Founded in 1974, the Waimea Arts Council serves the local art community through:
- Stimulating community interest and participation in programs to develop and display the creative and performing arts for all age groups, be they music, dance, visual arts or skilled crafts
- Coordinating and promoting cultural activities, both local and visiting
Board of Directors:
(October 1, 2022 – September 30, 2023)
- President – Kathy Sprinkle
- Vice President – Amaury Saint Gilles
- Treasurer – Kim Horn
- Secretary – Irina Place
- Director – Maureen Farnsworth
- Director – Suzi Woodruff Lacey
- Director – Wendi Pa’hana Roehrig
- Director – Barbara Schaefer
About the 2022 – 2023 Board of Directors
Kathy Sprinkle
Kathy Sprinkle is currently an active Big Island artist and Entrepreneur, co-founding the Big Island Art Fair and A Silk Experience, as well as displaying her works and docenting at The Firehouse Gallery. She worked for a number of years in high tech marketing and sales for companies such as Lexmark and American Teleconferencing, and was responsible for the accounts of Fortune 500 companies. After the change in focus following the birth of her daughter, she became heavily involved in the art programs at the Mulberry School in Los Gatos California, where she took over responsibility for the 5th Grade Art program, created the now annual “Mulberry Made” community art show and facilitated the school’s partnership with accomplished artists such as Gary Hirsch. Additionally Kathy was appointed as Committee Chair for the Mulberry Annual fundraising event, and served on the school Board of Directors. After numerous years vacationing on the Big Island, Kathy and her family moved here in 2018. She and her husband co-founded the monthly Big Island Art Fair at Anna’s Ranch, where she acts as the Creative Director, and A Silk Experience – an artistic silk marbling experience. Kathy’s personal art can be seen in the Hawaii Fluid Art Gallery and at the Firehouse Gallery, where it has won awards in the Waimea Arts Council’s annual founders show from first place to juror’s choice. She is an active docent for the gallery and is exploring new ways to become even more involved in the Kohala Coast art community.
Amaury Saint Gilles
After living in Tokyo (working throughout Asia) for over 3 decades I moved to Hawaii in 1990 to start a sheep ranch. Why anyone with a college education in the arts would think sheep were somehow kin to cats, after having had many house cats, made me qualified to raise livestock are questions that will never be satisfactorily answered. Suffice to say that project was a hard won success which then re-opened the door to establishing my own fine arts gallery. But after a gallery career spanning 36 years I closed to focus on my next real love – writing. Which is what I try to spend half of each day doing. There is a book or two in those hours as I mine daily for the right words to print on a clean sheet of paper.
Kim Horn
Kimberly (Kim) Horn is a graduate of Punahou School, the University of Washington, U.C. Berkeley, and the John A. Burns School of Medicine. As a retired M.D., she now has the time to make jewelry and craft ribbon leis, perform with Ryukyukoku Matsuri Daiko (an Okinawan Eisa style taiko group), and train with the Kawaihae Outrigger Canoe Club. Occasionally she works in her garden and house. Her husband, WAC member and Plein Air painter Ilmar Reinvald, encouraged her to become a member of WAC a few years back to help with the volunteer needs of the organization.
Irina Place
Irina V. Place started painting in 1999 and paints in watercolor, oil and acrylic. She is an active participant in West Hawaii Plein Air Painters and North Hawaii Plein Air Painters group, taking part in plein air sessions, critique and discussions, and organizing the art shows. She single handedly organized a memorial art show and reception for a former WAC member. Irina has been in charge of the Hospitality committee since 2010.
Maureen Farnsworth
Maureen is excited to be part of the Waimea Arts Council as an advocate for the arts, artists and art related community events. She is a firm believer that nurturing the creativity in all people promotes health, and a sense of wellbeing and brings us together as a community in appreciating the importance of supporting the arts as well as local and future artists. She served on the Board of Directors for the Crossing Arts Alliance in Brainerd Minnesota where she was active in creating relevant art shows that brought the community together and participated in the selection and hanging of art with the Gallery Committee. She also was part of a small committee that helped revise membership and roll out a membership drive that helped the Crossing Arts Alliance grow and expand in its ability offer art classes for adults and art programs for children. Maureen is interested in seeing the Waimea Arts Council and Firehouse Gallery grow into its mission and become a vibrant community, culture and economy.
Suzi Woodruff Lacey
Suzi Woodruff Lacey is a watercolor, oil and acrylic painter who is passionate about art and the arts. While living in South Africa, she created watercolor cards that were sold internationally to help fund a children’s orphanage in Cape Town. Now living in Hawaii with her grown children on 40 acres of ‘Ohi’a protected forrest, she is immersing herself in the aloha culture and learning every day. Suzi brings invaluable experience to the Waimea Arts Council with her career experience as a journalist with NBC and CBS affiliates in Tucson, Denver and San Diego. She was the Public Relations/Communications Director for The Salvation Army in Southern California and won awards for “story pitching” and overall excellence. She’s had career experience ranging from teaching high school English to working for The San Francisco Human Rights Commission. Her first travel exploration in Hawaii took her to Kamuela/Waimea where she fell in love with the countryside and atmosphere. Her first stop was The Firehouse Gallery and the rest is history.
Wendi Paʻhana Roehrig
Wendi Paʻhana Roehrig has been a member of Waimea Arts Council since the early eighties and has served on the board on and off throughout the years. She has always loved to create having been fortunate in having a ballet teacher grandmother who introduced and encouraged her in both the performing and visual arts. Drawing, painting, sewing and crafts of all sorts have been an integral part of her life from a very young age. Her educational background includes a BS Degree in Art Education from the University of Oregon School of Architecture and Allied Arts, certificates in Interior Design from LaSalle Extension University and Hawaiian Studies from the University of Hawaiʻi. After retiring from teaching art at Parker School for thirty years, she started a business, Wendi Couture, custom designing women’s clothes, is a kumu hula for Hālau Ka ʻōpuʻu and continues to paint, draw and work in a variety of crafts.
Barbara Schaefer
Barbara Schaefer’s career in astronomy brought her to Hawaii Island in 1979. She immediately began photographing the beauty of the island and the special moments seen during her work atop Mauna Kea. It became a passion as she photographed whenever the occasion allowed, whether at home or traveling throughout the world. After meeting Dolly Loo, a major moving force with the Waimea Arts Council, and with her encouragement, Barbara became active with WAC, holding a past position as Treasurer and currently Membership Chair and member of the Gallery Committee and Board of Directors. Since her retirement in 2014 Barbara has enjoyed volunteering more time with WAC and with E Mau Nā Ala Hele, a Hawaii trails advocacy group. She enjoys outrigger canoe paddling with the Kawaihae Canoe Club and line dancing with a group in Waimea. She also serves as a member of the University of Wisconsin Astronomy Department Board of Visitors. Through the years Barbara has had a number of one-person photography shows in both Hawaii and California as well as participated in group shows. Her biggest passions remain photography, traveling and her kitty-cat Kamakani.
Newsletters
Catch up on the latest news with the Waimea Arts Council and Firehouse Gallery Newsletter.
March 2023
January 2023
November 2022
September 2022
July 2022
May 2022
March 2022
January 2022
November 2021