Visit an Arts Center With a Past

One of Maui's oldest plantation estates now houses an elegant visual arts center with a lovely exhibit gallery and adjacent studios devoted to photography, ceramics, print, woodworking and jewelry. Located on beautifully landscaped grounds a mile below the upcountry town of Makawao, Hui No'eau Visual Arts Center was founded in 1934 by Ethel Baldwin, wife of Harry Baldwin, a pioneer in Maui's pineapple industry.

Hui No'eau's gallery features at least six exhibits a year. Exhibits are open to the public free of charge and focus on contemporary, traditional, local, national and international art forms. Works of local artists are sold in the center's gift shop.

Children's classes are taught in the Christopher Gartner Children's Studio and programs for adults, teens and visiting artists are available.

Visitors can't miss two impressive trees on the lawn of the estate. If you're curious, one is a hybrid Norfolk Island pine, the other a Cook pine. It is also the site of the remains of one of Maui's earliest sugar mills. Watch for it as you enter the estate.