The Kawainui Tour/Lecture Series is on YouTube!

Kawainui Marsh at Sunset; photo by Wendy Roberts; Access to this area of Kawainui is via Kaha Park

Aloha artists! We recently completed the editing and posting of videos from the tour of Kawainui Marsh with Dr. Paul Brennan. It was initially planned to be on-site, but only the first clip displays the rainy day outdoors that sent us scurrying inside. We moved over to Sherree’s home (thank you Sherree!) and continued to listen to the history of the area. After reviewing the videos, I felt there were 5 main topics that could each have a well-organized clip:

Kawainui Tour on a rainy day; photo by Spencer Chang

Kawainui Marsh – The Flow of Water: https://youtu.be/jxfCwL60mi8

Kawainui Marsh – Wahi Pana and the Role of Artists: https://youtu.be/fMaQ3cHFrsM

Na Pohaku o Hauwahine and the Rice Mills:  https://youtu.be/I8JbTSle8cU

Kawainui Agriculture: https://youtu.be/QerpTvKh9U4

Ulupo Heiau Area: https://youtu.be/dYvB9tHnvvs

Ulupo Heiau has a Hawaiian Garden full of beautiful loi and plants that were useful to Hawaiians. It is amazing! Photo by Joel Bradshaw
Na Pohaku o Hauwahine has a beautiful trail of endemic, native, and canoe plants overlooking the Kawainui wetlands. At the top of the promontory is a wahi pana: the boulders where Hauwahine, powerful mo’o guardian of Kawainui primarily spent her time.

Together, these clips are more than half the tour. The remainder will be edited and published later. The other segments of the tour grew organically out of these primary topics and largely discuss Maunawili, Kailua town, and Coconut Grove, all areas we are not covering in the Wahi Pana Exhibit, but excellent information that ought to be shared online (and I will!).

I promised to drop the coordinates for the beginning of Na Pohaku o Hauwahine Trail as well. Please click this link to view the entry to Na Pohaku o Hauwahine. Note, this is a place that will be a little harder to work than most Wahi Pana sites. The nearest bathrooms are at Kaha/ Kawainui Neighborhood Park, a 5-minute drive once you have hiked out of your work area. The third site is also easier: YMCA will usually let you use the bathroom there as you visit Ulupo Heiau if you are polite about it.

No matter which bathrooms you use, please do not leave any trace of paints or other inconvenient art materials in the bathroom sinks or floors, and plan to clean anything that can clog drains at home. I usually clean my water-based media brushes as well as I can, then wrap with wet paper towels to keep them pliable until I can get home and clean them more thoroughly with soap. I clean oil paint brushes either with small amounts of carefully controlled oils or spirits, or I wrap them in a paper towel until I can go home and wash them well the moment I get there. There are ways of containing and preventing creative materials from dirtying communal areas. Please be aware of this and pack carefully. We will soon have guides up for working outdoors for several media posted on the site. These guides will help you be ready if you have never painted on-site before.

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