Hawaii Preparatory Academy, in partnership with the University of Hawaii at Hilo’s North Hawaii Education and Research Center, will present “Weaving: The Sustainability and Traditional Pacific Arts Symposium” May 3 and 4 at the school’s Gates Performing Arts Center in Waimea.
Hawaii Preparatory Academy, in partnership with the University of Hawaii at Hilo’s North Hawaii Education and Research Center, will present “Weaving: The Sustainability and Traditional Pacific Arts Symposium” May 3 and 4 at the school’s Gates Performing Arts Center in Waimea.
“The purpose of the symposium is to celebrate and educate people on the important role sustainable arts in the Pacific — in this case, lauhala fiber-works — played in the settlement and development of the Pacific region,” said Deacon Ritterbush, symposium coordinator. “Still important for everyday, ceremonial and income-earning purposes, traditional Pacific arts like woven lauhala items are true ‘eco-arts’ — they come directly from the earth, unprocessed or processed with only natural elements, and when their usefulness ends, they degrade and return to the earth.”
A free public event from 6 to 8:30 p.m. May 3 kicks off the symposium at the Gates Performing Arts Center with lauhala hat weaving demonstrations, an exhibit on lauhala art, and a lecture by Ritterbush and Chelle Pahinui, a specialist in tourism economics.
The program continues from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 4; advance registration is required for $55, which includes catered lunch. The day’s schedule features a talk story with Kona resident and master weaver Elizabeth Lee, founder and director of Ka Ulu Lauhala O Kona, an organization dedicated to perpetuating the art of lauhala weaving. The schedule also includes lectures, discussions, hat weaving demonstrations and basic weaving taught by instructors including Pohaku Kahoohanohano, Lola Spencer, Margaret Lovett, Michele Zane-Faridi and Cathy Blickos.
Vendors and artisans will sell lauhala goods and other Pacific Island art. They also will reshape and sew in hat bands and take lauhala hat orders. Participants are encouraged to wear or bring hats from their own collections to share and discuss.
For more information, contact Koh Ming Wei at 443-9231 or Vicky Gapasen at vickyann@hawaii.edu. To register for the May 4 symposium, call 775-8890.