Life in Business: Big Island Coffee Roasters
Brandon Damitz and Kelleigh Stewart have combined their expertise in biological and culinary sciences and organic farming to create a business that offers the finest local products to the public along with support for other coffee growers in commercial roasting,…
Life in Business: Hawai‘i Biological Dentistry
Dr. Randy Ressler may be the most musical dentist in town! “Music has always been a big part of my life,” says the owner of Hawai‘i Biological Dentistry in Kailua-Kona. He’s been performing since he was 10 and he…
Life in Business: Water Works
Verne Wood, founder of WaterWorks, is a pioneer in the business of water catchment services and products on an island where many homes are independent of the County water system and rely on collecting rainwater. The company began more than…
Life in Business: Island Edges Beads
Sharon Turner retired from being a high school theatre teacher in Arizona. Looking for something different and creative, she took a few classes in jewelry making. A native of Phoenix, the single mom of two boys taught there for 26…
Konabob and the Unique Kona Walkingbass
By Shirley Stoffer Bob Stoffer, known as “Konabob” to many people in Hawai’i and around the world, had loved Hawai’i and Hawaiian music for a long time before moving to the island. He listened to Hawaiian music at his bakery…
A Master Chinese Brush Painter: Shirley Pu Wills Practices the Art of Imagination and Chi
By Fern Gavelek It’s both what you see and what you don’t see that create the magic in Chinese brush painting. “The thing about Chinese brush painting is you imagine what’s not there,” says Shirley Pu Wills of Captain Cook.…
Gille Legacy: The Man Who Paints With His Nose
By Cynthia Sweeney Gille Legacy does not have the distractions that the rest of us do. Unable to use his body since birth, he is not confined to it and lives largely—both figuratively and literally—in his imagination. And the peace…
Ka Hana No‘eau i ka Hulu: “The Art of the Feather”
By Noel Morata Early Hawaiians believed that birds had symbolic spiritual power and their feathers carried magical properties, including keen eyesight, endurance and speed. These qualities would add to the value of garments utilizing feathers, which were created specifically for…
Hawaiian Quilting: Creating Treasures, Passed Down from Generation to Generation
By Margaret Kearns Scattered around Hawai‘i Island, small groups of women—and a handful of men—are using passion and knowledge, skill and patience, hands and hearts to save what they say is a dying art. Hawaiian quilting is literally a labor…
A Beloved Daughter Retires: Fanny Au Hoy
By Fern Gavelek She walks through the treasure-filled rooms—fingering the china, straightening a photo frame, smoothing a quilted bedspread and then opening wide an upstairs window. As the fresh air fills the stately bedroom, Aunty Fanny turns around and grins.…
Professing Change
By Jessica Kirkwood As humanity faces ecological degradation, increasing social and economic inequality and a growing sense of fear, dissatisfaction and unrest, UH-Hilo Professor Dr. Catherine Becker wants her students to imagine and create a Hawai‘I that is environmentally sustainable,…
Pages from Cowboy Romance and Reality: Paniolo Preservation Society Saddles Up
By Catherine Tarleton When I was a little girl, I caught horse fever early and as fervently as a suburban D.C. kid could. I read every horse book in two libraries, drew pictures, wrote stories and fought my brother for…
Mushroom in a Bottle: A Gourmet Fungus, from Hamakua to the White House
By Denise Laitinen The mushroom—actually a fungus—grows on a lot of different matter in the wild, from tree logs to cow pies. It’s called “substrate,” as opposed to soil. In cultivation, the substrate makes a difference in the quality and…
Ka Wehena: Ke Ao
Na Kumu Keala Ching Ua hāmama ka ‘īpuka o ke ao Ke ao (i) ‘ike ‘ia o ke ālaula Lālau ho’i ke aloha o nēia ola E ola ka makani (i) lawe aku ai ka ‘i’ini He ‘i’ini i mālama…
