Honolulu Museum of Art and Shangri La

Yesterday was a day full of art! It began with a tour of Shangri La and concluded with a visit to the Honolulu Museum of Art. There was a lot to see!

Shangri La

At 9 a.m., Ryan and I met up with a small group from the press trip to tour Shangri La, the former home of Doris Duke. The famous American heiress had a deep passion for Islamic art and her home, which she called Shangri La, is full of Islamic art and open to the public for tours.

Though the grounds surrounding Shangri La are beautiful, the house itself was not overly impressive from the front entrance. When I asked our knowledgeable tour guide, Carol, about the lack of windows, she explained that the outside of Doris Duke’s multi-million dollar home was intentionally modest in accordance with traditional Islamic architecture.

Unfortunately pictures were not allowed inside of the house, but it was impressive and full of Islamic art, intricate tapestry, detailed tiles and incredible views of the Pacific Ocean. We were permitted to photograph the views from the back of the house and you could easily see Diamond Head, the crater Ryan and I hiked up a few days ago.

Can you imagine eating breakfast while enjoying these views!?

The property also included a guest house and a salt water pool.

Selected scholars and artists can now stay in the guest house for two weeks or so at a time, which I thought was really neat. Can you imagine camping out in the former guest house of Doris Duke? Not too shabby.

Honolulu Museum of Art

Our second stop of the day took us to the Honolulu Museum of Art, where we were able to walk around and see two of the featured exhibitions: Tattoo Honolulu and  Boardshorts: A Perfect Fit.

I found the tattoo exhibition particularly interesting. I liked how the museum featured beautiful photographs of tattoos done by top tattoo artists in Hawaii and included information about the artists next to their work that told us more about  their backgrounds, sources of inspiration and more.

One of the highlights of our time at the museum came at lunchtime, and it wasn’t just because we ate some fantastic food at the museum café. Stephan Jost, the director of the museum, and Lucky, one of the local tattoo artists featured in the museum’s exhibition, joined us for lunch.

At Stephan’s urging, I ordered the Nicoise salad and thought it was fantastic. Four people at our table ordered the same thing and we all raved about it!

During lunch, I found the conversation particularly interesting. I worked at an art museum after I graduated from college as a public relations and marketing assistant, so I found the director’s stories about the museum’s goals, struggles and vision very amusing. They brought back memories of my time at the Orlando Museum of Art! Stephan was so charismatic and forward-thinking, which was refreshing, and the museum seems to do a decent job of appealing to people of all ages.

Just look at the color of the walls in one of the exhibits:

The collection at the museum was quite impressive and I kept saying, “Oh my gosh” aloud as I discovered yet another impressive piece on the walls. I saw works by Picasso, Monet, Georgia O’Keefe, Gauguin and more and loved that the museum allows patrons to take photographs and get up close to the art.

Today’s activities are taking us to a local fish market! I’ll be back with more details in a bit… but only after I take a shower, because I’ve been told things can get a little stinky!

Questions of the Day

• Do you enjoy visiting art museums?
• Who is your favorite artist?