HB 039: Discover Maui Art Galleries in Lahaina with Vanessa Millard of Daryl Millard Gallery

Bryan Murphy 0:00

This episode of Hawaii's Best is a special one and it kicks off our month long support of local businesses in Hawaii. Today we start off with a great one and artists from the island of Maui in Lahaina, and we're talking all about the art district in Lima but also how this artist came to call Maui home. What led him and his family there. But if you're listening to this, and it is on September 9, so September 9 through September 13, we're gonna be giving away one of his paintings to a lucky Hawaii's Best listener, so you're gonna want to stay tuned to this one. I don't do this often, but you're gonna want to stay tuned until the end because I'm going to tell you how to enter to win an amazing original painting from Daryl Maillard. Stay tuned, because this is an epic one. Here we go.

Hawaii's Best 0:53

Welcome to Hawaii's best travel podcast where we help you prepare for your next trip to Hawaii.

Cover the experiences, businesses and stories that make Hawaii the Aloha state. And now your host, Brian Murphy.

Bryan Murphy 1:08

Aloha and welcome to another episode of Hawaii's Best where we help prepare you for your next trip to Hawaii. And we don't know when that's gonna be yet but we are still hopeful and dreaming of Hawaii. The latest from Hawaii right now is a wahoo specifically is on their second lockdown. So this current lockdown is a two week lockdown. That's how the first one started. And it just kept getting extended. So curious to see what the leadership is going to do. This week. We got this recording when it gets released to see if they're going to extend the lockdown. My gut is that they are going to but who knows because there's been a lot of ups and downs. The results that have come back from this recent search testing of COVID has been encouraging

Less than 1%, at least the research that I've done have come back positive. So in all the testing they've done, which has been pretty ambiguous in their testing efforts, I'll continue to keep you posted on that. That's really not the main focus of Hawaii's Best Hawaii's Best We exist to help you plan for your trips to Hawaii and give you the best tips and strategies when traveling to Hawaii. And obviously right now, travel is pretty much closed. So what we're doing this month and I'm really excited about this, because it really this is the heartbeat of why I started Hawaii's Best is coming alongside of local businesses highlighting local businesses and people from Hawaii, talking about their story, what led them to Hawaii, some of the insider tips and what they found from living on the islands and from being from the islands during this month of September is going to be featuring local businesses and how wherever you

Listen to this across the world, how you can help continue to support these amazing people from Hawaii and their businesses. And when travel opens up again, and any updates that I feel that are really important to, you know, make sure I get across to you guys. I'm going to do that. But you can stay up to date on all that by simply going to at Hawaii's Best on Instagram or just going to our website Hawaii's Best travel.com if you're listening to this, and it's on September 9, that's the day that this episode goes live September 9, we're gonna be holding a giveaway through September 13. And that giveaway is going to end September 13 at 11:59pm. Eastern Standard Time, because I know there's a lot of you guys on the East Coast too, who love Hawaii and I wanted to make sure we extend this all the way to that point. So, at the end of this episode, I'm going to give you instructions on how to enter to win an original painting from Derek Maillard from Maui. So you're gonna want to stay tuned to the end. I don't do a lot of these kind of like incentives like, hey, make sure you you know, listen all the way through, because I'm going to do this, but this one, you're gonna want to make sure you listen all the way through because you're gonna want to get a chance to win one of these amazing paintings. And in that it's not just about the painting, and I want that to this kind of segues into today's interview. It's not just about the painting. It's about how this painting makes you feel and what it represents. And it's like bringing a slice of Hawaii to you. I really want that for you. So stay tuned to the end to learn how to enter into that giveaway. Today's guest is Vanessa Maillard the wife of Daryl Maillard. He is the artist that we're going to be talking about today. Darrell was born in Australia. He has been a professional artist for over 35 years. His passion for painting was apparent at an early age. We talked a little bit about that he opened his first Art Gallery in Melbourne and the gallery just exceeded his expectations in 1980 Darrell moved to Los Angeles where he continued to paint murals for a lot of the rich and famous. Many people you know about. Vanessa kind of talks about some of those clientele eventually decided to paint smaller scale artwork and became known as San Diego's premier plein air or open air artist. Darrell opened his own art gallery in 2001 in Solana Beach, California, called the Darrell Maillard gallery. And as time went on Darrell and Vanessa moved to Lahaina Maui in 2009, he paints the natural Hawaiian world around him through his artistry, the spirit and beauty of classic Hawaii live in each of his landscapes. I can't wait for you to hear more about Darrell and Vanessa. So let's go ahead and let's talk story with Vanessa Maillard.

