New Artist in Residence

Molokai Arts Center News Release

The Molokai Arts Center (MAC) welcomes Artist in Residence Angaea Cuna from the island of Hawaii. Angaea is a multimedia artist and Filipino immigrant focusing on fiber arts, bookbinding, and immersive installation. She will be on Molokai from March 1 through 22 exploring the landscape and studying the native plants and fibers. She hopes to use one fiber material to inspire Molokai-specific handmade papers and perfect-bind them into a handmade artist book. The book and the display will reflect the abundance of Molokai’s landscape. This installation reimagines “an indigenous library” by using material as the tether to our ancestral knowledge.
By practicing a bio-centric process and the use of natural materials, Angaea resurfaces her ancestry’s connection to nature, producing work layered with personal narrative and historical research. Angaea’s works aim to unearth the extensive culture of her Filipino ancestry that has been lost throughout foreign colonization and religious inquisition, as well as ignite conversations about the Pacific Island Diaspora and undocumented individuals in the United States. Within the refuge of her art, Angaea hopes to find a sense of belonging free from the prejudices of an undocumented status.
Angaea received her BFA in media arts from UCLA School of Design, founded Gaea Bound, and is a teaching artist and fiber arts apprentice at the Donkey Mill Art Center in Holualoa, Hawaii. Her Instagram is GaeaBound, and her Youtube is Angaea Cuna.
Visit with Angaea at the MAC Saturday Market at MCHC while she’s here. She’ll teach a workshop on Banana Fiber Art at the Art Bar at Hiro’s ‘Ohana Grill on March 12. Next week, Angaea will share the work she has done on Molokai, as well as her other works at a “Meet the Artist at MAC Talk” on Wednesday, March 19 at 5:30 p.m. at Molokai Library. Mahalo Molokai Community Health Center, Hiro’s ‘Ohana Grill. and Molokai Library for partnering with the MAC.
Molokai Arts Center received a grant from the Laila Twigg-Smith Fund of the Hawaii Community Foundation (HCF) for the Artist in Residence Program 2024-25. Mahalo HCF for helping artists grow as storytellers on the island of Molokai.
The MAC looks forward to three more visiting artists in the next few months. We are looking for hosts to house them and opportunities for them to teach in the community. If you would like to host a future MAC Artist in Residence, please email molokaiartsexecdr@gmail.com.