Artist and sculptor Alex Gupton, who lives in Kona, is one of almost 40 artists participating in the Hawaiʻi Artist Collaboration this week.
The program, which brings together artists from Hawaiʻi and ones from across the world — including the continental U.S., France, Australia, and New Zealand — kicked off on Sunday, Nov. 1. When it concludes at the end of the week, the artists will have created about 100 pieces of collaborative original work.
“It is a certain type of artist who thrives in an event like this,” Gupton told Aloha State Daily. “And those are usually the people who are not only willing to share their knowledge, but also willing to work with other people. No one piece here is made by one person. Maybe there's a piece or two that have two artists, but I would almost universally say that there's three or more, up to there's a couple of group projects, where we all throw in our little piece of knowledge or a little piece of art into.”
The final works of art are sold at auction, and proceeds from their sale will support future events and raise funds for art supplies for local students. The online auction starts at noon on on Saturday, Nov. 7, and closes at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 10. A live auction will also be part of the HAC 2026 ʻPaying it Forward’ Gala at the Hawaiʻi Island Community Health Center in Kailua-Kona.
This year, the goal is to raise at least $25,000 from the online auction and $50,000 from the live auction, according to HAC’s website.
Gupton got his start with art early. When he was just under 2 years old, he drew a race car.
“I’ve drawn literally my entire life,” he told ASD.
Growing up, he was warned how hard it is to be an artist, so he planned to go to college.
“In my junior and senior years, when I was in business school, I started painting murals and realized I was making more painting murals part-time than my friends who had ʻreal jobs,’” he said. “I was one quarter away from graduating and thought: ʻYou know what? I'm going to take a year. I'm going to see if this art thing will work. And if it doesn't, I'll go back to school, get my degree, get a ʻreal job.’ And that was now — I'm looking at my watch here — that was almost 40 years ago, and I haven't gotten a real job since.”
Gupton, whose work is featured at Gupton Gallery, among other locations, participated in HAC for the first time more than a decade ago.
“And after that, it'd be hard to keep me away,” he said.
The reasons why he participates are “literally too numerous to count,” he added. It’s a chance to work with creatives — including carvers, blacksmiths, furniture makers, jewelers and more — who share not just their machinery and tools, but their expertise.
It’s also the kind of space where artists can ask each other for things.
“What do you need? A metal flower? You need a tabletop? You need a Koa toilet plunger?" he said. “They would be able to make one for you in no time. … It's just a blast.”
Participating in HAC has inspired him to create art using new mediums.
“I always worked in two dimensions — and because of the collaborations and watching people sculpt and carve — a lot of my work now is starting to get into doing things in three dimensions,” Gupton explained.
Greg Wilbur, Ethan Froney and Shelby Smith work together on a piece as part of the Hawaiʻi Artist Collaboration, which is in progress this week. (Matthew D'Avella) 
Kristen Lake, Judy Zugish and Kathleen Abood collaborate as part of the Hawaiʻi Artist Collaboration. (Matthew D'Avella) 
John 'Duff' Medwedeff shows how getting messy can be part of the creative process. (Matthew D'Avella) 
This year, the featured artists are sculptors, jewelry makers, woodworkers, glass artists, blacksmiths and more. Here, Jon Strohbehn and Evan Jenkins collaborate on a project. (Matthew D'Avella) 
Stephanie Metz is one of the featured artists in this cohort. (Matthew D'Avella)
During the collaboration, there are sometimes so many projects happening at once that he forgets some of the pieces he worked on until he sees the final projects at the auction at the end of the week, he said.
“For us, it's really amazing because typically art is a very solitary profession,” Gupton added. “This whole thing you take home with you. … It's almost a need to try to bring other people into your practice, into your studio, to just be able to get that sense of camaraderie. The fact that we're doing it all to support art on the Big Island by supporting artists and kids — that's just the icing on the cake, right?”
For Gupton, some of his greatest inspiration for art comes from the place he calls home.
“What inspires my art is living in Hawaiʻi,” he said. “Going for a walk in the mountains, in the forest. The colors here are unlike anywhere else. We have flowers that are impossibly red, impossibly yellow. Open your eyes underwater, and the fish just look fake on our black coral background. It looks like somebody painted them and then animated them. For me, just living here is my biggest inspiration.”
Meet the other HAC artists and learn about the online and live auctions, or follow Gupton on Instagram and alexgupton.com.
Katie Helland can be reached at katie@alohastatedaily.com.
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