The Life as Art
Crafting Papahe‘enalu
Crafting Papahe‘enalu: …From Tree to Sea: Traditional Wooden Surfboard Shapers … By Hadley Catalano… Every surfer remembers that first surfing experience… When Bob Russell began as a child, he surfed on blue and yellow canvas rafts along the Kona Coast. When Keith Tallett grew up in Hilo his father couldn’t afford to buy his son [...]
Herb Kawainui Kane
Herb Kawainui Kāne, Larger Than Life …By Karen Valentine… Setting sail in the weather and sea conditions of home port, we begin our journeys in life. As we stretch out across the vast seas of experience, our course is adjusted with input from sources that reveal themselves along the way: changing winds, inspirations, desires and [...]
High-Tech Textiles
High-Tech Textiles Feature Hawaiian Cultural Motifs …By Denise Laitinen …Hilo, Hawai‘i, might not be the first place that springs to mind when you think about cutting-edge clothing manufacturing, but one local company is changing that. Punawai, a digital textile printing company, is using state-of-the-art technology and eco-friendly inks to design, print, and sew women’s apparel. [...]
Joy in Landscapes
Bringing Hawai‘iʻs Scenery Indoors Plein Air Painter Sita Soesman Finds Joy in Landscapes …By Margaret Kearns …Long-time Hawai‘i Island resident and O‘ahu native Sita Soesman is a rare talent—one of those fortunate individuals gifted equally with excellent business, marketing and sales skills, and amazing artistic talent. Mix all of that with unbridled enthusiasm, boundless [...]
Master of Light: Artist Kay Yokoyama
Master of Light: Artist Kay Yokoyama …By Alan D. McNarie …Kay Yokoyama seldom seeks the limelight—which is ironic, because her paintings are all about light. A Yokoyama painting will immediately stand out, even if it’s in a wall full of other paintings. Hers is the one that seems to glow. In fact, Yokoyama might be [...]
Gilmore Art Inspires Native Plant Renaissance…
Gilmore Art Inspires Native Plant Renaissance… Jamie Gilmore’s Botanical Portraits Reflect Nature’s Brilliance… By Marya Mann… At 3:15 on a sunny day in Ka‘u, Jamie Gilmore sits at her table, meticulously painting every petal, flower and sand granule in her watercolor portrait of hinahina, a hardy yet vulnerable native plant indigenous to Hawaiian beaches. Now [...]
Capturing the Ephemeral
Capturing the Ephemeral – The Passion and Palettes of Painter Rod Cameron …By Karen Valentine – The eight-year-old boy stood, transfixed, as the rest of his friends ran ahead during their tour of Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California. They turned around, worried about young Rod Cameron. The object of his fascination? The [...]
The Mindscapes of Ken Charon
The Mindscapes of Ken Charon By Marya Mann If we could climb inside Ken Charon’s dreamy paintings for a fantastic journey, we might feel the summer breeze on our faces as we trek up an emerald green volcano and wake up in a manger where Hawaiian prophets are being born. From the Big Island slope [...]
Lee Michael Walczuk: the Man Behind the Mask
Lee Michael Walczuk: the Man Behind the Mask By Alan D. McNarie It’s evening in Hilo, a couple of nights before Halloween. In the workshop space in the utility building behind East Hawai‘i Cultural Center, Lee Michael Walczuk is holding a special mask-making class. It’s not to make Halloween masks, per se—it’s a session in [...]
Dancing with Paint
Artist Kathleen Kam Choreographs the First of a Series of Downtown Hilo Murals… By Alan D. McNarie – “I can paint faster than I can write. I have a nickname: “Dances with Paint,” jokes Kathleen Kam, as she works in a face of a lauhala weaver that she’s painting on the wall of downtown Hilo’s [...]
The Life in Art
Up from the Ashes
…Pit-firing Ceramic Vessels with Tim Freeman… By John J. Boyle… A close examination of a pit-fired ceramic vessel created by potter and philosopher Tim Freeman reveals details reminiscent of Hawai‘i’s active volcano. The artist, who makes his home near Kīlauea’s burning, living fire, is exploring creation from clay with...
Carousel of Aloha
…Bringing a Dream to Life… By Alan D. McNarie… Juanette Baysa has a dream. It’s not a dream that will lead to an end to all war or a universal source of clean energy or anything that ambitious. It’s just the sort that helps to make life a little nicer. It involves a little park [...]The Life in Music
Community Building with...
…Andy Andrews and Fun with P.U.K.A…. By Shirley Stoffer… Andy Andrews, co-founder of the legendary ‘Ukulele Club of Santa Cruz in California, is now bringing his love of people, music and fun to the Big Island of Hawai’i. Those of us who know him were certain that it would only be a matter of time [...]
Driving Fast with Brittni...
…A Young ‘Ukulele Virtuoso Speeding Toward Stardom …By Shirley Stoffer… The music world keeps opening new doors for Brittni Paiva, the 23-year-old ‘ukulele star from Hilo. She has been making music since the age of four, when she started playing piano. At age 11, her uncle gave her an ‘ukulele and there has been no [...]
Konabob and the Unique Kona...
…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 in the mountains of Colorado, with a picture of Gabby Pahinui and a map of [...]The Life in Spirit
Kaulana Hawai‘i
Na Wai Puna o Kona – Na Kupuna Kaulana Hawai’i lā Nā mea Aloha lā Eia ho’i ke ola lā ‘O Hawai’i Famous is Hawai’i Loveable things indeed Present is the life Hawai’i Kamehameha Hawai’i lā Mō’i ka moku lā Eia ho’i ke ola lā ‘O Hawai’i Kamehameha of Hawai’i Chief of this island Present [...]
Aia ke Aloha ke Nana Aku
…Love is There When We Seek …Na Kumu Keala Ching… ‘Ohu’ohu o ka lani i ‘ike aku Kūlia a’ela ka lā i ka lewa Wahi ola nā kūpuna i lōkahi ai Aia ana ke aloha ke nānā aku A mist of heaven is seen As the sun strives upon high A place where ancestors gather [...]
