Event Description: Artist and educator Gerald Lucena shares reflections from his journey with Fractured Eden on view at Studio 7 Fine Arts Gallery in Hōlualoa. This vibrant new body of work explores identity, fragmentation, and reintegration through imaginative abstract figurative narratives, marking a shift—a movement from years of quiet impact in classrooms to a personal expression of the same creative spirit.
For much of his career, Gerald’s artistry lived in the margins of lesson plans, in the hands of elementary students discovering how to see and express the world around them. His practice was less about the art world of exhibitions and more about igniting curiosity, cultivating voice, and weaving creativity into the daily rhythm of learning. As a teaching artist and professional development leader, he also supported classroom educators in deepening their connections to art education integrating science and ʻāina/ place-based learning—fostering rootedness, relevance, and cultural responsibility within their teaching.
This talk bridges the spaces between studio, classroom, and community, revealing how his creative expression has always rippled outward—nurturing growth, reflection, and reconnection. Whether through painting or collaborative curriculum, Gerald’s work invites us to consider how art lives not just in finished products, but in the relationships, transformations, and shared stories it makes possible.
Event Details: This event is free and open to the public. If able, please bring a dish to share and/or something to drink.
Ho’olauna: Artist Introduction by Gerald Lucena
My name is Gerald Lucena—educator and artist.
I was born in Kona, on the leeward coast of Hawaiʻi Island—land shaped by lava and by the labor of migrant coffee farmers.
My Ilocano heritage is rooted in quiet sacrifice and migration: from Bangar, La Union in the Philippines, where my father was born, to Hilo, Hawaiʻi, where my mother was born and raised until the age of three.
My father, Joaquin Lucena (1911–1998), left the Philippines at age fifteen, assuming his older brother’s identity to work in Hawaiʻi’s plantations—too young by law, but old enough to bear the burden of survival. His story is largely lost to time, with few traces beyond the silence he left behind.
My mother, Victoriana Ortiz Lucena (1928–2009), was born in Hilo to Enespicio Ortiz and Maudista Garcia, part of Hawaiʻi’s early Ilocano migrant community. Catholic faith was woven into our family’s daily life, shaping values and rituals, though I now walk a path outside of religious practice.
Together, their lives formed the foundation of who I am—a second-generation Ilocano artist raised in Kona, shaped by a legacy of labor, resilience, and cultural transformation.
My work arises from fragments of memory, identity, and myth that have shaped my understanding of belonging and place.
My ancestors came to Hawaiʻi in search of opportunity, working in the sugarcane fields along the Hāmākua Coast and later in the coffee farms of Kona.
What they found was not Eden, but something far more complex—a paradise fractured by the weight of survival.
The lush beauty of the islands was shadowed by the unrelenting demands of labor. Cane knives became symbols—not of freedom—but of endurance, sacrifice, and the bittersweet pursuit of a better life.
Yet Fractured Eden is not solely about loss. It is about stitching together the silences between generations, reclaiming the beauty in struggle, and honoring the complexity of diasporic identity.
It is also about returning—about witnessing my mother’s garden blooming in the shadow of coffee trees, where anthuriums flared red beneath the canopy of hāpuʻu ferns and orchids perfumed the yard each spring.
In those vibrant colors and living textures, I see another inheritance: one rooted not in toil, but in tenderness, care, and quiet joy.
This work is a quiet reclamation—a painting of broken pieces, not as scars, but as sacred seams.
Through it, I connect past to present, labor to land, fracture to form—to conjure a new Eden shaped not by myth, but by memory, resilience, and love.
About Our Programs: As a place of convergence, the Mill serves as both a community and a physical place–celebrating the power of the arts, bringing people, ideas and perspectives together. We are proud to offer adult and youth programs that focus on awareness of one’s individuality in the contexts of family, community and the natural world. Our exhibitions provide a space to reflect, share perspectives and grow as a community. Our classes & workshops are designed to inspire creativity, foster connections, and provide enriching experiences for all participants. We invite you to join us in the studio.
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