Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 29, Number 11, 1 November 2012 — As kapa makes a comeback, practitioners gather on Maui [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]
As kapa makes a comeback, practitioners gather on Maui
By Kekoa Enomoīo WAILUKU, MAUI — Kapa making continues its resurgence in the fabric of life of Hawaiian cultural practitioners. Witness: Some 40 kapa makers from various islands gathered at a Maui kapa retreat last month to pound 'ulu bark, extract plant dyes and plan future exhibits, performances and conferences statewide. The State Foundation on Culture and the Arts sponsored the mid-October event, whose purpose was "to reach out to include kapa makers who have not participated in the past in our activities or to those who are less experienced, so that we ean extend our sharing and knowledge of the art," said Ka'iulani deSilva of O'ahu, a retreat organizer. She said Wesley Sen of O'ahu led participants beating 'ulu fiber, and Lisa Schattenburg-Ray-mond of Maui taught how to make natural dyes. Meanwhile, deSilva worked on wa'u, or shell scrapers, carving lines for i'e kuku, or kapa-beat-ing implements. Kapa maker Ka'uhane Heloea of La'i 'Ōpua, Kona, remarked, "With Lisa's extensive knowledge of dyes, it helps us even more so to step it up, because we have to make it (dye) more durable and lasting." A handful of men at the retreat included Heloea and Greg Kamana'o Garriss, both kālai pa'ahana kapa, or carvers of kapa tools: i'e kuku and 'ohe kāpala, or bamboo stamps. Kau'i Podlewski of Hāli'imaile, Maui, basked in the event's sharing, learning and inspiring work. A practitioner of hula, oli (chant) and lei hulu (feather work), she is not a kapa maker, "but I'd like to" heeome involved, she enthused. DeSilva referred to past kapa activities, particularly a 20 1 1 Merrie Monarch performance by Hālau O Kekuhi dancers clothed completely in kapa for the first time in 200 or 300 years. Twen-ty-three volunteer artisans statewide had made, dyed and designed the kapa in an unprecedented yearlong project. The artisans seek to replicate and expand their efforts for a Maui Arts and Cultural Center kapa exhibit in November 20 13, followed on-site by a 20 14 reprise by kapa-clad Hālau O Kekuhi dancers. DeSilva noted, "Our Maui presentation in January-February of 2014 at MACC has been tentatively named "Pa'i'ula" by Nalani Kanaka'ole," eo-kumu hula with sister Pualani Kanaka'ole Kanahele of the Hilo-based Hālau O Kekuhi. DeSilva and project principal Dalani Tanahy
indicated the exhibit and performance will require 20 pā'ū, or skirts; 10 kīhei, or one-shoulder capes; and 10 malo, eaeh 12 inches by 18 feet long. Moreover, the kapa must be soft and pliahle yet
strong, and colored with strong dyes to endure the movement and sweat involved in the hālau's bombastic hula style. Still more kapa will unfurl when Kaua'i hosts Ka 'Aha Hula 'O Hālauaola World Conference on Hula in July 2014, said retreat attendee Sabra Kauka of the Garden Isle. More immediately, a three-day Moku O Keawe Kapa Festival will unfold 9 a.m. Nov. 8 at Amy
B.H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden in Captain Cook, Hawai'i island. The event will offer hula, music, food and kapa sessions for experts, beginners and visitors. Call Peter Van Dyke at (808) 323-3318. Meanwhile, the Valley Isle retreat culminated with a tasty luneh of blackened mahi with manao/
tomato salsa beneath shady kukui and 'ulu trees at Maui Nui Botanical Gardens. The fragrance of herbs grown and gathered for dyes pervaded. One heard whispering breezes as gentle and inclusive as the gathering of 40 cultural practitioners.
And, as the art of kapa continues its resurgence, devotees persist in ancient rhythms of cultivating wauke and pounding, dyeing and printing kapa. As deSilva said, "We're all volunteers. We're doing this for love of kapa. ■ Kekoa Enomoto is a retired copy editor and staff writer with The Maui News andformer Honolulu Star-Bulletin.
CULTURE
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During a Maui kapa retreat, kumu kapa Kawai Aona-Ueoka wields a carved wooden i'e kuku, or kapa beater, as she pounds 'ulu bark Oct. 1 3 at the Bailey House Museum in Wailuku while surrounded by other kapa practitioners . - Courtesy photos
Greg Kamana'o Garriss and Ka'uhane Heloea collab- * orated on this design "using kāpala on kapa and natural dyes" for Kaloko-Honokōhau Nahonal Historic Park on the Kona coast. "The image represents the life in the fishponds and movement of the currents, A/ind and sun," Heloea said.
Hālau 0 Kekuhi dancers perform in a Merrie Monarch I hō'ike April 26, 201 1, in Hilo while attired completely , in kapa, the first such event in possibly three centuries, i kapa makers estimated . They wear kapa made, dyed and ^ designed by Verna Takashima, foreground, and Ka'iulani deSilva. Takashima and deSilva are among 23 volunteer S kapa artists statewide who toiled in a yearlong project unprecedented in modern times.