Dale Zarrella - Maui Sculptor, Painter, Artist

One day last March as we were walking down to Charley Young Beach for a snorkel and some afternoon sun, we glanced to the north and spotted what appeared to be a huge wooden statue, so we decided to go closer and see what it was. 

We were immediately in awe as we drank in the most spectacular wooden sculpture of a mermaid, obviously a work in progress, surrounded by coral, turtles and other sea life. The mermaid was looking up with abandon towards the sky, while her long hair flowed carelessly behind her.  The detail in the unfinished carving was simply amazing so we can't wait to see it in all its glory after completion.

The artist was nowhere around, so when I got home I did a google search and found out his name is Dale Zarrella and that he creates his masterpieces from an inspiring location on his Maui oceanfront property, just north of Charley Young Beach in Kihei.
I read that there are collections of his works at the Grand Wailea Resort, the Makena Golf and Beach Resort and at the Frank Lloyd Wright designed King Kamehameha Golf Club.  One of his famous pieces is a bronze statue of Father Damien, which was completed in 2012 and blessed by Pope Benedict XVl at the Vatican.  He apparently began this sculpture with a plaster study, and a bronze cast made from the study is now at the Vatican museum in Rome.  The life sized sculpture fashioned out of Koa wood will eventually end up in the Honolulu Damien museum.  I watched a very interesting video, of Dale Zarrella speaking about all the research he did before starting the sculpture.  He puts his whole heart and soul into every piece he creates and finds out all he can about his subject before he begins to work. For example he visited the leper colony of Kalaupapa on Molokai, several times before he started that project.
I also learned that he gives a guided tour of four of his major works at the Makena Golf and Beach Resort each Wednesday evening.   The free tour lasts around an hour and you have the choice of staying on for a private dinner with the artist for a fee. Phone the resort for more details on this. Our friends went and thoroughly enjoyed it.  They said he was a terrific speaker, very genuine, and exceptionally humble even in light of all his great accomplishments.
His most recent piece, and the one we saw, was started in April of 2013 from a 5000 lb. old Monkey Pod tree stump.  

  
Dale Zarrella  brings his18 years of experience working as caretaker of a turtle sanctuary on the Big Isle, to Maui, and this apparently is what inspired him to paint and carve the sea life of Hawaii.  His paintings can be found in many galleries and private collections around the world.
What a treat to find out about this extremely talented and diverse artist, who works with bronze, wood, stone and paint.  Unfortunately before we left Maui we didn't get a chance to meet him so when we get back we are going to make a point of going to all his galleries and attend his Wednesday night tour.
For more information visit the Dale Zarrella website. Here you will find photos of many of his works and links to his videos. 

If you need a place to stay for your Maui vacation, our Maui Garden House is only a few minutes by car to Charley Young Beach.

Artist Jim Freeheart Paints on Keawakapu Beach

Keawakapu Beach is one of my favourite Maui beaches and the other day we came across an artist painting in front of a fantastic natural backdrop of sand, ocean and the distant islands.  It was such a picturesque sight that I decided to have a chat with him to find out what he was all about.

The artist's name was Jim Freeheart and he told me that he was working on a commissioned painting of two little girls playing in the waves. It was just beautiful!!

Beside his easel, Jim had a blanket laid out on the beach with a sign that said free art lessons for children. One of his passions is helping inspire children to follow their dreams.  Today he showed his little class how to draw a dolphin. As a retired elementary school teacher I found it heartwarming to witness the patient, gentle and encouraging way that he related to the kids.

Jim told me that he has a studio in Maui Meadows and some of his paintings are on display in various Maui galleries. He spends about five months in his Maui home base and the rest of the time travelling to various other states and countries to paint other local scenes. Starting in May he plans to go on a road trip to Canada where he will do some paintings of Vancouver Island. Since we are from that area I am hoping that we will see him this summer.
If his Maui art is any example of how he can capture the essence of a place, then we will look forward to how he interprets our north pacific coast of Canada. He had some of his Maui paintings on display and they are very impressive.

I really like Jim's outlook on life.  The following quote from his website says it all.

"I wish to say that my gratitude for the creative gift I was given is inexpressible! The opportunity to highlight some of this world's magnificence and perhaps inspire others to cherish life is such an honor. My greatest hope is that each of us finds our own unique inner gift and expresses it fully! All gifts are equal, though many are not so visible as that of painting. Living our gift is our service to humanity and a pathway to inner peace. Life is like a canvas, we choose our palette and brushes and composition. Regular thoughts of love, harmony and gratitude will form a luminous masterpiece!

Each work of my art carries a star-shaped symbol beside my signature that means to me-"Celebrate the Gift of Life"!

For more information about Jim Freeheart and to see his online gallery visit his website.