The Contemporary Museum at First Hawaiian Center
Tenth Anniversary Exhibition
October 13, 2006 through January 30, 2007

The Contemporary Museum at First Hawaiian Center is proud to present The Contemporary Museum at First Hawaiian Center Tenth Anniversary Exhibition in celebration of its tenth year. In November 1996, The Contemporary Museum opened a satellite gallery space in the heart of downtown Honolulu through a unique partnership with First Hawaiian Bank. The bank space provided the museum with a second home in Honolulu’s downtown district.

The Contemporary Museum at First Hawaiian Center, through the generous partnership with First Hawaiian Bank, helps to make the art and artists of the islands accessible to a different audience in what has matured into an inspired partnership of culture and commerce.

“The Contemporary Museum at First Hawaiian Center has since taken its place as the premiere public venue to view the highest quality and most recent contemporary art of Hawai‘i,” says TCM Director Georgianna Lagoria. Today it presents approximately nine exhibitions a year and has shown the work of more than 200 Hawai‘i artists. The Tenth Anniversary exhibition is dedicated to all the artists that have exhibited over the past ten years. This exhibition represents the remarkable range of contemporary expression in Hawai‘i, the diversity of viewpoints, ideas, styles, media and techniques that flourish in a place located far from other centers of contemporary art.

“The 116 artists brought together again for this tenth anniversary exhibition represent a rich spectrum of vision, embodying the diversity that is a hallmark of both the island community and the contemporary world,” says artist and art writer Marcia Morse. “For them, The Contemporary Museum at First Hawaiian Center, like Hawai‘i itself, has created an essential common ground."

History of TCM Partnership with First Hawaiian Bank
The First Hawaiian Center, located at the corner of King and Bishop Streets in downtown Honolulu, is the headquarters for First Hawaiian Bank. Past Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and TCM Trustee, Walter Dods, opened the sleek, 30-story, Kohn Pederson Fox-designed flagship in November 1996. The Center houses the bank’s many administrative activities, but Dods had also thoughtfully allotted exhibition space on the main lobby and mezzanine levels in the building’s original design.

Walter Dods then proposed a partnership with The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu. Dods recognized the need to support and encourage Hawaii’s arts and his vision for the gallery was specific. As Hawaii’s leading bank, First Hawaiian took the leadership role in the business community’s support of the arts. The bank’s gallery provides an exhibition venue solely for work produced by Hawai‘i artists or work produced by other artists that specifically reference Hawai‘i.

The Contemporary Museum was delighted with the challenge and agreed to identify artists and curate future exhibitions. On the day of First Hawaiian Center’s opening, The Contemporary Museum at the First Hawaiian Center presented its inaugural exhibition, Artists of Hawai‘i, based on the book co-authored by Joan Clarke and Diane Dods. Since then, TCM at FHC Curator Allison Wong has organized and curated more than 75 exhibitions featuring just over 200 artists.

“It is our pleasure to provide free access to some of the best contemporary art that Hawaii’s artists have to offer;” says First Hawaiian Bank’s CEO Don Horner. “Attractions such as this keep our local community strong and vibrant. We are also pleased to donate 100% of the proceeds from the sale of all art work back to the artists which further insures the continued health of the local art community.”

First Hawaiian Bank has played an integral role in Hawaii’s growth and commerce, but it has also been a continuous and ardent supporter of Hawaii’s arts. Today, we acknowledge First Hawaiian’s support and celebrate the first decade of The Contemporary Museum at First Hawaiian Center.