Hawaii has a rich history of art. Whether in museums or on the streets, it’s impossible to miss artistic expressions.
hawaii art is a combination of traditional Hawaiian cultural practices and ideas brought to the islands by visitors from the mainland. This blending is evident in various forms of art, including painting and quilting.
Koa
Koa is a deep red wood with a natural grain that curls and creates patterns. This unique wood is revered in Hawaii for its beauty, history and function. Artwork featuring this beautiful wood can help bring the tropics to any room in your home.
In early Hawaiian life, koa was used for everything from dishware to surfboards to cutting and carving instruments. The young leaves of a koa tree were even used to craft the small stringed musical instrument known as the ukulele.
Today, koa is still in demand as an accent piece for any room in the house. But it’s important to remember that a lot of the koa we use in furniture is actually harvested from trees that have died and fallen naturally. The proceeds from the sale of this wood go back to reforesting koa trees, which helps make sure that this beloved tropical hardwood will be available for generations to come.
Kapa
A paper-thin bark cloth called kapa —also known as tapa elsewhere in the Pacific—has shaped Hawaiian culture for centuries. It swaddled babies, softened beds, dressed warriors and dancers, and followed elders to their graves. The patterned designs were both abstract and infused with sacred meanings that were only understood by the kapa master who created them.
A horticulturalist, Schattenburg-Raymond first became interested in kapa during her tenure as executive director of the Maui Nui Botanical Gardens. She learned traditional kapa making through word of mouth and trial and error, and traveled to the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum on Oahu to study the centuries-old kapa in its collection for clues to how it was constructed, watermarked, and repaired.
Today, kapa makers like Lehuauakea continue to untangle and decipher this lost art form one clue at a time. They make kapa for a living, a practice that requires patience and perseverance. It involves pounding the papery bast fibers of mulberry, hibiscus, or breadfruit with an ie kuku, a four-sided beater with coarse grooves on two sides used for breaking down and beating the wet fibers, and finer grooves on the other side for printing patterns.
Lauhala
For generations, the weaving of pandanus (lau) leaves has been the heart of Hawaiian culture and history. Tightly woven lau were used to create the essentials of everyday life in old Hawaii, from uluna (pillows) and moena (sleeping mats) to floor coverings and storage baskets. The hala plant is indigenous to Hawai’i and, even today, its long, narrow leaves are the most popular choice for weaving.
When Nelsen Kaho’ohanohano first began learning to weave in 2014, he was concerned that the art of Lauhala on Maui was in danger of being lost. The kupuna who had taught the craft to previous generations were all but gone.
But that is changing. Nelsen is part of a new wave of weavers who are ensuring that Lauhala will survive for many more generations to come. Unlike previous generations that were focused on preservation, he believes that weaving needs to be stretched and pushed in order to evolve.
Hullu Manu
This exhibition features a selection of capes, cloaks and feathered god images (na hulu manu) from the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. This period marked the arrival of European explorers, the unification of Hawaiian islands under the Kamehameha dynasty through 1810, wide-scale conversion to Christianity, and annexation by the United States.
Hullu manu were adorned with precious feathers from endemic bird species to imbue them with mana, spiritual power. They also served as diplomatic gifts for cementing political alliances and as battlefield regalia during war.
In the realm of the living, hulu manu provided comfort and protection for their genealogically linked owners, while in the realm of the dead they inspired courage to win battles. They also sparked fear in their enemies, and as symbols of Kamehameha’s victory over the other kings, hulu manu proclaimed his sovereignty over all Hawaii.
The Volcano School
The Volcano School features a variety of onsite, hands-on learning experiences with Hawaii’s active volcanoes and endemic plants. With Hawaii Volcanoes National Park as the students’ backyard, VSAS uses its unique location and community of scientists and specialists as a platform for discovery-based learning.
Volcano School paintings portrayed the dramatic, nocturnal scenery of two erupting volcanoes on the Big Island of Hawaii during the 1880s and 1890s. These works exemplified a style that blended European Sublime aesthetics with Romantic landscape traditions and a Hawaiian framework of Pele and volcanic activity. They offered the world a front-row view of nature in its wildest moments, while also engaging in various social and art-historical discourses: as a spectacle of natural phenomena; as a vehicle for exploring colonial expansion; and as a romanticized representation of the tropics. Boston born Charles Furneaux and French painter Jules Tavernier were among the most notable Volcano School artists. The Lyman Mission House and Museum in Hilo, Hawaii and the Honolulu Academy of Arts hold sizable collections of Volcano School paintings.
Satoru Abe
Known as the godfather of hawaii art scene, Satoru Abe was a painter and sculpture who helped define modern art in Hawaii. He served in the 442nd combat unit during World War II and studied at the Art Students League in New York. Abe’s abstract copper, bronze and wood sculptures and paintings decorate dozens of public spaces throughout the world, including the Honolulu Museum of Art, Tokyo Central Museum, and dozens of Hawaiian schools.
Featuring never-before-seen artworks and archival materials, this exhibition explores the complex relationships between art and Hawaiian culture. It shows how artists used traditional art forms in ways that reflected their own personal experiences and the evolving state of the nation. The exhibition also highlights the emergence of a third stage in Hawaiian art, characterized by a merging of traditional styles with ideas that were introduced to Hawaii. This blending helped shape the contemporary art movement that has become so well-known and revered.