Keeping up With Kapa: Jani K. Puakea Fisher
By Ma‘ata Tukuafu Pre-contact Hawaiian kapa was some of the most exquisitely made barkcloth in the entire world. After contact, cotton muslin and other fabrics were introduced to the Hawaiian Islands by settlers, and the intricate art of kapa making…
A Dream of the Heart: Island Artists Jane and Linus Chao
By Jan Wizinowich In the most positive sense, the Chinese saying “May your life be interesting” certainly applies to Jane and Linus Chao, island treasures who have been creating and teaching art for the last 50 years. Primarily watercolor artists…
From Kapa to Kalo: Bernice Akamine
By Karen Valentine As an artist, Bernice Akamine has gone far beyond the basic skills of applying artistic talent to media. When one reaches the pinnacles of art, one has put heart and soul into practice, not to mention, as…
Creative Filmmaking on Hawai’i Island
By Ma’ata Tukuafu Beautiful and diverse Hawai‘i Island, with its verdant rainforests, black sand beaches, and seasonally white-capped mountains, has been showcased in many films made over the years. From 1918’s The Hidden Pearls to the most current film productions,…
Featured Artists: Joalene Young & Louie Perry III
Featured Cover Artist: Joalene Young Joalene Young grew up surrounded by beauty in the art colony at Laguna Beach, California, where she lived until the age of 44. In school, she majored in English and minored in art. She married…
Featured Artists: Kirk Shorte & Kristi Kranz
Featured Cover Artist: Kirk Shorte Kirk Shorte is an avid professional photographer who captures the unique beauty and life of Hawai‘i Island in his images. A resident of Kailua-Kona since 2004, Kirk grew up in Belmar, New Jersey where, at…
The Waimea Arts Council: Art at the Heart of Waimea
By Jan Wizinowich At the intersection of Mamalahoa Highway and Kawaihae Road is a cluster of small buildings at the heart of old Waimea and the home of the Waimea Arts Council (WAC). With its double doors flung wide open,…
Charlene Asato is All About Paper
By Lynne Farr Paper is only paper until it’s in the hands of Charlene Asato—then it’s art—or it will be. Charlene is going to cut, fold, emboss, dye, draw, twist, collage, letter, shred, sew, paint, pierce, pleat, print, paste, and…
Try Look Inside: Yvonne and Keoki Carters’ Artistic Life
By Ma‘ata Tukuafu A life with deeper connection is what husband and wife team Yvonne Yarber Carter and Keoki Apokolani Carter strive for. With their creation of original music, their professions in land-based cultural education to steward native plants, trees,…
Kumu Kele Kanahele: A Unique Son of Ni‘ihau
By Paula Thomas Tucked away in “the boonies,” as he calls it, is the tidy, unsuspecting home of one of Ni‘ihau’s sons, Kumu Kele Kanahele. Kumu Kele is famous for making prized necklaces, chokers, and earrings from the shells that…
Fifty Shades of Blue: Artist Helen Nahoopii
By Ma‘ata Tukuafu When Helen Nahoopii was a young girl, she was known as the “creative one” in the family. Her mother, a chemist and tax consultant, recognized that Helen saw the world in a unique way; she didn’t think…
Featured Artists: Shay Niimi Wahl & Joalene Young
Featured Cover Artist: Shay Niimi Wahl After her first four years in Honolulu, Shay Niimi Wahl grew up in the once-thriving sugar plantation town of Pa‘auilo on Hawai‘i Island. Her rural upbringing made Shay aware of the beauty and diversity…
It’s Tiki Time! Three Island Artists Turning Idols into Art
By Karen Rose Romanticized images of Hawai‘i and Polynesia abound in Hollywood films and dramatizations of island life. One of the most iconic images of Hawai‘i adopted by popular culture is the tiki. Tikis are wooden carvings created to represent…
Featured Artists: Andrea Pro & Kirk Shorte
Featured Cover Artist: Andrea Pro Andrea Pro, creator of the woodcut print, Nectar, featured on our front cover, shares her inspiration of creating this art piece, “After a hike in Kīlauea Iki crater at Volcano I emerged into the rainforest…
Beauty All Around: Young Kohala Artist Elijah Rabang
By Jan Wizinowich Entering Hāwi, on the North Kohala coast, just past Kohala Coffee Mill, you are stopped in your tracks by a wall mural with a stunning scene of frolicking humpback whales. You’ve just stepped into the realm of…
