Dogbytes' Mess O Tiki: Art by Dawn Frasier (image heavy)

I first saw the eclectic artwork at the Luau Polynesian Restaurant in Seattle, over 2 years ago. The unusual use of greens, flashes of neon yellow and blue undertones, cartoon-y with tribal & tapa elements in the background really spoke to me. Tiki with a twist all of its own. I wasn't able to purchase the large painted plywood surfboard and the smaller pieces didn't seem available. I sadly left with just a tag ~ a hand drawn tapa on green construction paper with the name Dawn Frasier written upon it.

I googled to find out more. She was featured on HGTV and that's about it. I found a phone number: disconnected. Selector Lopaka told me, that she owns a Tiki Art VW Bus ~ which I kept looking for in Funky Fremont, to no avail. Later, I heard rumors that the art she had on loan/ for sale at The Luau were in dispute ~ the new owners would neither pay her for the art, nor return it!

A few weeks ago, The Luau re-opened under its original management. We went back in celebration of International Tiki Day. Dawn's plundered artwork was up on the walls. I still admired it, although now, it felt Kapu.

16 days later, I answer a Craigslist Ad ~ A reply came back from Tiki Dawn. Could it be the reclusive-elusive artist? backstory

Jahmbi The Tiki Bus in the driveway was my answer. I was thrilled! Before I dove into the tiki swag, I set aside one painting and a plywood thing ~ there was more I wanted, but had no wall space for it.

Headhunter's Union 18 x 30

Plywood Tiki 32 x 24

within the boxes of stuff I purchased were these 3 necklaces, handmade by Dawn

and these Limited Edition Postcards (5x7, mounted on heavy matte board (i got 2 sets, and only 30 were made!)

and 4 handmade mugs!

backside:

Dawn isn't a recluse, she just doesn't have a presence on the Net, although she does have (and answers) email sent to [email protected]

She has the originals to the postcards for sale, and i left a few bigger paintings. She still enjoys painting and creating in the style I've shown and will do commissioned works. Her artistic direction is changing towards ancient Pacific Islands (I haven't seen anything yet, but I'm calling dibs!).

i'll let Puamana post whether she got the Witco or not... and i'll post about the 56 mugs and other very cool stuff i bought... under "Dogbyte's Mess O Tiki" threads..

elicia

Very cool Dogbytes, I stumbled upon images of Dawn Frasier's Tiki Bus before I ever found Tiki Central.
I just assumed she poked around TC every now and then, like a lot of lurkers do.
It's must be pretty encouraging for our artists to know that someone so enveloped by this art form, can make a living creating her art without ever accessing a resource like TC. Very, very cool!
Not great images of her tiki bus, but a teeny taste just the same. http://www.cityofart.net/vw.htm

I gotta say I'm a little freaked out by her using "Tiki Dawn".
I'm having a Star Trek flashback here. Like the "Good Captain Kirk" and "Bad Captain Kirk" episode? But she's the evil "Tiki Dawn", and I'm the good "DawnTiki" or worse :-? ** could I be the the evil "DawnTiki"** living in the evil tiki parallel universe? dooodle...dooodle...dooooo... You never know?!?! :wink:

[ Edited by: DawnTiki 2005-09-08 00:27 ]