Name and/or alias(es):

Emily McIlroy

Hometown:

Norman, Oklahoma

“Day job”:

Graduate Assistant, Introduction to Drawing, UH Manoa

Instructor, Art-to-Go Outreach Program, Honolulu Academy of Arts

Latest book/movie/music you’ve consumed:

Book-A Prayer for Owen Meany

Movie-A Mighty Wind, Cashback, Awakenings

Music- The Album Leaf, Bonobo, Tommy Guerrero

Website/artist you think is worth checking out:

Artists: Peter Doig, Craig Nagasawa, Simen Johan, Philip Taaffe,  Andy Goldsworthy

Greatest accomplishment yet:

surviving 27 years

Inspirations:

all things natural and wild, the ocean, dreams, the “paranormal”, my beautiful twin brother

Suggestions for fellow artists:

Let your life be research, your work be a gift to the world, and your studio be a sanctuary.

Artistic weapon(s) of choice:

just give me a camera, oil paints, and some blank canvas

Details or notes regarding any of your featured works:

Created from layered topographies of visual imagery, my paintings serve as metaphors for information seen and unseen, known and unknown, observed and intuited. The focus of my research has been a search for metaphysical evidence of life after death, and my practice has centered on developing a visual language that addresses a need to reconcile loss with an intuitive desire for connection.

Composed of various laminae of both opaque and transparent paint, mediums, graffitied surfaces and photo transfers, my works aspire to pictorially manifest the idea of reality as a fluctuating choreography of emergence and evanescence.

My recent incorporation of marine imagery serves as a visual representation of a world to which we both do and do not belong, a metaphorical place for meeting with departed loved ones.

There are certain spaces, both on land and underwater, that seem inhabited by the phantoms of everything that used to be. Now and then, I feel that if I look hard enough, I can find what I have lost.  My work arises from the fantasy that I could somehow get it back.

From high heels to toe-shoes, men of all ages walked around the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa campus Thursday to increase awareness of an important issue: violence toward women on our campus and in our community. The event was sponsored by UH Athletics, Women’s Center and the PAU Violence Program.

Here’s the synopsis of the event from the official posting on the UH Systemwide Events Calendar:

“Inspired by the saying “you cannot understand a person’s experiences until you have walked a mile in their shoes”, we are encouraging the men of UH Manoa to walk across campus wearing women’s high-heeled shoes. It is our hope that this event will raise awareness and begin discussions about issues of violence towards women on our campus and in our community. Sexual violence does not just affect women but also the men, families and friends who care about them.”

For more information, contact Leslie Cabingabang, (808) 956-8059, pauvaw@hawaii.edu, or www.walkamileinhershoes.org

Last Friday I got a glimpse of Martin Scorsese’s latest film Shutter Island. The film is set in 1954 and revolves around two U.S. Marshals investigating the disappearance of a murderess who escaped from her high-security cell in a mental hospital on Shutter Island.

Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo take on the lead roles in the film. DiCaprio, who plays U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels, got slammed by critics like this one from The New York Times:

“Mr. DiCaprio, having grown perhaps overly fond of his accent from “The Departed,” brings it along for the ride, and it spreads through the movie like a contagious disease.”

While the acting may be mediocre, popular filmmaker Martin Scorsese does not disappoint as he keeps viewers on the edge of their seats. Suspense filled the air in the Kapolei theater I sat in as people reacted to the shaky camera style and loud, dramatic music.

Perhaps my biggest qualm with Shutter Island was with the music; at times it seemed WAY overdone and piercingly loud. Like all of Scorsese’s films, it was filled with gore.

But unless you have a strong stomach and love horror films I’d suggest picking up the novel before you rush to the movie theater.

Check out some of Scorsese’s famous work in this special NYTimes multimedia piece here.

(serves 4)

Chickpeas are the shit.

These lovely legumes, also known as garbanzo beans, have fans in Indians, Sicilians (panelle), Middle Easterns (hummus, falafel), French (socca), and Filipinos (halo-halo), for starters, and provide a substantial amount of protein, vitamins and minerals in just a few ounces. I love their offbeat, mealy creaminess – you need to eat them for yourself to know – and slightly earthy flavor.

Some of the less common ingredients, such as besan flour and mustard seeds, are available at Whole Foods Kāhala Mall or India Market on the corner of University Avenue and Beretania Street.

If you can get your hands on some good Indian bread, such as naan or roti paratha, this Punjabi dish will transport you to the streets of northern India, where chana masala is commonly sold as street food. Serve over basmati rice steamed with a little turmeric and coriander seed.

4 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 medium onion, thinly sliced on the grain 4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons mustard seeds
2 tablespoons coriander seeds
2 teaspoons cumin
2 teaspoons besan (chickpea) flour
1 14-ounce can tomatoes
½-inch piece of ginger, peeled and minced
½ green jalapeño, minced
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon red chili powder
½ cup fresh cilantro, chopped
2 15.5-ounce cans chickpeas
¾ cup water
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon garam masala

In a wok or large saucepan, sauté the onion, garlic, mustard and coriander seeds, and cumin in the oil over medium heat until the onion is soft and spices are fragrant. Add the flour and stir constantly for a minute, then add the tomatoes, ginger, jalapeño, turmeric and chili powder, and simmer for 10 minutes or until reduced by half. Add the chickpeas, water, salt, and half the cilantro, and simmer for 10 minutes or until the sauce is thick, stirring occasionally. Sprinkle in the garam masala, stir, taste and adjust the seasoning as necessary, and pour into a serving bowl. Garnish with the remaining cilantro and serve.

