Keoki Galas: Finding community through art

WHEN Keoki Galas was a senior at Molokai High School, he needed an elective to graduate. So in his last semester, he opted for an art class. Next thing he knows, his art teacher is telling him he has won a trip to O‘ahu to see his charcoal drawing on view in a student art exhibition at the Honolulu Academy of Arts (now HoMA!).

The varsity volleyball and basketball player was stunned. “I was the youngest of seven siblings, all of us athletic and academic, and to have an art award—it was just out of the blue.” Forty years later, Galas retired as a telecommunications technician and ballroom dance instructor and was searching online for something to do. “And there were art classes at HoMA. I retired in June and I signed up for a class in September—I was back to where my art was first displayed,” he says.

Now he takes up to eight classes a quarter. “I jumped in whole body,” says Galas. “I’ve taken probably all of the mediums. I just immerse myself in art.”

Growing up on Moloka‘i, Galas’ grandfather Walter Naki instilled three things in his grandchildren—be a farmer, know how to feed yourself; keep your hands busy, it means you’re productive; and be a fisherman, take care of and be attentive to the ocean. His grandfather also did street ministry, and his family built the Gospel Shoes of Christ Jesus Church when he was 10.

“So I had to learn to be observant from a very young age—look at the weather, get a feel of what’s going on with the wind, the rain, the texture of the water, the season,” says Galas. “And we learned to be out and about with grandpa and not be afraid to say what we believe. We didn’t do much art growing up, yet beauty was around us all the time.”

Galas now approaches art in the same way. “Be attentive, be encouraging, also value the people that you’re with because that’s really what matters,” he says. “I love coming to the museum and learning about art—what better place? And I love being in the frequency of artists.”

He is drawn to HoMA’s Impressionist works, citing Monet’s Water Lilies and van Gogh’s Wheat Field as favorites. In fact, he is incorporating them into his current ceramic work. “I am making large square plates and using them as a canvas, and painting van Gogh–style art on them.”

Art School Teaching Artist Amber Coppings says, “One of the things I love about working with Keoki is that he provides an example of how to allow creativity to help us grow into our best selves at any age. He helps all of us in the room to be present with our creativity, challenge our capabilities, and reminds students that learning requires creative risk-taking. He shows us through his generosity and spirit that being in community with each other can be the support system we need in the classroom and beyond.”

HoMA has been a jumping off point for Galas to Honolulu’s wider arts scene—he attended the public hearing for House Bill 1807 with classmates and was blown away by work in the Artists of Hawai‘i exhibition at Downtown Art Center. Says the sharp dresser in trademark multicolored print long-sleeved shirts: “I’m loving that I am part of a community that helps to support each other.”