Hawai‘i Island.
For more information: onegalleryhawaii.com
