Lahaina Galleries celebrates 50 years
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Former Nahiku resident George Harrison is among the many celebrities who browsed the artwork at Lahaina Galleries on Front Street over the years.
"He was with race car driver Jackie Stewart and bought a Beatles painting by Robert Lyn Nelson," gallery owner Jim Killett recalled.
Other famous clients have included Oprah Winfrey, Julie Andrews, Queen Latifah, Toby Keith, Dave Mason, Melinda Gates and Steven Tyler, who also bought one of Nelson's Beatles paintings.
Marking five decades of showcasing the work of talented artists from Hawaii and around the world, Lahaina Galleries will celebrate its 50th anniversary Saturday at The Shops at Wailea.
The celebration will feature artwork by seven acclaimed artists -- Robert Lyn Nelson, Steve Turnbull, Ronaldo Macedo, Pete Cabrinha, Gabriel Burchman, Douglas Ball and Sienna Nelson. Guests will have the opportunity to meet several of the featured artists and view their latest creations.
Fifty years ago, Jim and his wife Nancy Killett founded their first gallery in Lahaina.
"Lahaina was an incredible place for artists to live and display their work to people," Jim said.
Before moving to Maui, he had worked as a civilian physical education teacher at American military bases. While teaching in West Germany, he would often watch "Hawaii Five-O."
Too many rainy days led him to escape to Maui in 1976, and he later ended up selling paintings by "Hawaii Five-O" star Jack Lord.
"It kept raining every day, and I'm watching 'Hawaii Five-O,'" Jim recalled. "I actually wound up doing business with Jack Lord. He was an artist."
Driving for the first time into Lahaina, Jim was blown away by the town's picturesque setting. "I walked down the end of Lahainaluna Road and saw the most incredible scene. It was just phenomenal to me."
The Killetts bought a small gift shop and art gallery on Lahainaluna Road, selling puka shell necklaces and "three-dollar items," he said. "Eventually we learned people would pay more than I thought they would pay for art. People appreciated better art."
A turning point came when he met artist Robert Lyn Nelson, who became synonymous with whale paintings and two-worlds scenes of life above and below the ocean.
"I got to take some credit for Nelson painting whales," he said. "I decided to start carrying Robert's work, and I read up on Lahaina as a whaling capital. So I said that if he would do some whaling scenes, it would be a good item to have. That was my idea. He went home and did New England scenes of whales."
A few weeks later, "he brought in a whale underwater painting, and he sold it in a day. Then he brought in another one, and he sold it right away. It just kept going. So I'm taking credit for the whole marine art movement out of ignorance. He came up with the two worlds below and above the water on one canvas, and that just blew everybody's mind. We sold a thousand limited edition prints over a few years, at a thousand dollars apiece. Everything he painted underwater turned to gold. So that gave us a big boost. The other big boost was Guy Buffet."
In 2020, after 44 years in Lahaina, the Killetts lost their lease for the gallery on Front Street, but they continued operating their gallery in Wailea.
Having had a successful art business for decades, Jim said: "I learned to appreciate art when I was living in Germany and traveled throughout Europe. But as far as being any sort of expert or a trained salesperson, I was none of that. I just had to learn everything on the job. Life is more simple now and we're doing fine with being more simple."
Lahaina Galleries will celebrate its 50th anniversary from noon to 3 p.m. Saturday at The Shops at Wailea. Light refreshments and pupus will be served.