Artist Profile

I had wanted to learn kapa making for a long time. I saw Herb Kane 's painting of Pua Van Dorpe and figured, she must be the one who knows about this but had no idea how to contact her so I just let it simmer. In about 1995 I went to one of Kawai Aona-Ueoka 's kapa tool-making classes. I made my first hohoa and i'e kuku . I also got my first wauke babies from her which I planted in my yard. Later that year I attended a kapa introduction workshop by Alyce Ikeoka at the Ka'ala Learning Center and was introduced to some really..... fragrant..... mo'omo'o . In 1996 my plants had matured, and while doing the restoration work at Kane'aki Heiau in Makaha Valley, I was able to process my trees and soak them in the raging river that passed by the heiau. I remembered I suffered much with this kapa, having no real clue what I was doing. I went back and read Bingham , and Kamakau , and Kooijima n one more time, called Maile Andrade for some over-the-phone kapa solutions and could swear I heard the laughter of na kupuna ...laughing WITH me of course..not at me...sure sure. In the end I called a truce and was able to make a pretty good piece of kapa, dyed it orange with achiote and gave it to one of my very good friends, Landis Ornellas .

The next year, I was hired by Pua Burgess and Eric Enos of the Ka'ala Learning Center to teach a kapa curriculm that they had developed with Barbara Pope for use in the schools. I told them 'Well, I really dont know how to make kapa and I don't teach", but through that experience and over the course of the following years, I was able to accomplish both. Our program teaches everything we could find, research, ask and try about kapa. It was personally important to me that what we taught was as pono as possible, since few people had any idea about how Hawaiian kapa was made or its history or anything. One of the great features of our kapa program was that we were able to produce enough tools, hohoa, i'e kuku , niho mano , kua and pohaku , for an entire class of thirty fourth graders to make kapa. Of course we also grew and cultivated wauke on our site in Wai'anae Valley. We even gathered and grew dye materials such as olena and alae'a and had students grind these things using stone mortar and pestles. They make their own dye and then paint on their dried kapa with hala fruit paintbrushes. In this way they are able to learn the scientific and cultural history, the reasons for the demise, the similarities and differences with south pacific tapa , correct Hawaiian names of all the tools and materials, and make by themselves, using actual tools and methods, Hawaiian kapa. Because our pilot schools were in Nanakuli , we had mostly Hawaiian and Pacific Islands children, and we taught them, "This knowledge was already in you...we are just helping you to remember."

Besides teaching fourth graders, I have been able to teach all ages of students, from pre-school age to high school and college students to other teachers to folks in Elderhostel. I was able to teach many times at community events and to travel to other islands teaching with Hui Malama I Na Kupuna O Hawaii Nei , as part of their program to teach people traditional Hawaiian burial practices and to be a part of making kapa for wrapping the iwi of our ancestors. I was able to go to San Francisco California to teach a group of Hawaiians and Hawaiians-at-heart known as Kuku I Ka Pono…The Kapa Project , who also wanted to help in the repatriation efforts. We were able to make tools with California woods, gathered pohaku from their stream beds and get some wauke growing there even, and the group was able to produce many pieces of wonderful kapa that was given to Hui Malama. Another time in Irvine California was spent at a weekend retreat teaching kapa and pohaku to a Hawaiian civic club with Eric Enos and Haunani Bernardino , who also wrote and composed a special hula noho for the event. I also did a series of kapa and tool making classes at the Bailey House Museum , an especially exciting time because I am a direct Bailey descendant. Another great one was the 'Kapa , Paper, Washi series, sponsored by Temari Center for Asian and Pacific Arts where I got to see wauke used in so many different ways. Many many more wonderful teaching opportunities and it never failed to amaze me, whenever I make that long cut with the shark tooth and then slowly peel off the white inner bark, to hear the collective "Ohhhhhhh" from the audience. Always the favorite part of any class...oh, that and making them pound it after it's fermented.

I have formally exhibited at the Mission Houses Museum in their " Endless Threads: Art of Hawaiian Quilting Throught Time ". I had a piece of kapa and a display of tools to show what the people did before the introduction of quilting. I was also honored to be presented with a group of dedicated women in the "Kapa Ho'okahi" exhibit at Bishop Museum and another life high point as an artist in this very special and specialized field. My work over the years has been the teaching of kapa and developing ways to make that a meaningful experience for my students I liked to make kapa that was very meaningful.. the kihei I wore for ceremonial events...the moepu for the ashes of a cousins baby...a wedding pa'u for a friend, that she actually DID wear all day and nothing else but the smile and the maile leis ...the kapa moe that covered my new husband and I on our wedding night in Egypt. These were some of the pieces that made me hau'oli , ha'aheo , and ha'a ha'a to be a Hawaiian kapa maker.

When I first saw that painting of Pua Van Dorpe, serenely sitting at her kua, pounding out that sheet of kapa, I had no idea I would be led on such a journey. As I look around at the other kapa makers, and at the many, many, many students that have been collectively taught kapa making, I can see that there is still something deeper that sets this group of not only artists, but cultural practitioners apart, and makes us able to sit for those long stretches of time doing something that you measure progress in quarters and halves of inches. As a child I learned and enjoyed crocheting, knitting, embroidering and quilting, and didn't mind having to wait a long time to finally reach the finished product. As a kapa maker I was able to indulge in so many different disciplines, all with their own issues and excitement. Being able to craft my own tools as well as those for our students allowed me to work with precious and wonderful natural elements...smooth warm woods, hand-picked basalt pohaku from secret beaches and opihi shells gathered at a baby's birthday lu'au . Working with modern tools and ancient traditions ..(All of the Mana in HALF of the time!) Learning cultivation methods to produce the smooth, straight stalks of wauke that would allow students to have a wonderful experience in their kapa making. Becoming a scientist in the kitchen laboratory boiling up the bark, petals, leaves and roots that would become the brilliant blues, greens and yellows of kapa dyes. The unbelieveable rainbow of colors that our kupuna loved to place on their kapa. And then of course, the scenting and saving the maile and tuberose and pua keni keni leis from graduations to dry and save and place kapa inside to absorb the sweet subtle fragrance. Kapa is, and continues to be a personal journey for me, as I continue to teach and to learn. The highlight of my kapa career was when I finally met Kumu Pua Van Dorpe at her one woman kapa exhibit at the UH. It was one of those rare, "I'm not worthy! I'm not worthy!" moments that one has when finally in the presence of a personal icon, and I felt that my journey had come full circle.

I guess I am on my second or third circle now as I go forward with my work...teaching, cultivating and developing as a kapa artist. I am very pleased to be able to share some of what I have learned, with you, in the hopes of giving you a small appreciation of the seemingly simple yet complex work of my Hawaiian ancestors.