Wahi Pana with Kumu Glen Kila

February 20 @ 9:00 am – 12:00 pm Wednesday, February 20, from 9 am to noon, Kumu Glen Kila of Marae Ha’a Koa Hawaiian Cultural Center will share the mo’olelo of wahi pana and Moku o Waianae. Please bring a hat, sunscreen and water. Wear comfortable walking shoes. Hawaiian culture is transferred from kumu to student by listening to mo’olelo and first-hand observation of practices. Kumu Kila is generously offering to share the mo’olelo of Waianae.

Learn more about Marae Ha’a Koa: http://maraehaakoa.org/

Video is not available of this event. Out of respect for cultural practices, and at Kumu Glen’s request we did not document the event except in snapshots, but we can share and discuss this mo’olelo at the Wahi Pana Talk Story Panel.

Join Us Outside this Spring

Lone Banana – Photo by Wendy Roberts

With the prospectus now live for Wahi Pana: A Sense of Place Exhibit, you can start to familiarize yourself with overall exhibit concept and specific dates for each aspect. The best first steps to join us in the exhibit experience:

  1. Download the prospectus
  2. Use it to add dates to your calendar. We have a calendar on the site as well that you can refer to for plans.
  3. Sign up for the Newsletter. Please realize we will need to issue revisions to the prospectus in the future, and we are still actively developing the educational programs for each site. Signing up for the newsletter means we can notify you when these types of resources become available.
  4. Encourage fellow artists to sign up for the newsletter as well. Even if they only want to plein air paint with other artists, and they do not want to participate in the exhibition. The public is welcome to watch or join in on the educational opportunities and the art creation events, many of which are free.
  5. Look through the Locations and Education Page to see the locations and educational resources that are available. More will be added daily until we have them all complete.
  6. Complete the orientation/education by March 6. Some of the walking tours are coming up in a week or two for Waikiki and Kawainui – don’t miss out on these opportunities! Some locations have multiple options, and there are some where you will simply read or watch a video, and others where you can go to the site and hear about the mo`olelo from a practitioner, tour guide, or historian in person.

We hope to see you this Spring at the wahi pana sites!

Join us this Wednesday at a meeting in Chinatown to learn about Wahi Pana

The launch of this website marks the transition from planning to execution for this amazing exhibit, the concept and proposal were both created by Dawn Yoshimura who will be the overall creative director of this exhibit. It is the beginning of a group exploration among a diverse collection of artists throughout the Hawaiian Islands. Wahi Pana promises to be a memorable exhibit merging the practice of plein air art (art that has been created on site) with local Hawaiian history in an effort to see if appreciation and depiction of the locations will change or improve based on knowledge of both past and present. Will this extra knowledge of important events, lore, or history cause a shift in perception? How will it effect landscape painters who are accustomed to depicting the lush island scenery? How will 3D artists, print makers, and mixed media artists adapt their practice to involve firsthand observation of the site into their practice? We will find out together.

You can expect the prospectus to be posted very soon. Certain events are marked on the calendar already. This will hopefully give artists the chance to consider participation knowing in advance the days they will need to be available. If you want to know more, please come to the first informational meeting on January 30, 2019 at the Artists Lofts in Chinatown – there are two identical meetings at two separate times for your convenience. Please select one of the two and come hear about the event:

Times: 1:00 pm and 6:00 pm  (choose one)
Location: Aloha Tuscany Art Studio at the Chinatown Artists Lofts   

There are two separate entrances that you can use depending on where you arrive from — 1109 Maunakea Street or 1116 Smith Street (across from the Little Village Noodle House). Municipal parking is plentiful and presents the least expensive option. This meeting location is courtesy of Kimberly Howsley, MAAT. Thank you for hosting us Kimberly!

The invitation to attend this meeting is extended to all interested artists who can attend on Oahu. This exhibit is not limited to Oahu, however. We are also inviting Hawaii, Maui, Kauai, Molokai, and Lanai artists to join us at a later date. We will publish our education materials and paint out locations for the other islands in February, so stay tuned.

You can join AHA if you want to be part of this extraordinary exhibit. Visit the AHA website if you would like to become a member.