Hiʻiakaikapoliopele

Hiʻiakaikapoliopele: Visual Stories by Contemporary Native Hawaiian Artists

Diamond Head Gallery, Second Floor May 7, 2010 - July 17, 2010

"This exhibit features selected works from Hiʻiakaikapoliopele: Visual Stories by Contemporary Native Hawaiian Artists, an invitational exhibition organized by Maui Arts & Cultural Center in fall 2009 with partial support from the County of Maui and Kauahea Inc. Five works from this exhibit were purchased for the Art in Public Places Collection.

The participating artists are Mark Chai, Hoaka Delos Reyes, Solomon Enos, Puni Kukahiko, Pualani Lincoln Maielua, Marques Hanalei Marzan, Matthew Kawika Ortiz, Carl F.K. Pao, Abigail Romanchak, Maika‘i Tubbs, and Miki‘oi Wichman.

The artists drew inspiration from the books recently published by Awaiaulu: "Ka Mo‘olelo o Hi‘iakaikapoliopele," the Hawaiian language text, and "The Epic Tale of Hi‘iakaikapoliopele," the English translation. They tell the story of Hi‘iaka’s odyssey through the Hawaiian Islands. This version by Ho‘oulumāhiehie appeared originally as a daily series in the Hawaiian-language newspaper "Ka Na‘i Aupuni," from 1905 to 1906.

Gallery Director Neida Bangerter of the MACC’s Schaefer International Gallery curated the exhibition. Artist and Assistant Professor of Art at the University of Hawai‘i, Maile Andrade, MACC’s Cultural Program Director, Hōkūlani Holt, and Executive Director of Awaiaulu, Dr. Puakea Nogelmeier, served as consultants. Holt and Nogelmeier also served as advisors to Ho‘oulu: The Inspiration of Hula, currently in HiSAM’s Diamond Head Gallery.

MACC’s exhibit complements the "Roots" section of Ho‘oulu: The Inspiration of Hula, which also illustrates Hi‘iaka’s epic tale through works from the APP Collection and original paintings by visual artist Solomon Enos."

-Exhibit information from SFCA page

Artwork

Pieces purchased for the APP Collection

Hiʻiaka's Skirt Becomes A Surfboard for Lohiau

Mark A. Chai

recycled green plastic, reclaimed wood, 2009

Wahine ʻōmaʻo

Marques Marzan

naʻau puaʻa (pig gut), 2009

He ʻIwa Ke Aloha E Hoʻomao Aʻe Nei

Abigail Romanchak

etching ink, paper, carborundum, 2009

Pūhenehene

Pualani Lincoln Maielua

kapa from wild wauke of Kalopa, natural dyes, 2009

Pā

Carl Franklin Kaʻailāʻau Pao

acrylic and pencil, 2009

(for more information on artists please continue reading)

Newspaper Article

Cultural Connections

By Lehia Apana The Maui News 9.27.2009

'O ka hele a ka wahine u'i

At the passage of a beautiful woman

Meha ka leo i ke kula

The voices on the plain are stilled

'A'ohe hauwala'au a na manu

The chatter of the birds is silenced

Ua la'i ka nohona me ka maluhia.

Life is made peaceful and calm.

- excerpt from "The Epic Tale of Hi'iakaikapoliopele"

Exhibit Signage and Artwork Labels

The adventurous tale of Hiʻiakaikapoliopele is timeless. It embodies

relationships of love, power and duty, connecting Hawaiian customs

of the past to cultural values of today. Every time the story is told it

will influence the identity of generations now and to come.

Kau ka moʻolelo punihei no Hiʻiakaikapoliopele i kona wā iho nō.

Hoʻokino ihola ia i nā pilina o ke aloha ka mana a me ke kuleana,

e hoʻopili ana i nā loina o ka wā i hala me ka nohona o kēia lā.

I kēla me kēia manawa e haʻi ʻia ai ka moʻolelo,

hoʻololi aʻela ia i keʻano iho o nā hanauna, i kēia wā a i kēia

mua aku.

