Hawaii Craftsmen celebrates fine craft as a vital and enriching part of contemporary life and supports the creative growth of our member artists and the education of the general public to the value of the crafts. We achieve our mission by increasing public awareness and appreciation of fine craft through community outreach and programs for craft artists. We provide opportunities for continuing education and regular exhibition of member work that supports and sustains a statewide community of craft artists. Our programs provide venues for shared experiences and communication and promote the organization and its members both within and without the State of Hawaii.

Our programs are designed for emerging and professional artists and craftsmen. They typically work with glass, metal, wood, fiber, clay or stone. Our members span generations from founding members (we have several Living Treasures on our roster) to students in art school. The raku program has a youth component and we have watched a generation of budding potters grow up. We take seriously our commitment to reach artist across the state and are the only arts organization to send our jurors to the neighbor islands to select work for our annual exhibition. We plan workshops on neighbor islands each year. On average, 20% or our membership (300+/-) are from the neighbor islands.

Our events are important to the community because they bring knowledge and skill to artists and audience across the Hawaiian Islands about craft in a variety of mediums. Our Annual Statewide Juried Exhibition is the ONLY exhibition that is truly statewide and includes all craft mediums. Our workshops and exhibits are highly anticipated by our members and supporters every year because of the professionalism of the instructors as well as the high quality of the craft exhibited. We strive to bring teachers and jurors from the mainland to bring fresh talents skills and perspectives to our islands. Everyone gains from the experience and it goes both ways Teachers and juror return home with a newly realized appreciation of the fine craft and passionate artists in Hawaii. This knowledge has sometimes opened up new venues for HC artists to exhibit and sell their work. Living so far from other counties and the mainland is important we do not succumb to insularity, but reach out and provide educational programs and exhibition to artist and the public all across Hawaii Art and creativity reach across languages cultures and people of all ages to generate conversion and provide fresh perspective 

For our 2014 programs we provided 634 artist experiences to approximately 250 individual artists. Because our programs are at popular arts venues such as the Honolulu Museum of Art, we reached just over 20,000 members of the public.

Hawaii Craft and Other Arts Organizations

Hawaii Craftsmen was founded in 1966 as a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting fine craft in the art community of Hawaii.  We are pleased to highlight the organizations listed here that provide a range of arts programs and services throughout the state to our members and the general public.