Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 32, Number 5, 1 May 2015 — WEAVING A LOVE OF LAUHALA [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

WEAVING A LOVE OF LAUHALA

By Kathy Muneno Midweek, tucked in the shade from the midday sun, behind Bishop Museum's Hawaiian Hall, nine adults sit and not a sound is heard but a breath of trades rustling leaves. They are focused - eaeh with their respective traditional artwork at hand, eaeh with head down, fingers busy, mind occupied and heart full.

Mine are the first words I hear, shattering this tranquil joint meditative state. "Anyone lauhala weaving?" With the precision of synchronized swimmers, all but one raise arms and point at that one man in the back. All laugh, except for him. Kal Shibata of 'Aiea will retire from a 26-year career in the Army by the close of this year and so maybe it was fortuitous that his wife gave him (and herself) a lauhala weaving class for their anniversary one year ago. And here he sits, still weaving, many a hat, basket and mat created, almost always to be given away. I'm sure he'd rather not be speaking about himself, but I pepper him with questions. He loves the creativity of weaving, he's weaving a hat right now, it will take him 20 to 24 hours to complete. I ask if

lauhala weaving is like wood carving in whieh the wood guides the hand. He says yes, "You let it talk to you." As he tries to kindly oblige my inquiries, his wife arrives with a spirited aloha for everyone and a quick comment to me, "I'm the descendant of weavers and he's the one weaving." We laugh. Makalena Shibata, a docent at Bishop Museum, says her mother's grandmother was a weaver in Kona, her sisters and aunts weavers too. She quips that she has to make sure her husband eats, goes bathroom, has something to drink before he settles into his art. "The passion he shows in weaving is like the passion he shows for me," she says with a smile. It runs deep. "I love it that he's interested, but more than that, it's a passion and desire, so you know the art will eonhnue."

Kal learned from kumu Marsha Omura in the weaving club Ulana Me Ka Lokomaika'i, founded by and carrying on the tradition of late master weaver Gladys Kukana Grace. And indeed, when asked, Kal says the most important thing he learned from his kumu is "sharing - learning and passing on skills." Just inside the doors in front

of Kal, Aunty Gladys is on a TV monitor sharing her mana'o, part of a new exhibit called "Nani I Ka Hala: Weaving Hawai'i." Visitors get the rare opportunity to hear other master weavers as well - their stories, lauhala preparation, weaving values. So many oral histories recorded and so mueh gathered from across the state, stretching back to the utilitarian pre-Western SEE LAUHALA ON PAGE 25

Nani I Ka Hala: Weaving Hawai'i When: 0ngoing through July 27 Where: J.M. Long Gallery in Bishop Museum Hawaiian Hall. Exhibit heads to Maui Arts and Cultural Center in 0ctober 2015 Museum hours: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesday to Monday; closed Tuesday Admission: free for Bishop Museum members, $19.95 adults, $16.95 seniors 65 and older, $14.95 ages 4 to 12; free for ages 3 and under; discounts apply for kama'āina and militaryand theirguests lnfo: bishopmuseum.org Hana Ka Lima, He Apo Aloha: Lau Hala Bracelet Making Workshop When: 1 p.m. dailyexcept Tuesday in Hawaiian Hall Portico Cost: $10 per person (materials included)

j NĀHANANA v > EVENTS f

| Unele Frank Masagatani, left, and Marques Mar- j I zan untie the maile for the exhibit's opening.

The Hat Wall interactive station allows visitors to virtually try on every hat in the display at the touch of a button.

Coffee-picking basket, made by Ed Kaneko.

Plaited QR code made by Miehael Nāho'opi'i. Photos: Courtesy ofBishop Museum

Close up of lauhala hat design.

LAUHALA Continued from page 17

contact lauhala mats, pillows, baskets and eanoe sail on display, to the post-contact high-demand hats (on display and digitized to try them on virtually), to modern-day decorative items and literal art. "Most of the weavers I know do it because

they have a passion for it, not a need for it . . . they don't have to make 20 bags because they have to sell it," explains Marques Marzan, Bishop Museum's cultural research specialist who is also a descendant of weavers and has been weaving for 18 years. "When we spoke with weavers across the state they really emphasized that caring for the trees and how we maintain them were very important parts of weaving," Marzan says. "They wanted to be sure that those aspects were given equal weight." They were. The hala tree is traced back one million years in Hawai'i, according to research specialist Clyde Imada with the museum's Department of Natural Sciences/Botany (Imada's wife is a lauhala weaver too). He encourages visitors to stop at the eight hala growing on the museum grounds and learn about them. And if you're lucky, you'll catch Bill Marston leading an impassioned tour of the hala trees we so often take for

granted. He'll introduce you to the "grand dame," a 70-year-old hala. He'll explain the native Hawaiian hala has thorns on the midrib and leaf edges, whieh ean make for painful preparation for weavers. He'll tell you female hala trunks are hollow and were used as pipes while male hala trunks were used for house posts. And he'll introduce you to the one male hala that over the years has successfully pollinated his "harem." But, Hawai'i's hala are

under threat, as you learn exiting the Nani I Ka Hala exhibit. Weavers on Maui have to import their lauhala

from neighbor islands. The Pandanus scale insect is literally sucking the juice, the life, out of hala leaves there, Imada says, tuming them yellow and "unusable to the practitioners who are weaving." It arrived in Hāna on an imported hala plant in 1995. He says it has now "completely infested hala on Maui . . . and they're

warning people not to export hala" out of Maui. "Those of us who know about it try to bring some over to the weavers on Maui," Kal says. He knows he's lucky to have been able to gather his lauhala at hand from Hale'iwa. Marzan, the museum's cultural research specialist, says there is a network of weavers and clubs across the state helping to perpetuate weaving on Maui. And as I begin to leave, 24-year-old Keoki Iehiki, a University of Hawai'i Hawaiian language student joins the group, lauhala-weaving project in hand. Then I pass renowned artist and Hawaiian art professor Maile Andrade who says with a smile and reassurance, "At least lauhala weaving is alive and well." ■ Kathv Muneno is a weekenā anchor for KHON2.

Weave a Fish interactive station.

Miehael Nōho'opi'i stands next to a display of his contemporary lauhala mat.

Visitors virtually try on hats at the exhibit through a touchscreen and monitor. - Photos: Courtesy ofBishop Museum