Vanessa, thank you so much for coming on Hawaii's Best today. How are you doing?

Vanessa Millard 5:55

I'm doing great. Thanks so much for having me, Brian. Appreciate it.

Bryan Murphy 5:58

Absolutely. This is this is great. gonna be fun and what's life like right now on Maui.

Vanessa Millard 6:03

We're in September right now and things have changed a lot in the last five months. But Daryl and I are we're doing good. We're changing. We're trying to stay fluid, as they say and roll with the punches and roll with what's going on with the whole COVID shut down. And it's it's very different here. It's very quiet. And we're just trying to make the best of a situation like like everybody is in the world.

Bryan Murphy 6:31

Right and being located on nalli love to hear more about your guys's gallery in Lima Is that right?

Vanessa Millard 6:38

Yeah, we're in behind and which is on the west side of Maui. It is absolutely beautiful. Here we have the most spectacular sunsets and of course, because it's so beautiful. It's also where the elite were the kings and queens of Hawaii. And we have a lot of historical Hawaiian sites here. But also, it's a huge tourist.

town, big art market lots of art galleries. And it's it's a big tourist town. And so it's really quiet right now. The the gallery in Lahaina. Yeah, no Front Street and that whole area is such a huge art district. Yes. What would you guys a story and getting connected into that area your maybe your journey to Hawaii but specifically to line our journey to aloha aina has been, by way we saw that in Australia. Then we went, we moved to California over 30 years ago, during California Darryl was painting landscapes of California, but he's always loved the islands. When he was 21. He lived in Fiji for about six months, then he always would come over and do painting trips in Hawaii. When we're in California. He's been selling and painting Hawaiian landscapes for over 20 years. And then when 2009 happens

It was just everything kind of clicked into place. And it was a really good time for us to move and live here permanently. So we've been here for a little bit over a decade behind it was just a natural draw for us because it's a huge art town. It's been a massive collection of galleries and artists for decades and decades. So it was just a natural gravitation for us to come here. Because it's absolutely beautiful.

Bryan Murphy 8:26

So pretty. Yeah. And Darrell his journey as an artist, we were talking OFF AIR a bit. You guys had a gallery in San Diego, is that correct? Yes,

Vanessa Millard 8:35

yeah, there's always been other galleries but in 2001, we decided to open our own gallery, which was called the Darrell Milan gallery. And we opened it two days before September 11 2001. So that was a massive shock, you know, for the whole country. And then for us personally and business but now we made it through it. Just like the rest The country did we pivoted and changed and the gallery was really successful. We were there for many years until we moved here in 2009. And now something news come up so we're moving and changing with that. What's the natural gravitation during this whole thing is moving online, you know, really selling from the website and through Instagram and Facebook. And then we have very, very, we're very, very blessed to have an amazing collector base people that have bought DeRose art for decades. And we get new collectors and then the old collectors buy and then the new collectors come in and we have a family of collectors. We have amazing group of people that are super loyal. And they keep supporting girls are just we wouldn't be here if it wasn't for them was so so grateful.

Bryan Murphy 9:51

That's incredible. You you kind of skated over a lot of life events there. Yeah. And you talking about pivoting and about adapting. I mean, there's three huge world, life changing events that you've experienced as a business owner. 911 Oh, 809 more. And now this present moment, how have you guys, you and Darrell talking about mindset talking about persistence? What keeps you guys driven, despite the good, the bad, the ugly, what keeps you guys driven and focused? It's really