(From exhibit wall)

Artists

1. Hiʻiaka's Skirt Becomes A Surfboard for Lohiau

Mark A. Chai

recycled green plastic, reclaimed wood, 2009

Artwork Label: Hiʻiaka arrived on Kaua'i only to discover that Lohiʻau was dead. Using prayer and lomilomi, she returned him to life. That evening she sent her attendant to gather grass, sedge and seaweed to make her a new skirt. The next morning, while still dark, she awakened him to go surfing, but he reminded her that they had no surfboards. Hiʻiaka beckoned the waves to rise. A great gust of wind suddenly struck and an enormous swell arose, billowed up, and towered steeply. Hiʻiaka's skirt became a surfboard for Lohiʻau. Lohiʻau surfed the wave, shifting his stance, coasting forward over the broad part of the break and moving back along the narrows, gliding back and forth.

"Mark Chai’s garage workshop is a hop away from Kailua Beach. The salt-scented air and the sound of the surf permeate the place, which is filled with a jumble of thick plastic sheeting, reinforced corrugated cardboard, PVC pipe and X-ray film bags. Chai’s co-workers at The Queen’s Medical Center save cast-off materials for him, from heavy plastic containers that he heats and reshapes into tables, to PVC boards that he drills and cuts with a jigsaw into interlocking curled forms to create ceiling lights.
From the inorganic materials, Chai creates organic shapes inspired by the ocean. “I like curves and waves,” he says, “and I’ve always been fascinated by being in the water. The curves resurfaced in my work after I moved back to Kailua in 2003.”" (From Honolulu Magazine. Kailua: Portrait of a Place. April 2010)

2. Wahine ʻōmaʻo

Marques Marzan

naʻau puaʻa (pig gut), 2009

Label:

Chant Number 345

Kuʻu aikāne

Kuʻu aikāne hoʻi

Kuʻu aikāne mai ka lā o lalo ē

A pō Kaʻena i ka ʻehu kai

Kīpū ihola i ka lau o ka ʻilima

ʻEʻehu i ka lā ka ʻulu o Poloa

E hoʻokoʻo mai ana ka ʻoe iaʻu, i ke hoa o ke anu

Ko hoa i ke koʻekoʻe a ka wai me ke kai

Auē hoʻi ē!

Kuʻu aikāne

Hoʻi mai ana kāua

Eia au ʻo Wahineʻōmaʻo

Ō kū, ō ka, hoʻi mai ana hoʻi

My beloved aikāne

My most intimate companion, indeed

My aikāne from the setting sun in the west

Obscuring Kaʻena in the sea spray

Settling amid the leaves of the ʻilima

Reddened in the sun are the breadfruit of Poloa

It is you who supports me, a friend in the cold

Enduring with you the chill of the waters and the seas

Oh, indeed!

My dear aikāne

Let us come back together

Here am I, Wahineʻōmaʻo

Get up, give it a go, let us return

Hiʻiaka's most trusted ally, Wahineʻōmaʻo, is the only one able to assuage

Hiʻiaka's wrath, once incurred. She embodies her calm, her compassion, her love.

These cherished traits is what stays with her, always at her side, becoming the

foundation from which her development blossoms.

Info: With some of the artwork the materials themselves are rigged with underlying

messages. The artist placard of Marques Hanalei Marzan, for example, lists the

materials quite simply as"Naʻau puaʻa." Translation: pig guts. The washed-out

pig intestines are filled with air similar to a balloon, dried in the sun, then woven.

The result is a series of ethereal paʻu skirts titled "Paʻuopalaʻa." Displayed

vertically, the three paʻu both literally and symbolically represent one's naʻau

means "guts," but Hawaiians often refer to the naʻau as a person's source of

wisdom. Marzan writes in his artist statement, "Hiʻiaka's strength is literally

manifested in her paʻu, her skirt. This magical shield of her mana alludes

to the greatness that resides within, that which we can barely comprehend."

(info. from "Cultural Connections" article)

3. He ʻIwa Ke Aloha E Hoʻomao Aʻe Nei

Abigail Romanchak

etching ink, paper, carborundum, 2009

Label: As Hiʻiaka travels from Hawaiʻi Island to Kauaʻi she encounters many desirable men.

