ART RETREATS
About Us
Makoa Means Awaken
Makoa Art Retreats are designed to take your art to the next level. The retreats and our artists, lectures, and experts are all well established professionals that have created a retreat that is beyond the traditional. Each day we explore a new set of art styles and artists, we breakdown techniques, we capture our our references, and we create demonstrations that help artists of all levels move to a higher level of excellence. We also have fun, explore, and discover the amazing beauty of Hawaii's Big Island. In six days, you come away with a new sense of the potential you have as an artist, and you become part of our worldwide community.
Our Story
In 2022, we put our heads together to create something different for our artist network. From running large art gallery in Los Angeles, to being teachers and artists ourselves, we designed an art retreat concept that was unique, that was more than the traditional art getaway we have all been part of. We wanted to take artists to their next level and we wanted to do it in exciting places. Our first retreat, Makoa, is designed around the artistic and spiritual center of the Big Island, in the village of Volcano. This small art village sits near the edge of the Kileau, a very active volcano and one of several vortices connected to Hawaii's spiritual heart and soul.
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Our six day retreats (and soon longer ones and in new locations) are designed so each day a different technique and style are explored, from tropical impressionism, to deconstructed landscapes and still lives, to new techniques in abstractions, to new materials and approaches. The daily lectures, lessons and demonstrations are mixed in with interesting local tours, volcano tours, and fabulous dinners. Makoa in Hawaiian means awaken and that is what we want to do for each our artist guests.
We hope you will join us.
Meet The Makoa Team
Bob Chew
President, The Artists Gallery, Los Angeles
Scott Yeskel
Award-winning Contemporary Abstract/Landscape Artist
About Robert Zent Chew
For more information go to: www.robertzentgallery.com
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Robert Zent Chew is an American artist, born in the Midwest and living primarily in Los Angeles, Volcano, Hawaii, and Montrose, Colorado. He is best known for his abstracted landscapes and abstracted florals, which have been shown in galleries, museums, and are part of many private collections. In Los Angeles, Chew is currently represented by the The Artists Gallery (TAG), where he is also the President. There, he manages and works with over 70 artists from Los Angeles and around the world. In addition, Chew is part of the SaatchiArt online family. Recently, he was named one of its featured artists by SaatchiArt curator Rebecca Wilson.
His work strikes a balance between representational and abstracted/deconstructed landscapes and still life compositions. He is focused on mood and feeling to express the core elements of a subject. In many cases his work attempts to make the viewer feel as if they are part of the landscape, whether fully abstracted and with elements of realism.
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In his work, there is often a heavy layering of oil and rapid, loose brushwork that helps add dynamism. Working off a palette based in California Impressionism, Chew creates colors and textures, and uses tonalist brush techniques, that are as distinctive as his subject matter, which often is the invisible yet readily recognizable scenes of everyday life. These scenes range from freeway passes to coastal beaches to aerial views of urban/industrial landscapes. For sales inquiries contact the artist directly at www.robertzentgallery.com.
The paintings of Robert Zent Chew have been exhibited in Los Angeles, California and in a variety of exhibitions and are in private collections from Los Angeles and New York City to Denver and Tampa, Florida. Recent Exhibitions include:
Solo Show, TAG Gallery, Los Angeles (Spring 2022 and Summer 2023)
TAG Gallery Christmas Exhibit (December, 2021)
Emerging SaatchiArt Artists Series (October, 2021)
Old Mission Santa Barbara Museum 2021 Exhibit (June/July 2021)
Kline Fine Art Academy Exhibitions (2019 and 2020)
His painting of the Old Mission at Santa Barbara was featured on a poster celebrating the Mission’s 200th anniversary.
About Scott Yeskel
For more information go to: www.scottyeskelart.com
Scott Yeskel was raised in the suburbs of Orange County, California after his parents moved from New Jersey when he was a child. The mild weather and suburban sprawl fueled Scott’s interest in the landscape. 

After graduating from high school, he moved to San Francisco to pursue an education in the arts. Yeskel graduated from the Academy of Art College in 2002 where he won first place in the Landscape category at the Academy’s Annual Spring Show. He was quickly picked up by galleries in Philadelphia, Laguna Beach and San Francisco. Since that time, Scott has been the subject of over a dozen solo shows, countless group exhibitions and has been featured in over 20 magazine and newspaper editorials. 

His work speaks to those who identify with the California lifestyle – often romantic but sometimes plagued with frustration. His love/hate relationship with Los Angeles’ freeways, boxy apartments and urban sprawl feed Yeskel’s desire to paint his environment as he sees – a jumble of mixed emotions. Recently, Scott’s work was purchased by prestigious corporate collections including Microsoft and NBC/ Universal. Scott currently teaches an Abstract Workshop at the Kline Academy in West LA and resides with his wife and daughter in Los Angeles.
What the Media is Saying...
“…YESKEL BEHIND THE WHEEL RANGES OVER A TERRAIN OF THE MIND WHERE NIGHT IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER AND THE SPOTS SWIMMING BEFORE YOUR EYE INDEED COALESCE INTO LYRIC SCENARIOS OF ABSTRACT LIGHT TORN ASUNDER FROM YOUR OWN INTERIOR KALEIDOSCOPE.”
