Feed Your Artistic Appetite With Fishschool Classes
At Fishschool, the studio part of Fishcake, local teachers like 104-year-old Esther Nowell show you’re never too old for art.
104-year-old Esther Nowell with her lucky cat work in progress. Photo: Andrea Lee
If you want to learn how to sew, craft jewelry, throw pottery or work with clay, Fishschool offers beginner-friendly instruction in Kaka‘ako taught by local artists. Tucked into the Fishcake store, the popular community art school hosts a breadth of classes, from one-time workshops and weekend series to weekly classes over a few months. The ceramics classes, in particular, are well worth the price as they include all materials and kiln firing.
I was fortunate to attend one of 104-year-old artist Esther Nowell’s last ceramic workshops before she passed away in January. The class ($60) focused on maneki-neko or lucky cats, the Japanese figurines often placed in businesses to bring good fortune. Nowell guided us through shaping the cat with clay, from forming the body with pinch pots to attaching arms and a fish or coin for it to hold. In the second session, we glazed our cats, letting our creativity flow through colors and brushstrokes.
Photo: Andrea Lee
“Do you know the Dr. Seuss quote?” asked Nowell as she admired our unique creations. “‘Today, you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is youer than you.’ That’s what we show with our art.”
307c Kamani St., fishcake.us/school, @fishschoolhawaii
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In honor of Esther Nowell’s teaching legacy, the Downtown Art Center established the Esther Nowell Art Fund, which will help support DAC’s creative education programs.
