ABOUT DAVEN

Daven Hee is a Honolulu-based ceramicist and educator whose work explores the playful and the technically demanding. He holds a BFA in Ceramics from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and an MAVA from the Australian National University. Daven has taught ceramics at Mid-Pacific Institute since 2006 and served as a lecturer in the UH Mānoa Ceramics Department for over a decade. His workshops have taken him across Hawaiʻi, the continental U.S., and internationally, including a notable online workshop with The Ceramic School in Austria. His ceramic toys and vessels are known for their wit, technical precision, and joyful energy.

TOY SHOP

Daven Hee | Ceramics | 3-Day Workshop | Basic wheel-throwing skills recommended

What if the potter’s wheel were a toy-making machine? In Toy Shop, Honolulu ceramicist Daven Hee invites participants into a playful, hands-on exploration of ceramic form — one where imagination drives the work and the wheel is just the starting point.

Using hand manipulation and a small torch for rapid assembly, participants will design and build stylized ceramic toys from multiple wheel-thrown components. A teapot — widely considered one of the most challenging forms in ceramics — has five parts. A toy might have fifty. The torch speeds drying, allowing pieces to be joined quickly and spontaneously, keeping the creative energy alive throughout the building process.

What you will learn:

• Throwing off the hump — a technique for making multiple small forms quickly and efficiently

• Assembling multi-part ceramic forms with precision and spontaneity

• Designing stylized toys from thrown components

• Applying underglazes and glazes for surface decoration

• Understanding firing temperatures and schedules

Participants will leave with an unfired ceramic toy and a new appreciation for what the wheel — and their own hands — can make. Basic wheel-throwing experience recommended.

ABOUT V.  LEE

V. Lee Cabanilla is a sculptor and designer based in Lānaʻi City, Hawaiʻi, whose work draws on Polynesian traditions and contemporary forms to create distinctive sculpture and personal adornment. With over 25 years of experience in carving, sculpting, and woodworking, Lee has exhibited widely — from galleries in California to the Hawaiʻi Craftsmen Statewide Exhibition, where he has shown consistently since 2019 and earned multiple awards including the State Foundation on Culture & the Arts Recognition Award and a Merit Award in Wood Arts. His work has also been featured in collaborations with the Fender Guitar Custom Shop. Lee speaks intermediate ʻOʻlelo Hawaiʻi and his work is rooted in the living traditions of Polynesian carving and adornment.

ANTLER AND WOOD PENDANT CARVING

V. Lee Cabanilla | Wood/Mixed Media | 2–3 Day Workshop | All levels welcome

Carving is one of the oldest forms of human expression — and in Hawaiʻi and across Polynesia, the making of personal adornment carries deep cultural meaning. In this workshop, Lānaʻi-based sculptor V. Lee Cabanilla shares the tools, techniques, history, and lore of carving and subtractive sculpture, guiding participants through the creation of their own finished pendant from antler or wood.

Each participant receives a raw blank of material and works at their own pace to subtractively carve a design of their choosing. Simple yet striking designs are suggested and demonstrated, making the workshop accessible to beginners while offering depth for more experienced carvers. All materials are prepped and ready to work — no heavy machinery or specialized safety equipment required. Rotary tools (including accessible Dremel-style tools with flex shaft handpieces) and hand carving tools are used throughout.

What you will learn:

• The principles of subtractive sculpture and carving

• Proper use of rotary tools, hand carving tools, files, and finishing materials

• The history and cultural significance of personal adornment in Polynesian traditions

• Design principles for carving pendants in antler and wood

• Finishing and polishing techniques

Every participant leaves with a unique, finished wearable piece — carved by their own hands. No prior carving experience required.

ABOUT ROBERTA

Roberta Ann Weisenburg is a goldsmith, silversmith, and jewelry instructor based in Makawao, Maui, with over 45 years of studio experience in custom design, fabrication, and fusing techniques. She began her career as a goldsmith’s apprentice in 1982 and has studied at the Gemological Institute of America, Revere Academy, and Jewelry Studies International, among others. Roberta is one of the first Certified Argentium Instructors in the United States and believes she is the only person in Hawaiʻi teaching Argentium fusing for jewelers. She currently serves as Department Head and Main Jewelry Instructor at Hui Noʻeau Visual Arts Center on Maui, where she has been teaching and developing curriculum since 2013.