- R.B. STRAUS: ART MATTERS
"SCOTT YESKEL'S PAINTINGS IMBUE THE MOST ORDINARY, QUOTIDIAN OBJECTS IN EVERYDAY LIFE WITH A GREAT SENSE OF SENTIMENTALITY AND WONDER. HIS LUSH, PAINTERLY LANDSCAPES TRANSFORM SUBURBAN SPRAWL, RVS AND TACO TRUCKS INTO INTENSELY LOADED IMAGES, A SENSE OF MYSTERY AND MIXED EMOTION AGAINST THE FLAT STILLNESS OF CALIFORNIA'S BLUE SKIES"
-CHRISTIAN L. FROCK: SF/ARTS CURATOR
2002 – Graduated Academy of Art College, San Francisco, BFA
SOLO SHOWS
977, Montclair, New Jersey
2020- Vacant LA, online exhibition.
2016-Summer Days, Sue Greenwood Fine Art, Laguna Beach, Ca.
Valley Scenes, Valley Performing Arts Center, Cal State Northridge, Ca.
2015- Modern Escape, Jack Fischer Gallery, San Francisco, Ca.
2013- Hotel Pools, Sue Greenwood Fine Art, Laguna Beach, Ca.
2012- Stop & Go, Sue Greenwood Fine Art, Laguna Beach, Ca.
2011 – Wanderlust, Sue Greenwood Fine Art, Laguna Beach, Ca.
Mapping California, Jack Fischer Gallery, San Francisco Ca.
2009 – L.A. To Ventura and In Between, Vita Art Center, Ventura, Ca
2008 – Disconnections, Sue Greenwood Fine Art, Laguna Beach, Ca
L.A. to S.F. with Love, Jack Fischer Gallery, San Francisco, Ca
2007 – Mass Transit, Sue Greenwood Fine Art, Laguna Beach, Ca.
2006 – Maps, Sue Greenwood Fine Art, Laguna Beach, Ca.
2005 – Trouble in Paradise, Bedlam Gallery, Los Angeles, Ca.
2004 – Moving On, Pringle Gallery, Philadelphia, Pa.
2003 – Two Roads, Pringle Gallery, Philadelphia, Pa.
SELECTED GROUP SHOWS
2021-Summer Salon, Sullivan Goss Gallery, Santa Barbara, Ca
2019- Group Cityscape IX, George Billis Gallery, Los Angeles, Ca
Ashes of Hope, Sky Studios, Los Angeles, Ca
2018-Cityscape VIII, George Billis Gallery, Los Angeles, Ca
Celebration Art, Patricia Rovzar Gallery, Seattle, Wa
2016-House and Home, Cannon Art Gallery, Carlsbad, Ca
2105-Venice Art Walk Auction, Google Headquarters, Venice, Ca
2013-Ryman Arts, ‘An Affair of the Arts’, Los Angeles, Ca.
2012-Palm Springs Fine Art Fair, Palm Springs, Ca.
artMRKT San Francisco, SFDC Concourse Exhibition Center, S.F., Ca
2011 – L.A. Art Show, Los Angeles Convention Center, L.A. Ca.
Palette to Palate, Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, Ca.
artMRKT San Francisco, SFDC Concourse Exhibition Center, S.F. Ca
2010 – Art San Diego, Hilton San Diego Bayfront, San Diego, Ca.
2009 & 2010 – L.A Art Show, Los Angeles Convention Center, L.A., CA
2008 – Auction 100, Laguna Beach Art Museum, Laguna Beach, Ca.
Aqua Art Miami, Aqua Hotel, Miami, Fla
Red Dot Fair, Park South Hotel-New York City, New York
2006 – Venice Art Walk Juried Auction, Bergamont Station, Santa Monica, Ca.
Fin, Bedlam Gallery, Los Angeles, Ca.
2005 – Create-Fixate, Spring Arts Tower, Los Angeles,Ca.
2004 – Meet the Artists IV, The Pacific Club, Newport Beach, Ca.
Group Cityscapes, Greenwood Chebithes Gallery, Laguna Beach, Ca.
Getting to Know You, Backstreet Gallery, Santa Monica, Ca
Scott Yeskel / Brandon Smith, Hotel Biron Gallery, San Francisco, Ca.
2003 – Around Town, Pringle Gallery, Philadelphia, Pa.
2002 – Academy Spring Annual, Academy of Art, San Francisco, Ca.
1998 – Juried Luggage Show, Luggage Store Gallery, San Francisco, Ca.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
-Abstract Painting Instructor, Kline Academy of Art, Los Angeles, Ca.r
-Private Art Instructor and Mentor for numerous adults and high school level artists
-Instructor of Art Experience, High School Painting, Academy of Art College
-Workshop Painting Instructor, Academy of Art College
NOTABLE COLLECTIONS
Microsoft Art Collection, Seattle, WA., Pennsylvania Power and Light, Allentown, PA., Novo Nordisk, Princeton N.J., Mars Foods-Uncle Bens Rice, Los Angeles, CA., Fox T.V., Los Angeles, CA., Scatter Light Productions, Beverly Hills, CA. Friedman & Solomon LLP, Beverl