Flying through the Air with the Greatest of Ease: Aerial Arts on Hawai’i Island
By Ma’ata Tukuafu If you’ve ever been to a circus, the trapeze performersʻ seemingly effortless performances might have intrigued and inspired you. In the past five years, several people on Hawai‘i Island have begun teaching different forms of aerial arts…
Woodworking: A Love Story
By Catherine Tarleton Award-winning wood artist Timothy Shafto is part artist, part engineer, and part impresario. A stonemason by trade and self-taught woodworker, Tim presently paints—pours, actually—large epoxy, sand, and wood wall art, using special techniques he has developed over…
Featured Artists: Alice Hughes & Fern Gavelek
Featured Cover Artist: Alice Hughes Alice first came to Hawai‘i in 1972 on an around-the-world trip. “It was a lot different in some ways, but is still the same in others. I was embraced by this island in many ways…
2018 Lava Flow Tribute
On April 30, 2018 the lava lake inside Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō crater drained into the lower east rift zone followed by the lava lake at Halema‘um‘u Crater of Kīlauea Volcano and started its flow toward the sea. As we go to…
Art Meets Nature at Niaulani Sculpture Garden
By Alan D. McNarie It’s a drizzly morning in Volcano Village. Elizabeth Miller is kneeling in the new sculpture garden out behind the main building of Volcano Art Center’s Niaulani campus. She’s taking advantage of a small break in the…
Larger Than Life: The Work of Marcia Ray
By Catherine Tarleton “Murals for me are the most important, because they are painted to tell a story,” says Waimea artist Marcia Ray. Four of her murals, and their stories, are stretched across the upper walls of Parker Ranch Center’s…
Featured Artists: Trina Jezik & Don Slocum
Featured Cover Artist: Trina Jezik Trina and her husband, Rhys, moved to Hawai‘i Island in 2015 from British Columbia, Canada. “From one beautiful place to another,” says Trina. She had been to Hawai‘i 13 years before and dreamed of a…
Hawai’i Island’s Famous “Painted Church”
By Denise Laitinen An incredible example of American folk art, St. Benedict Catholic Church in Captain Cook is one of the most well-known and colorful churches on Hawai‘i Island. Tucked into the slopes of Mauna Loa among coffee farms above…
William McKnight: Ambivalent Artist, Passionate Sculptor
By Paula Thomas William McKnight has cultivated a deep relationship with stone. From the lengths he may go to get a rock from the ocean, a quarry, or on a hillside, to the passion that engulfs him when his creative…
The Alonzo Spirit Band: Music for the Soul
By Ma‘ata Tukuafu It was in 2007 when Alan “Alonzo” Rosen began hearing voices in his head; not crazy voices, but rather, he was hearing notes, lyrics, melodies, and completed songs. After meditation or sometimes in dreams, Alan would hear…
Iris Viacrusis: Creating Fashion from Paris to Paradise
By Mālielani Larish Dressed in a velvet azure gown made by Hawai‘i Island fashion designer Iris Viacrusis, and adorned with a peacock feather collar that she had handcrafted herself, Aunty Doreen Henderson graced the 2013 Merrie Monarch stage with an…
Sea Love with Don Elwing
By Britni Schock Driving up mauka (mountain-side) of the Ocean View community, you see an endless sky, a terrain of ‘ōhi‘a lehua trees, and lava rock. After a few miles you arrive at the home of Don Elwing (Uncle D),…
Kahakai Elementary School Art Program Leaves No Child Behind
By Karen Rose Former Director of the National Endowment for the Arts Jane Alexander famously said, “When we teach a child to sing or play the flute, we teach her how to listen. When we teach her to draw, we…
Epic Origami: Folds and Creases for Awareness
By Ma‘ata Tukuafu In the origami world, there are two types of people: those who follow instructions, and those who create the instructions. Julien Lozi, an astronomer at Subaru Telescope in Hilo, explains how he is considered a “folder” of…
Making Life Colorfully Social for our Kūpuna
By Paula Thomas Since 1976, the Hawai‘i Island Adult Care (HIAC) in Hilo has provided quality care for elders and challenged adults as well as support for their families. Their life-enhancing programs include an art program thatʻs been led by…
