South Seas Art To Benefit Volcano Art Center

One-of-a-kind items from throughout the Pacific are being offered in a special two-day sale on Sept. 26-27 in Volcano.

The items, all from a diverse collection built over many years by Dr. Marvin (Monty) and Kathy Montvel-Cohen, are being sold by the family estate to benefit the Volcano Art Center.

Antique shell money from Yap, hand woven tribal masks from Papua New Guinea’s Sepik River region, a superb carved wood meeting house from Yap, teapots from China, lacquer ware from Japan, polychrome wooden masks from Bali, wood and shell navigational charts from the Marshall Islands, kapa cloth from Fiji, and fine woven baskets from Southeast Asia are some of the hundreds of objects being sold.

While living and teaching on Guam, Kathy and Monty traveled extensively throughout the Pacific Rim, collecting along the way. Monty’s work as an anthropologist took them to remote locations, where they were able to acquire items directly from craftsmen. Both Monty, who was an associate professor of anthropology and chair of the Fine Arts Department at the University of Guam as well as serving as territorial archaeologist, and Kathy, who was a professor of fine arts at the University of Guam, with a focus on ceramics, brought educated and discriminating eyes to their lifetime of collecting. Monty died in 1991 and Kathy died earlier this year.

In addition to the Pacific craft items, the sale will include a large selection of ceramics made by Kathy, as well as a smaller collection of ceramic pieces made by colleagues of hers and other artists whose work she admired. Most of these pieces are functional ware: plates, cups, bowls and teapots.

To round out the offerings, a “yArt” sale, including tools, small appliances, cooking and kitchen wares, garden and yard equipment, art, and collectibles will also be raising funds for VAC.

All three sales – the Pacific Crafts Sale, the Ceramics Sale and the yArt Sale will be held on Friday Sept. 26, noon to 5 p.m. and Saturday, Sept. 27, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Volcano Village at VAC’s Niaulani Campus, 19-4074 Old Volcano Road.