Last week we hosted the Maui Prep Academy at our art studio in South Maui. It was so much fun to share what I do here in the studio with the next generation of Maui artists. These past few months I have been trying to get more involved with the local Maui high school art programs to share what I do as a professional artist and to help inspire students to follow their creative passions.
The Maui Prep art and engineering class field trip to Welzie Maui Art Studio
The Maui Prep students drove all the way from the Westside of Maui and brought along their engineering students as well. This turned out to be a great addition to the field trip as the engineering students had currently finished up a project of building a surfboard. Since my artwork is built just like a surfboard, these students were really interested in the process. Whenever someone is interested in what I do I get very excited to share my knowledge and try and help as much as I can. It was so much fun to see some of the students eyes light up when seeing the process and ask amazing questions.
Maui Prep Engineering students at the Welzie art studio
Once I gave the tour of my studio, explained my process and how my art career came about, we jumped write into a screen printing project where each student could print their own “Love Maui Love” silkscreen print. The students really enjoyed this process as they were also going into a silkscreen portion of their art program. I love sharing my projects with people so they can see how much fun it is to pull ink and print a cool piece of art.
Silk Screening “Love Maui Love” Prints
After everyone got a turn on the silkscreen press some of the art students had some questions about their current art project and how they could adapt their artwork for the screen printing assignment. I was so honored to be able to give feedback and teach them the process of reworking their artwork over and over again to get their desired design. The students were so receptive to my feedback and you could tell they have so much fun creating artwork.
Maui Prep Art Students enjoying Welzie’s Art Studio
We had some sketchbooks and art supplies that were donated to us that we were able to gift the students. It is so much fun to give out art supplies to help encourage art. When I was in high school I loved having sketchbooks to fill up with doodles and its fun to share that with these Maui students.
“Love Maui Love” Silkscreening Prints
The Maui Prep field trip to the art studio was such a blast and hopefully inspired some of the students to start creating more and more. I am so thankful to be able to share my creative space and show the future artists that it is possible to become a professional artist and do what you love to do. I look forward to working more with these students as well as the other art students here on Maui.
Aloha, Welzie
Welzie sharing his knowledge with the Maui Prep art students