6 chicken breasts, cooked, boned and cut into bite-size pieces
2 10-oz. packages broccoli pieces, boiled until crisp-tender
2 cups milk
16 oz. cream cheese
1 tsp. salt
¾ tsp. garlic salt
1½ cups grated parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350°F. Place broccoli and chicken in 9″-by-13″ pan. Blend milk, cream cheese, salt, garlic salt and ¾ cup of parmesan cheese. Spoon mixture over broccoli and chicken. Top with remaining parmesan cheese. Bake for 30 minutes or until bubbly on top. Lastly, enjoy with friends!

My New Year’s Resolution: I will write something every single day and post it for everyone to see.

#45: Unnaturally depressed

Spending as much time as I do driving around Wai‘anae these days, I can’t help but notice a rather disturbing trend: there’s a lot of roadkill out here. Seriously, driving around all the other parts of this island, the Wai‘anae coast is by and large the most lethal to those of the furred or feathered species.

I’ve seen birds, mongooses, cats and dogs numerous times on the highway and even on residential roads. If a bird is run over in a suburban neighborhood, exactly how fast is someone driving that it can’t fly out of the way? I mean, is that really the root of the problem: people drive way too fast out here?

For a lot of folks, I can understand that most of the Wai‘anae coast is pretty far from everywhere. Some folks like the “seclusion” and I’m guessing most of them live in Makaha. Everyone else apparently considers their car a space shuttle that needs to go fast enough to hit escape velocity just to leave the coast.

As an animal lover, it’s really sad seeing all these animals killed, but even more so seeing these animals disregarded.

It comes in stages as far as I can see.

First, when the incident happens one of two things happens: either the driver feels a pang of remorse having ended the life of another living being or they’re annoyed that they now have to make a point to clean a part of their car “extra.”

Next, other drivers, if not following immediately behind the first driver, will attempt to avoid the fresh corpse either out of respect or because they too don’t want to have to clean a part of their car “extra.”

Finally, someone at some point, assuming no one has taken steps to clear the road or whatever mystical ninja cleanup crew hasn’t done its strange job, will actually run over the body. This is where the disregard comes into play, because once the animal becomes remotely disfigured it is not considered something that was once living and breathing. It may as well be a piece of carpet laying atop a paint spill, since that’s how most drivers regard it from then on.

Maybe I shouldn’t feel too sad about the whole thing. A lot of the creatures that end up part of the pavement are feral to begin with, by-products of poor pet population control or simply wild animals. Some of them might be pets that were either forgotten or neglected, both depressing situations. Maybe that means that for some of these animals a speeding car was like some sort of release from suffering a worse fate. I don’t think I have the mental ability to process this accordingly.

People, please drive sensibly and cautiously. Leave early so you don’t have to rush. Make your drive-time more enjoyable with your favorite music or other audio recordings, so that you’ll want to take your time driving just to hear the last few minutes of something. Just be aware that you are driving and that there’s a whole world that isn’t moving all that fast around you.

กาโบเออี์ระ

ดนตรีเราคือแสง

และการเต้นรำคือความร้อน

เฮ!เราคือเพลิงกัน

Capoeira

Our music is light

And our dance is heat,

oh, together we are fire.

Editor’s Note:  Most modern web browsers already come with Thai language encoding. If you can’t see the original Thai language text,  follow these steps: 1) Go to the View menu and there should be an Encoding option. 2) There should be an option for Thai language encoding, so simply select it. 3) If you still can’t see the original Thai text, well, then enjoy the picture version.

words and photos by Liam Cronan

First Friday takes place every month on the first Friday of the month and is one of the most intriguing events that takes place on the island of O‘ahu.

It’s filled with numerous art galleries and encompasses almost all of Chinatown. The streets are blocked off from cars so pedestrians can move freely from one gallery to another.

Below are some of the photos that I captured while visiting the event – please excuse me for not being able to attach the individual artist names to each photo.

The madness overwhelmed me; I also encourage everyone to go check it out yourself.

Words and photos by Ashley Kirk

When I think about First Friday the most common thoughts that pop into my head are bars, drinking, and, well, more bars. I’m sure most people would think the same thing, but I have always wanted to check out the scoops on the artistic aspect.

And so my journey began this past Friday. After driving in circles and finally finding parking, my friend and I made our way into the crowd of people that flooded the streets of Chinatown.

After walking a few blocks we stumbled upon a large group gathered in a park by the Hawai‘i Theatre. Making our way into the center of the commotion, both of us lit up with excitement as we realized what we had just discovered . . . capoeira!

Capoeira is a Brazilian dance that incorporates martial arts. It was so amazing to watch  In a semicircle, the artists would each take turns “battling” in groups of two. They were not hurting each other; it was more like watching You Got Served, but martial-arts style. I saw high kicks, flips, spins and moves that I cannot even describe!  There were even a couple times where I thought I was going to get kicked in the face because I was so close to the action.

Some styles were slow and graceful, and then there were styles that looked like someone turned on the fast-forward button. It involved flexibility, strength and an extreme amount of focus, because one wrong move and a person’s foot could end up in the other person’s mouth.

It also involved music. The group had its own band and would each take turns playing the instruments and singing. I could not understand the lyrics but the music had a catchy beat and my friend and I just made up our own words.

What I also liked about this performance was that the capoeira group encouraged the audience to clap to the music and sing along with them. I felt like we were all one big, happy family, all getting along and having a good time. This was the type of experience that you cannot buy, and that’s what made it so special.