Island Treasures: Tiffany’s Art Agency
For 11 years, Tiffany DeEtte Shafto has been working closely with locally established and emerging artists who are passionate and focused on their mastery. Tiffany says, “It has shifted how I see the world. Through their eyes and processes, my own are opened to wonders I never knew existed. It’s pure joy, which ignited my passion for sharing it with people in a new and improved way.”
Tiffany explains, “I have always been a collector. A couple of careers have gotten me where I am now. With a BA in Interior Design and as a professional member of the American Society of Interior Designers, I enjoyed working with clients in the San Francisco Bay Area—turning their multi-million dollar houses into homes. An appreciation for a broad and diverse range of styles meant my clientsʻ personal tastes were always reflected in the finished space. Thanks to my blend of skills, I ended up doing more and more construction management and less of the fun creative puzzle-solving design work.”
When Tiffany and her husband Tim Shafto made the leap to Hawai‘i in 2004, they had no idea they’d end up in the woodshop together—a dream Tim had always held. It took a couple of years until that appreciation for hands-on and hand-made set Tiffany on a new course. She spent eight years as an award-winning woodworker, working collaboratively with Tim. That experience gave her unprecedented access to our island’s wood art community.
Visiting studios, and seeing and understanding the creative process behind the work inspired Tiffany to create a coffee table book to document these amazing people—their works and stories. In 2009, she co-authored, produced, and published the award-winning coffee table book, Contemporary Hawai‘i Woodworkers; the Wood, the Art; the Aloha, thanks to the beautiful storytelling/writing of Lynda McDaniel.
That book, along with all her volunteer work for local arts nonprofits (past president of the Hawai‘i Wood Guild & Hawai‘i Craftsmen, former administrator & secretary of Hawai‘i Artist Collaboration), led to an opportunity to research the economic and social impact of Hawai‘i Island visual artists. Titled the Hawai‘i Island Network of Artists, from 2012–2013, Tiffany created a website to act as a resource directory for local artists as a mahalo (thank you) to each of them for participating in a survey. Through the project she met more than 500 visual artists, which proved just how prolific this island is with artists! Today Tiffany has continued the project as a non-juried site and resource directory.
While working on that project, Tiffany fell into the role of gallery owner/partner in The Gallery at Hualalai in the lobby of the Four Seasons Hualalai. She says, “It changed my life! I discovered I love witnessing that moment when you fall in love with a work of art, and helping to facilitate it.”
When that business ended in 2014, she opened Tiffany’s Art Agency—curating contemporary art experiences featuring Hawai‘i’s master artists. Getting to know so many artists so well inspired her once again to document and share their stories. Her second book with award-winning author Lynda McDaniel, Aloha Expressionism by Contemporary Hawai‘i Artists, features 50 of Hawai‘i’s master artists, and was released at the Hawai‘i Food & Wine Festival’s Corks & Forks event at the Hawai‘i Convention Center in 2015. Tiffany exclaims, “The designer, maker, and collector in me are all fulfilled through this work by sharing it with you. Mahalo for your appreciation of Hawai‘i’s master artists!”
Tiffany invites everyone to join her at the gallery on January 13 for a very special Collectors Reception and Book Signing from 5–7 pm. Meet many of the Hawai‘i Island artists featured in the book and collect their autographs! Enjoy being surrounded by their beautiful art and making special memories.
Tiffany’s Art Agency
55-3435 Akoni Pule Hwy. #9, Hawi
tiffany@tiffanysartagency.com
TiffanysArtAgency.com
808.747.5882