After Hiʻiaka reaches Kailua, Oʻahu she is fed plentiful amounts of lūʻau by Kaʻanahau,

the most handsome man of Kailua. As she ate the luʻau, Hiʻiaka was noticing the man's

good looks, and he, at the same time, was recognizing that this lūʻau - eating woman was

a stunning beauty. After dual desires were fulfilled between Hiʻiaka and Kaʻanahau, Hiʻiaka

continues her journey to the island of Kauaʻi. Before departing from Oʻahu Hiʻiaka expresses

deepest feelings of love by offering this chant to Kaʻanahau.

KAU KANALIMA KUMĀMAONO O KA MOʻOLELO O HIʻIAKA

Chant 56

4. Pūhenehene

Pualani Lincoln Maielua

kapa from wild wauke of Kalopa, natural dyes, 2009

5. Pā

Carl Franklin Kaʻailāʻau Pao

acrylic and pencil, 2009

A sound; to sound; beat, rhythm, as of a dance; stroke, as of an instrument; thump of a gourd

down on a pad, with one quick slap of the fingers as the gourd is raised; signal to begin

a dance or drumming.

HIsam Pool

Art Museum pool to be converted

State's $1.5 million project will end liability, provide visitor seating for events

By Mary Vorsino

Honolulu Advertiser Urban Honolulu Writer. March, 7 2010

The 82-year-old swimming pool that has become one of the last visible reminders that the Hawai'i State Art Museum building was once a popular YMCA will be filled in and converted into a seating area for museumgoers and the public.

The $1.5 million project is mostly aimed at addressing the liability that the swimming pool — unused since at least the 1990s — has become. But the work is also part of a bigger push to increase space for the Downtown art museum.

"It is a beautiful spot," Peter Rosegg, O'ahu commissioner for the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, said of the shady courtyard behind the museum where the swimming pool now takes center stage. "But it is a huge waste of space."

Because the pool isn't open, the courtyard is blocked off to the public.

Visitors to the art museum can see the pool, though, when they walk onto a lānai overlooking the courtyard or sit at the museum's cafe, Downtown@HiSAM.

Historic preservationists are backing the plan to fill in the pool — largely because the state has pledged to retain the historic feel of the 7,700-square-foot courtyard area and preserve the original tiled deck that surrounds the pool.

The project also includes disability access improvements.

Money for the work comes from the state's Works of Art special fund.

Under the plan, the state will partially fill in the pool and create a sunken seating area and garden in its place. The areas surrounding the pool will feature planters, seating and "opportunities for placement of sculptures," Rosegg said.

Work is scheduled to start in August, and wrap up in February 2011.

Rosegg said the pool is an "attractive nuisance," and that the courtyard revitalization will "remedy potentially dangerous conditions surrounding the pool area and provide a usable space ... while respecting the history" of the building.

He said he knows of no instance of someone trying to get into the pool.

But he added the swimming pool is also sucking up maintenance costs, even though it's unused. The state spends $10,000 a year to keep the pool clean.

The pool dates back to 1928, when the building was a widely used YMCA. Countless service members and schoolchildren used the facility at its peak, and at one time school competitions were held in the pool, which is 75 feet by 30 feet.

In 1987, the Hemmeter Corp. bought the property for about $11 million and completed some $29 million in building renovations. The building changed hands again in 1990, when the BIGI Corp. of Japan bought it for $80 million.

The state started leasing the building in 1990 for offices.

It bought the building in 2000, for $22.5 million.

Two years later, the Hawai'i State Art Museum opened at the site.

Ron Yamakawa, executive director of the Hawai'i State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, said the courtyard work comes as the art museum is in desperate need for more space, especially for its popular programs for schoolchildren.

He said the new courtyard could be used as a teaching or gathering place.

Rosegg added that there's no doubt some will be sad to see the pool go — especially those who remember swimming in it in their childhood. But he added that the only other alternatives were doing nothing or revamping the pool for use.

He said refurbishing the pool to be used would have been impractical and expensive, since it would have required the pool be brought up to code and the state would have had to hire lifeguards. The state didn't pin a dollar estimate to a refurbishment project because it was considered too pricey.

Rosegg added, "The pool, while a significant part of the Armed Forces YMCA programming, is not appropriate for the current use" of the building, which houses the art museum in addition to other state offices, a popular cafe and a gift shop.

He also said, in response to questions about whether the state should be revitalizing the courtyard in the midst of a fiscal crisis, that the work will create jobs, do away with pool maintenance costs and improve the museum experience.