Vanessa Millard 10:32

important to me and to do the power of prayer and the importance of being grateful. You know, gratitude is just an amazing thing. It changes everything from your perspective. So everything can say the same on the outer, but the way that you're reacting to it or not reacting to it completely changes from positive to more resourceful, more powerful. productive way to deal with things. And just just to humble yourself, you know, to God and to pray and to ask for what you need to ask for what others need for them, and what the world needs. It's a beautiful thing. That's always our go to. And then being grateful. There's nothing more powerful than the attitude of gratitude. I love that you have to keep going up. No choice. There's no there's no, it's not a you know, I mean, there is a choice, I guess. But if you give up, then you fail. It's okay to try something and have it fail. That's still a good thing. The worst thing to do is to do nothing. So we just, you know, keep trying keep thinking we brainstorm whenever big events happen. We get out our whiteboard. So funny the same whiteboard that we use, when we eventually decided to move here in 2009. We pulled it out in March of this year and we keep revisiting it and coming up with new ideas and writing down Like, where should we go? What should we do with regard to the direction of the business? And we just keep pivoting? I mean, why we do what we do. I mean family, you know, you have to you have to take care of your kids. I can't do adults now. But, you know, once you've done that for a couple of decades, you really know how to work and defy and to have courage. Courage is not having no fear. Courage is just getting up and getting it done, no matter how you feel, right,

Bryan Murphy 12:29

maybe pivoting even a little bit into Darryl and his journey as an artist. And I'm sure that there have been struggles and failures and accomplishment throughout that journey as an artist, but maybe take us back a little bit. How did Darrell get into painting and getting into even discovering that he had this incredible gift?

Vanessa Millard 12:50

Yeah, jerrells journeys being unique like like everybody, every person on this planet is unique and has their own special journey is started out In Melbourne, Australia and he can remember his easel in his kindergarten class. He was always driven to paint. And when they were on vacation, they would have camping trips once a year during the summer they would go to ride and they would camp on the beach and he could remember buying himself an easel a painting easel at 10 years old and then taking it and just setting it off and painting is always loved it after he graduated high school, he went to art college but the emphasis at that time was really heavy on modern art. Just didn't fit with him at that time in his life. So then he went and he apprentice to do Greek iconography in churches with tactus a bit sis Greek gentleman, and so he learned how to do that. Then he did some design work. He did murals, a lot of big murals for commercial and residential homes. We got married, we move to California, and you continue to Do all the murals did a lot of big houses in Bellaire and Beverly Hills and some quite famous people who have done Jay Leno's house. He did some work in Jennifer Aniston's house at the time. And then he decided that he wanted to do clean air painting. It always done a lot of landscapes in his murals, but he just wanted to paint the California landscape. And so he would just go off and paint clean air, which is open air, basically, you set up your easel, and you paint what you see on site, okay. And that's how we started painting California landscapes. And then from that there was a natural transition for him because he just loves the islands. It's a deep, deep connection to Island life and the islands. So then he would fly over and he would paint shahidi all the islands of Hawaii. We were selling in all different galleries at that time. And then we would sell California and Hawaii paintings. In our gallery in California, and then when we moved here, we pretty much shot mostly sell just Hawaiian landscapes. Now we do if somebody asks us, like a collector wants a California piece or to commission a California landscape, then he'll do it. But most people, they want Hawaii.

Bryan Murphy 15:17

Right. And, you know, someone's listening to this right now. And it sounds amazing and it's hard to, to really visualize exactly what it you know, a piece of his art. We'll link that in the show notes. So, as you're listening right now, listen all the way through. And be sure to check out the show notes at the end of this episode, and to be sure to check out some of Gerald's art but Vanessa, how how would you describe the Carol's style as an artist and maybe even more What do people come to love most about his art specifically, about his landscape art on the islands?

Vanessa Millard 15:56

Most of our collectors say that when they see barrels are it. It's an instant recognition of the feeling his art makes them feel how they felt when they first came to the islands. When they first got off the plane. They saw the trees, the gentle breeze, they sold the first Sunset on Maui. That decompression the relaxing paradise that they didn't even know existed. That feeling is brought back when they look at Charles. He's got a very unique style of painting. And it's extremely recognizable. It's because his color palette is very low key. Like a lot of the art you see it's extremely bright and vibrant and there's a lot of color where he has color but it's a very subtle color. And the palette is super subtle. So and with mixed with his style of being an impressionist and you know the loose brushstrokes and it's it makes you feel relaxed. It makes you feel connected to old Hawaii. A lot of people think that they're old his paintings but they're not. They're all current. They just have that vintage feel to it.

