Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 14, Number 11, 1 November 1997 — IMAUAKU KA NOʻEAU [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

IMAUAKU KA NOʻEAU

'The skills will live on' — through the State Foundation for Culture and the Arts Folk Arts Apprenticeship Program

By Paula Durbln DURING MOST of October, the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts and the Honolulu Academy of Arts celebrated loeal traditions with a special gathering and exhibit honoring artists who have participated in the SFCA's Folk Arts Apprenticeship Program. For the past 12 years, the foundation has awarded between 10 and 12 grants annually for six to eight months of one-on-one study with master artists. Program coordinator Lynn Martin estimates that 70 percent of the 217 participants to date have been in the Hawaiian arts: hula, oli, lauhala and net weaving, instrument and hula implement construction, eanoe building, feather and pūpū lei making, quilting, steel and slack-key gui-

tar. woodcarving, puppetry, saddle making

and kapa making. Given the involvement of some artists in more than one grant, the percentage of awards in the Hawaiian arts is even higher. Kūpuna, such as lauhala weaver Betsy Astronomo and feather leimaker Tsugi Ka'iama. both 84, swell the master ranks. but some instructors are makua, including several former apprentices. Recording artist Keali'i Reichel, who studied oli with Pualani Kanahele in 1988, taught Cliff Ahue four years later. Masters Ozzie Kotani, Peter Pine, Loretta Hera and Lola Spencer apprenticed, respectively, with guitarist Peter Medeiros, carver Rocky Jensen, and weavers Minnie Ka'awaloa and Gladys Grace. Medeiros didn't hesitate to teach Kotani, a non-Hawaiian, the chords, tunings and repertoire he had learned from his father. "Oz is a loeal boy," Medeiros said. "He's as Hawaiian as most

Hawaiians I know." Another non-Hawaiian alumnus of the program is guitarist Matthew Swalinkavich who, when he was only 13, apprenticed with the late Sonny Chillingworth. Although the foundation is cautious about accepting very young artists, Maui's Uluwehi Mills, 11, was so eloquent in her proposal to study lauhala arts and 'ōlelo Hawai'i with expert weaver and native speaker Sarah Camacho that she overcame any reservations about her tender age. Her finely crafted lauhala pillow was displayed alongside the designs of senior weavers in the Academy's exhibit. "I'm really lucky," she said, "because kupuna taught me two things at onee. I plan on continuing with thinner strips and more complex stuff and to practice Hawaiian at home." While the arts are a valued part of the Hawaiian heritage, they're not often lucrative. "All of our artists have a day job," said Martin. Occupations employing them range from coffee picking to audio engineering. Grants of $2,500 to $4,000 don't allow any- | onetoquittheirdayjobs. But 1 they do perpetuate the timetested tradition of passV ing on skills and techP mggmt niques from one master to the next, thus contributing to the survival of a precious * legacy. ■ W 4« P j|

Uluwehi Mills and Sarah Camacho. PHOTOS BY CARL HEFNER. COURTESY: STATE FOUNDATION OF THE CULTURE AND THE ARTS

Matthew Swalinkavlch and Sonny Chiliingworth.