Today we’d like to introduce you to Cayce Hanalei.
Cayce, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I earned my BA in Fine Art as well as Business Administration in 2013 and moved to San Diego from New York. I got my first job here as an administrator a few months later and was not involved in the San Diego art scene at all. It wasn’t until I met my boyfriend, now husband when he saw my work and encouraged me to pursue my art. He told me “Enter something… anything” so I did.
I started entering every show that I could get my hands on. Soon enough people started noticing my work and style. One of the curators that I had started working with encouraged me to keep going and to dive further into the San Diego art scene.
I kept getting accepted into the most well-known galleries in the area and even opened up my studio at La Bodega gallery. My family even pitched in to buy me a new computer, and they filled for my business LLC for Hanalei Artworks. I was finally official! After about ten months of showing my work, I was offered the curator position at Mike Hess.
Since December 2017, Hanalei Artworks has organized over 15 art exhibitions in the North Park and Hillcrest area, including the monthly shows at Mike Hess, the monthly solo exhibitions during Ray at Night, and Gallery in the Street during this year’s SDCCU Festival of Arts.
Recently, Hanalei Artworks has been going through some growing pains. With a few venues being shut down or closed. We have learned to adapt and grow through adversity. We have a lot of exciting things planned for the end of 2018 and going into 2019.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has been nowhere near a smooth road, but this is what I love to do, and it’s honestly a labor of love. I don’t want to be insensitive, but I feel like as an artist myself I have the liberty to say that artists can be very difficult to work with.
Hanalei Artworks puts on at least two shows a month and trying to organize 10-30 artists for a show is often like herding cats. With that being said, its often times not the emerging artist’s fault. That’s where my passion is.
My favorite kind of artist is the self-taught artist who has never shown their work, wants to show their work but doesn’t know the first step or the second or the fifth. That’s where I come in. I love showing new artists what they are capable of and what they can accomplish by using our shows as a stepping stone into the Art world.
We’d love to hear more about what you do.
Hanalei Artworks specializes in few different areas. Hanalei Artworks involves not only my personal artwork and art lessons, but it also includes Hanalei Artworks Art Exhibitions. What we are most known for is our excellence in curating and organizing art exhibitions in and around San Diego. We cater to mostly emerging artists by helping them properly display their work, and we are used as a resource to help them further their art career.
I am so proud of my company because of how far we have come in such a little time. I have really only been showing my work professionally and actively for about two years. I have only been hosting shows under the name Hanalei Artworks for less than a year, and we are already a relatively known name in the San Diego art community.
I think what sets Hanalei Artworks and I apart from other similar organizations is my passion. I love the emerging artist. I know what its like to just start out and have no idea what I’m doing. I think that if I can help just one artist with their career and give them the confidence to enter that next show or go to that gallery opening, then I’ve done my job.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
I think one of my favorite childhood memories is our family vacations to Busch Gardens on the east coast. We would go every year on our way to our favorite place in NC. My dad would always take me on the rollercoasters even when I was probably too little or too scared. Even just being bored waiting in line to get on the rides was my favorite. We would have so much fun as a family no matter the situation.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.HanaleiArtworks.com
- Phone: 619-653-9776
- Email: hanaleiartworks@gmail.com
- Instagram: hanaleiartworks
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HanaleiArtworks/
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