L.J.C. (Linda) Shimoda has been named the Kaua‘i Museum’s new Mezzanine Gallery Director and Educational Outreach Coordinator. Having recently exhibited her body of work entitled “ZENGA: what I make of what I think” at the Kaua‘i Museum’s Mezzanine Gallery, she
L.J.C. (Linda) Shimoda has been named the Kaua‘i Museum’s new Mezzanine Gallery Director and Educational Outreach Coordinator.
Having recently exhibited her body of work entitled “ZENGA: what I make of what I think” at the Kaua‘i Museum’s Mezzanine Gallery, she has joined the museum as an administrator “in its mission to be the cultural sanctuary for the art and artifacts of Native Hawaiians, and to nurture the creative spirit of today’s artists,” states a recent press release from the museum.
Shimoda is looking forward to supporting local keepers and creators of culture through her new position of influence at the historic museum. “It’s our mission to document the art being created now, as it will be the artifacts we look at in the future to understand this island’s past,” writes Shimoda. “It’s that sentiment that originally attracted me to this job, as I’ve always felt art expresses our true history. Even though this museum has a tremendous trove of historical items, it is just as interested in cultivating and capturing the island as it is now, to preserve it for the future.”
The museum world, often filled with administrators who very rarely have lived on the other side of the business as artists themselves, can seem somewhat out of touch with working artists who need their support.
Antiquities have no problem being exhibited, and living artists often feel recognition will only come post-mortem. A world traveler and published artist herself, Shimoda will help to bridge these two — often separate and estranged paradigms — a real coup for Kaua‘i’s creators of culture.
She “brings with her a strong fine arts background, specializing in Japanese brush art, and has shown her work all over the country.
She also has an extensive education history of working with groups developing Web-based and printed materials for cultural, as well as science curriculum,” writes the museum.
To contact Shimoda, call 245-6931 ext. 26 or e-mail ljc@kauaimuseum.org. You can also learn more about Shimoda’s art work at her Web site: www.shimodaworks.com