Bryan Murphy 17:09

I definitely got that feeling the first time I went to Intel your guys's gallery online, this that kind of old Hawaii, even some of the the scenes, the scenes and some of the landscape that he was painting and portrayed in a way it felt like old Hawaii, which is super cool. Yeah. You mentioned the term impressionist. just unpack that word a little bit for us.

Vanessa Millard 17:31

So you know, if you think about Renaissance, you know, what, what was happening back then there were no cameras. So I had a very distinct purpose in culture. It was to reproduce. You know, there's a lot of religious art it was to tell stories, it was to reproduce facts and history. They would have lots of portraits of people, but now we we have cameras. So I went from being you know, making historical timeline to be making you feel something and Impressionism came out of the need and the want to create an emotion and a feeling rather than to reproduce something exactly how it looks like a photo. So Impressionism is very, the French impressionists were the first and then there was a big revival of it also. That's what Darrell got into the California planning of painters. They were very much influenced by the French impressionist as well. And it was about the feeling of emotion, making you feel something. You could see what it represented. It definitely is representational. You can see you know what you're what you're looking at, but it also makes you feel something at the same time. It's not just about making you say, okay, that's recognizable, and it's all tight. It looks like it was done. You know, very, very small brush strokes very, very tight, where's impressionist and is loose and makes you feel certain way

Bryan Murphy 19:01

that makes total sense. I definitely get that feeling going through your guys's gallery and seeing has worked. And I'm always curious on the kind of the the process and creating such a piece. How would you describe their creative process or maybe kind of like a day in the life of Darrell getting out there with his easel?

Vanessa Millard 19:21

Yeah, so a girl's favorite way is to still is to paint plein air. You go out there, you're in the atmosphere, you're feeling the breeze. You're surrounded by the sunset. It's everywhere around you. And so you're not only seeing it, but you're also experiencing it so it's easy to transfer that motion onto canvas. But then, you know, he can he's painted so many Hispanics, thousands and thousands of Canvas. Just watching him paint. He doesn't even need a visual anymore. He sets up His easel in his studio. We used to paint on Friday nights at the gallery for people to meet him he could set up his easel take a bit of charcoal and Get you a tree and whatever he was going to do. And then he just starts painting it and doesn't even have a visual. He's just so it's like anybody that's really good at their craft. Yeah. When you when they've done it so many times, you don't even think about it. It's just reflective. Anybody that's like a musician or an athlete, they make it look easy. So he he found it easier to paint than to talk to people at the gallery. So he would set up the easel on Friday nights and just paint and then watch him. Yeah, just watch him paint. So that's his process. He doesn't really think about it much anymore. He just does it. But it does always start with a desire and an emotion like what is it that he wants to portray? What is it that he wants to get across to the viewer? What does he want you to feel?

Bryan Murphy 20:48

He mentioned Friday nights. What's that if someone hasn't been to lohana on a Friday night, like what's that energy like? And I'm hopeful, you know that we'll get back to that eventually, but we vibe like

Vanessa Millard 21:01

it's super fun friday night at night. All of the hyena is open and all the galleries stay open late till 10 at least and artists that are local and live here or artists that are showing in the hangar and then they come over and they fly over. They set up their easels and they do presentations for anybody that comes by, you know, there's wine and some foods and always great music. Lots of galleries have live music and so people will just go from gallery to gallery and meet artists and see them paint and a lot of our collectors. When they visit. They always stop in for Friday night at night because that's their connection with Daryl they like me too. But you know, you've got to see the artist painting and live. You can't beat it. It's been so many people, they they come into visit and they watch him paint and then they end up buying it because they have such a connection. They've actually witnessed the creation. I mean, it's a very beautiful thing to see something beautiful, you know created in front of you We take it for granted when you see it all the time. But then when somebody comes in the gallery and they've never experienced it, you just watch their eyes light up and they're just, it's amazing. It's like watching a musician, a really good musician, create something live on stage. You can't beat that. Right. I love that.

Bryan Murphy 22:17

Yeah, that's well said. Now, I know a lot of people are dreaming about Hawaii right now thinking about Hawaii. And, you know, especially Maui. Maui is such an amazing destination with the the rich art rich history. It's got all the resorts, but it also has a little bit of a slower pace too, as you're comparing it to like a Waikiki right? Yeah,

Vanessa Millard 22:38

yeah, it's got the best of both worlds.