ARGENTIUM SILVER:  FUSING, FABRICATION, ENAMEL

Roberta Ann Weisenburg | Metal Arts/Jewelry | 3-Day Workshop | Beginner friendly

What if you could make silver jewelry without solder — and then fill it with color? In this three-day workshop, Maui goldsmith and Certified Argentium Instructor Roberta Ann Weisenburg introduces participants to Argentium, a tarnish-resistant sterling silver alloy that can be fused with heat alone, and guides them through a progressive arc from foundational technique to finished, colorful wearable art.

Each day builds on the last — from learning the unique properties of Argentium and mastering the fusing technique, to fabricating rings and earrings, to the final day’s introduction to torch-fired enameling on Argentium, where colored glass enamels are packed into wire cells and fired in layers to create luminous, one-of-a-kind pieces.

What you will learn:

• The properties of Argentium and how fusing differs from traditional soldering

• Ring forming, sawing, fusing, texturing, and polishing

• Fused wire earring design and construction

• Torch-fired enamel techniques — cell building, wet packing, and layered firing

Participants leave with three stacking rings, a pair of fused wire earrings, and an enameled pendant or earring set. No prior jewelry experience required.

ABOUT HANNA

Hannah Shun is a Kailua-based metalsmith and teaching artist whose work bridges Korean metalsmithing traditions and contemporary practice. She holds a BFA in Illustration from California College of the Arts and a BS in Biology from Ewha Womans University in Seoul. A consistent award winner at the Hawaiʻi Craftsmen Statewide Exhibition, Hannah received the Gold Prize at the 23rd International Jewelry Design Contest in Korea in 2023 and has exhibited internationally in Washington D.C., Seoul, and Hawaiʻi. A dedicated educator, she has taught at the Honolulu Museum of Art and served as a teaching artist with the State Foundation on Culture & the Arts since 2018.

IPSA: TRADITIONAL KOREAN METAL INLAY 

Hannah Shun | Metal Arts | 3-Day Workshop | All levels welcome | Limited to 6 participants

IPSA is a traditional Korean metal inlay technique with roots stretching back over a thousand years, flourishing during the Goryeo and Joseon periods before finding new life in contemporary metalsmithing. In this rare workshop, Kailua jeweler and teaching artist Hannah Shun — a Gold Prize winner at the International Jewelry Design Contest in Korea — introduces participants to this ancient art form through careful, hands-on practice.

Working step by step, participants prepare a metal base through sanding, cleaning, polishing, and surface marking. Using a traditional tool called a jung, they then create hundreds of fine grooves in a concentrated area, building from multiple angles to create a strong structure for inlay. Thin copper wire is carefully inserted into the grooves and secured with a small hammer called a machi. Participants then create a simple shape on the textured surface, etch the metal, and apply carbon black to reveal the inlaid pattern in striking contrast.

What you will learn:

• The history and cultural significance of IPSA across Korean art history

• Metal surface preparation — sanding, cleaning, polishing, and marking

• Groove-cutting with the jung — the foundational technique of IPSA inlay

• Wire inlay and securing with the machi hammer

• Etching and carbon black finishing to reveal the final pattern

Participants leave with a completed inlaid metal piece and a deep appreciation for a tradition rarely taught outside Korea. All levels welcome; no prior metalsmithing experience required. Class limited to 6 participants for personalized instruction.

ARTIST SCHOLARSHIPS ARE AVAILABLE

Scholarships are underwritten by the Hawai’i Craftsmen Endowment Fund and other donors in our community.

Hawai’i Craftsmen will provide full or half scholarships to cover the cost of the registration fee. The applicant must be a current member of Hawai’i Craftsmen, Maui Arts and Culture Center, Molokai Art Center, Donkey Mill Art Center, or Lanai Art Center. You may become a Hawaii Craftsmen member when you are applying for the scholarship.

Deadline for the Maui application: TBD

Deadline for the Molokai application: TBD

Deadline for the O'ahu application: TBD

Deadline for the Kauai application: TBD

Deadline for the Hawaii application: TBD

Deadline for the Lanai application: TBD

APPLY FOR 'AHA HANA LIMA SCHOLARSHIPS HERE - link coming soon