Stephen Freedman

What is your background?
Following a career as a ceramist, sculptor, and writer centered in Los Angeles, exhibiting in galleries and museums around the world, I moved to the Big Island and established a studio. Missing the high standard for art and performance I'd enjoyed in L.A., I created idspace, a gallery dedicated to exhibiting individual artists. Together with Patti Millington I created HI Art Magazine, a voice for arts in the islands. The gallery ran for ten years, surrounded by the verdant garden I spend much of my time developing.
 
What motivates you to be on the Board of EHCC?
When I first arrived in Hawai’i I was asked by the original curator of EHCC, Leila Mehle, to chair the gallery committee upon her retirement. I did that for a year, but found the politics of the Center frustrating. People were very competitive, but not very cooperative. Four years ago the retiring Chairman of EHCC, Lourdan Kimbrell, invited me to form a new Board. What I envisioned was a group of coequal leaders, gleaned from the under-represented demographics of our community -- young people, minorities, varied ethnicities and gender identities, plus educators, all working together to generate an authentic cultural representation of a standard that would characterize our rich island society. The industrious, creative people who are now generating art, performance, and education are why I am here.
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