Bryan Murphy 22:40

So what advice would you give someone you've been on on the island for quite a while? What What advice would you give someone who is dreaming of coming to the islands for the visit, maybe for the first time,

Vanessa Millard 22:51

it just depends what they want to experience and what their situation is, you know, if they have a family and they want to stay, maybe an condo and which has a kitchen. Well, there's plenty of them on the west side. If you you know want to stay in it's your honeymoon and you just want to stay in a resort Well, there's plenty of them in the west side too. And also in my layer, it just depends the best, the best places. Well, the most popular places to come visit are always the west side of Maui, which is a hyena. And behind his Lodge, it's not just behind a proper, it goes all the way up through kind of Polly couple Lula and pili on a khoy. It goes all the way up the west side of line, and there are thousands and thousands of places to stay, and they can fit every budget and every type of travel from single people, The Honeymooners, to families and to multiple families. Sometimes people will come and they'll have, say, a 50th wedding anniversary, and grandma and grandpa will rent a home and then all the children and then Big Red drift children will come and you'll have you know, 50 people in a party a when a couple of houses, and it's just a life event. So there's everything for the hyena in line for everyone.

Bryan Murphy 24:07

And what about you? What do you what do you love most about Maui?

Vanessa Millard 24:12

Maui so special I, I'm so glad that we were fortunate enough to move here and to live here. The best part to me is just walking my dog every night at sunset. Whether it's at Waikiki Beach or along shark beach in Lahaina. And it's just watching the sunset. It's it's a canvas that is changing before your eyes every night. It's different. It just blows all over you. You may you remember why you're here. You remember why you do what you do. And then you look around and all these people are just appreciating the same thing at the same time. It's just, it's beautiful. It's super special place and the people here are amazing.

Bryan Murphy 24:56

Yeah, on your guys's Instagram, I see your stories. And of the sunset, you walk in your dog, and it's just I love it. Because I think a lot of people right now are dreaming of Hawaii and much so desperately want to. It's not only a lovely, beautiful place, obviously. But it's this kind of escapism of an unhealthy sense. The you take your family there, you make the memories, and there's something magical. There's something special about being on the islands that you can't put into words unless you're actually there. And I think DeRose art really captures a huge slice of that when we were first starting, talking, you mentioned about you know, how you guys have pivoted and, and kind of talked a little bit about this current season, but how, what are the things look like right now, or maybe even the near future as far as you can see and what you guys are doing as far as pivoting? I know you mentioned online presence, but maybe you can speak into that

Vanessa Millard 25:58

a little bit more well So, when when it first happened with the shutdown, you know, we haven't had any tourism here for five months, so, and so many people are disappointing. They had trips planned and they've had to cancel and reschedule. So we thought, What can we do? And you know, people are reaching out to us and asking, like what's happening. So we decided to do a giveaway. And the response was absolutely phenomenal. People just appreciated it so much, you know, to have an opportunity to just win something and it got everybody focused on something positive, and it was exciting. Plus, it's so nice to give, you know, when you give something, people are just so happy and they just open up their hearts and they just tell you things and you get to talk with them and you connect that's another thing is that the lack of connection that we have, because we can't come here. So we did that and that went really well. And then with the recent kind of going backwards with the wha hoo, shutting down again, we thought okay, let's do another one. One, then it just kept snowballing. And so with regard to what we're doing, we are doing online. We're doing Instagram we're doing Facebook the website. Since the shutdown. We have a new website that has a shopping cart in it so you can purchase online and the giveaways and then connecting with people Instagrams amazing I'm so impressed with Instagram. People just reach out to you. I had a conversation with a guy in Italy the other day. And we were making jokes about the time because it was exactly 12 hours I was in the pm and he was in am It was like 211 and then I've had people from Germany and Australia Of course because that's a farm but also England, and just reaching out to a Russian guy reach out. People just are so desperate to connect with their favorite place on Earth. I had a Japanese gentleman actually recently, he was so so nice. So so sweet. And he comes here every year, but this year, he comes So it's an interesting time, but we'll have to just change it in the best way that we can. And realizing that everybody needs connection. That's another thing I just want to put it in here real quick is that this whole shutdown people are so focused on you know, the COVID is health. But there's so many other parts to a human being, besides your physical health. There's the emotional health, there's the mental health, there's your spiritual health is your financial health. And those things are just as important. So connecting with people and reaching out to people, any way you can is just super important. Don't wait. Don't you know, isolate yourself, just reach out and touch base with people. So yeah, on that note, we're having another giveaway. It's going to be another beautiful limited edition reproduction that jerell made and he makes all the frames as well. If you want a chance to win, just go to your website. Hopefully you have a lucky number.

