Hale Pai
Pacific American-News Journal
`Aukake - August 1996 Volume 2 Issue 8
Burke Museum Hosts
First Native Hawaiian Art Exhibit To Tour
Mainland
“We communicate a more
authentic view of Hawaii - more true to its heritage.”
- Rocky Jensen, Hawaiian Sculptor
On view at the Burke Museum at the University of Washington is
the first native Hawaiian art exhibit to tour the mainland: Maui's
Turning Back the Sky: Contemporary Hawaiian Art. The exhibit
will run from October 3, 1996 - January 26, 1997. It comes here
after a successful 16-week stint at the California Academy of
Sciences in San Francisco.
The show features the work of 10 artists of Hawaiian descent
through 50 multimedia pieces including watercolor, oil, acrylic,
pen-and-ink, stone and wood sculpture, ceramics, shell and fiber
art, and photography. The exhibit illustrates Hawaiian history,
family genealogy, astronomy, and the navigational disciplines of
Polynesian peoples - truly evoking a continuous and living
tradition.
“The theme of Maui's Turning Back the Sky,”
says Lucia Tarallo-Jensen, guest curator of the exhibit, “is
the discovery of the Hawaiian Islands by the great explorer,
Maui, and the traditions that resulted thereafter.” Turning
Back the Sky is a phrase used in astronomy referring to the
ability of a planetarium to show the sky as it was at a precise
moment in time - in this case 2,000 years ago to the era of the
ancestral Polynesian Chief Maui and his travels of discovery
throughout the Pacific Ocean.
Rocky Ka'iouliokahihikolo' Jensen, one of Hawaii's leading
traditional sculptors, is a driving force behind the exhibit and
the rebirth of traditional arts in Hawaii. Born and raised on
Oahu, Jensen's desire to perpetuate Hawaiian history and culture
has fueled his artistic career. “People do not understand
that the artist's mind creates a symbol of their mana,
their spiritual or divine power,” says Jensen. “For me,
every mark, every curve has a specific, often spiritual or
historic meaning - something that perpetuates the mana
behind that piece.”
Maui's Turning Back the Sky was organized by Hale
Naua III, the Society of Hawaiian Arts, founded by Lucia and
Rocky Jensen in 1975 to foster Hawaiian culture, history, and
religious traditions through works of art. Seattle's extensive
Hawaiian community will be actively involved in programming for
the exhibit.
For more information on the exhibit, call the 24-hour recorded
information line: (206) 543-5590.
Send mail to halepai@punawelewele.com
with questions or comments about this web site.
Copyright © 1996 Hale Pai Pacific American-News Journal
Last modified: February 28, 1998
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