Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 7, Number 3, 1 Malaki 1990 — Makaku [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Makaku

By Rocky Ka'iouliokahihikolo 'Ehu Jensen ©

A program to rescue the Hawaiian arts

Contributing columnist Herb Kawainui Kane We cannot be Hawaiians by blood alone. Without Hawaiian culture, there ean be no Hawaiianess. Moreover, no culture ean exist without its objects. The artifacts of a culture are its tantible embodiment, surrounded by meanings, processes, language, and lore. All these are inevitably lost with the loss of objects and the result is cultural disintegration. The key to a genuine revival of the art of making Hawaiian artifacts is found in the meaning of "exeellenee." The ancient artisan knew that the survival of his people and the enrichment of his culture depended upon his exceilence and productivity. If he did not strive for exce!lence he would not be acting with proper respect for his art, and would be unworthy for receiving heipful mana from the spiritc of those eminently talented ancestors who were worshipped as the patron spirits of his guild. Eaeh guild, or specialization, was headed by a kahuna (master or leading expert) who also served as a living library for all knowledge about his profession. The kahuna also served as the ehaplain, or priest, for his profession, performing those rituals whieh invoked spiritual help for those in his guild. The most effective way to rescue the Hawaiian material arts would be to recruit, educate, and establish a new group of masters who, through their complete knowledge of their art and the exeellenee of their own work, wouid win respectand recognition as "living treasures" of the Hawaiian people; and who would perpetuate their art by training disciples. Like the kahuna of old, who were professionals well paid in goods and privileges, these new masters would be an elite group who would raise the material arts out of their present amateurism to full professional status. The excellence of their work would raise the material arts out of the category of "eheap souvenir" to command status and prices as art objects, finding a ready market among collectors. Elitism may not be popular today, for we are the products of an era of progressive education and democratic mediocrity. But old Hawai'i wasan elitist society with no tolerance for amateurism. Therefore a revival ean happen only if it is spearheaded by dedicated, talented individuals who approach their challenges with an attitude of professionalism. The Hawaiian material arts cannot be revived in elementary school "Hawaiiana" craft lessons, or hobby classes. These may be spin-offs, but the main effort must be made by an elite few. Here are some ways this could happen: The Program The Steering Committee: 1) OHA (Editor's note: or the Native Hawaiian Culture and Art Program) could form a panel of Hawaiian scholars who would be capable of helping the "masters candidates" conduct their research, organize their experiments and programs of self-development. OHA could compensate the members of this panel for their time and expenses. 2) The first mission of the panel would be to search for and select as masters candidates those Hawaiians who have demonstrated the potential to develop mastery in one or more of the Hawaiian material arts. Here 1 would not suggest that their first search should be done among our kupuna. I believe that our candidates should be mostly from our younger Hawaiians who have the energy and resilience of mind to face the challenges ahead of them.

Among our kupuna are experts, primarily in the 19th century adaptations of Hawaiian material arts. These kupuna, and they are few in number, should receive full recognition by OHA for their expertise and their knowledge. But there is no one among our kupuna who ean plait a makaloa mat of the quality of those huge mats in the Bishop Museum. There is no one who knows the lost art of twining of olona and 'ie'ie, except a few of our younger experimenters. There are only two persons in Hawai'i, that I know of, who ean flake a perfect adz-head out of dense basalt rock, and these are not kupuna, but younger experimentSrs. Candidates may be of any age and from any walk of life, for talent knows no boundaries. Those selected as candidates should be offered a fellowship whieh would support and certify them and support the costs of their individual programs. Candidates should be offered some compensation to enable them to work unhindered by financial pressures. 3) Research: With the help of a panel member, eaeh candidate would conduct full research, eaeh candidate would conduct full research, gathering and organizing all available information about his or her chosen art field that may be obtained from literature, museums, private eolleetions and from our kupuna. 4) Experiments: Truth ean be obtained about the processes involved in the making of artifacts only by subjecting them all to the test of planned experiments. 5) Application of findings in a program of selfdevelopment: The candidate must go through the self-development of basic skills, then refinement of skills, in his or her chosen art field. 6) Publicity: An exhibit should be held when the work of the candidate shows sufficient promise and is deemed worthy of exhibit: a travelling exhibit should be organized to be displayed in various nlaces throughout the State. 7) Organizing "halau": helping eaeh master in setting up a halau in whieh others ean eome and leam.

8) Spin-offs from the exhibit would be printed matter, film and television. Need for adequate funding In the excitement about the exotic goods and materials brought by the first Europeans, Hawaiians would trade precious feather capes for a few objects of metal and glass. This de-valued Hawaiian artifacts. Because we are living in a world in whieh the va!ue of any object is recognized by the pnee in dollars that someone will pay for it; and because Hawaiians like everyone else must pay in dollars the costs of living, there ean be no successful renaissance of Hawaiian artifactmaking without adequate pay for the effort. There ean be no possibility that such a renaissance will be self-perpetuating unless the objects ean be marketed. Prices must be sufficiently high to give them and their makers status and the respect of others, and to enable them to pay their bills from the sale of their work. I feel that it is necessary to make this statement because some Hawaiians have been swindled into believing that it is somehow demeaning or "eommercial" to sell the products of their talents. The truth is that throughout history, art has flourished most in time when it has been best patronized. Need for adequate recognition Kupuna as well as younger Hawaiians who have distinguished themselves in the arts should be recognized by OHA as "living treasures" of the Hawaiian people. We live in a world of credentials. Testimony or writings of a U.H. professor about a Hawaiian matter are often given greater credence than a statement by one of our kupuna, who may in fact know more than the professor, but doesn't have a PhD. Yet the PhD doesn't hesitate to use the kupuna, usually for free, as an "informant." OHA should go to the state and insist that OHA be given the right to designate certain Hawaiians as "research associates" at the University of Hawai'i and the Bishop Museum, entitling them entry to archives and collections. Mai ka po mai 'o'ia'i'o