Bryan Murphy 28:59

If you You are listening, which you are listening. But specifically if you are listening between the time that this episode goes live, which is September 9 2020 just want to get it all legal here. And we add Hawaii's Best are partnering with Vanessa and Darrell in doing a giveaway. This giveaway will run through September 9 through September 13. And it'll that's Sunday. That'll end at 1159. Eastern time because I know there's a lot of people out on the East Coast too, so I want to be fair to you guys. So the so what you got to do to enter which is so generous and Vanessa does thank you so much for this I

Vanessa Millard 29:45

seriously love it I'm so happy to do it

Bryan Murphy 29:48

go to Hawaii's Best travel.com slash giveaway and they're all you got to do is enter your name and email and you are automatically entered to win this amazing giveaway. To get a clear perspective of devils incredible art, Vanessa, where can people go to see your guys's online gallery?

Vanessa Millard 30:08

It is directly to Darryl mullard.com. And I'll spell it to you. So my accent doesn't mess up the words. Let us do a R YLMIL ar d.com awesome. Yeah, you can also find us on Instagram and Facebook and it's Daryl Maillard gallery. What's the handle? That's the right word for it.

Bryan Murphy 30:32

Yeah, you got it. All that the main thing guys go to Hawaii's Best travel comm slash giveaway to be entered to win an incredible piece of art. And I hope as you have been listening to this, you can hear the heart behind the artist and the heart behind Vanessa. This is more than just hey have a have a painting because but they're the heart behind This giveaway is truly a heart of generosity in a heart of sharing a piece of Hawaii to wherever you are right now. So this is an extension of Aloha, if you will.

Vanessa Millard 31:12

Absolutely. It's, that's what we call it the Aloha giveaway. Totally. Yeah.

Bryan Murphy 31:17

Well, Vanessa, thank you so much for coming on today.

Vanessa Millard 31:21

Always a pleasure. Thank you for having me. It's my very first podcast. I hope everybody just forgive me for not no not being so good.

Bryan Murphy 31:31

I can't wait to be back on Maui. Yeah, guys. Yeah.

Vanessa Millard 31:38

Yeah, you can see girl paint, we can have a glass of wine or a beer or my tie into some Hawaiian slack key music the best.

Bryan Murphy 31:46

Awesome. Well, thank you so much. Thank you.

Vanessa Millard 31:49

So Ha,

Bryan Murphy 31:50

ha. Thank you so much for listening today. And if you are wanting to enter in for the giveaway, you can simply go to Hawaii's Best travel dot com slash giveaway and you can go ahead and enter in your email there for a chance to win. We'll link that in the show notes as well. The show notes, you can simply click on a link below, wherever you're listening to this episode. Or you can go to Hawaii's Best travel comm slash Episode 39. What I love most about my time with Vanessa and talking about their journey in Maui to Maui and now in Maui was just this overwhelming vision of what Darrell and Vanessa wanted and they went after it, despite circumstances they found ways to pivot to adapt to change. And I think that's just a great example for all of us, no matter what your passions are, no matter what your vision is, for your life. Sometimes things don't go to plan and it's that being able to adapt in the moment and being able to get You need to plan ahead and continue to have that vision, but also to be not afraid to take chances and not afraid to pivot when you need to adapt. So I just thought that was really cool to hear that story. If you found value from today's conversation, I'd love to hear from you, you can just leave a rating and review below. That would be amazing. I totally appreciate that. So more than that, I appreciate you. And I know your love for Hawaii is great. And I know many of us can't wait to get back to the islands or can't wait to travel to the islands for the first time. And I'm hopeful soon that they will be here. We'll let you know when it is but until then, be well. Aloha.

Hawaii's Best 33:46

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