Community Outreach

2021

Due to COVID, many of the in-person opportunities for events were not possible and Lyon Arboretum’s Education Department has had to move their programming online. This year we sought to find opportunities to grow community engagement with the Arboretum through support of the Education Department’s online class offerings.

• FLA co-sponsored an online event in September with Sasha Duerr, a plant-based color artist, designer and educator with conservation, sustainability, ecosystems and cultural awareness behind her work. Sasha presented a talk and demo introducing natural dyeing with materials found in Hawai‘i. She had recently moved back to the Big Island from the California Bay Area where she had been teaching and consulting and had developed curricula with other botanical gardens. We were excited to play a role in connecting the Arboretum with this artist and we look forward to continuing to collaborate with her and the Education Department on future classes and workshops.

2020

This year we looked to build awareness and appreciation of nature through art programs at the arboretum.

• In February, as our last in-person event, we hosted at the arboretum a musical performance, Music in the American Wild, by the American Wild Ensemble. The ensemble commissioned pieces from former and current Hawaiʻi resident composers that were inspired by nature. The setting of the arboretum created a very beautiful afternoon to experience the grounds and reflect on and be inspired by our island environment.

  For those who were unable to join us for that afternoon, the ensemble also created a video for Adaptation Variations by composer Takuma Itoh, some scenes of which were filmed at Lyon Arboretum.

• In January, we were honored to host guest artist, Sarah Simblet, visiting from University of Oxford’s Ruskin School of Art. We co-sponsored a public talk at Punahou Schools and hosted workshops at the arboretum for some nature drawing. She taught the community about the art of drawing, shared her work and approach of drawing botanical and natural subjects, and connected with participants through drawing feedback. She encouraged a new depth of engagement with our surroundings.