Editor's Note: It Really Is Better Live
You work hard, so at the end of the day (or week), you’re too tired to go to that local play, concert or gallery show, and instead you plop in front of the TV again. Does this sound like you?
Arts & Culture
Theater with Impact
Kalamaikamala Elouise Margaret Sylvester, 26, moved from American Samoa to Oahu when she was a young child for corrective leg surgery. She lived with her biological aunt and her aunt’s husband. “I was sexually abused by my aunt’s husband at…
The 14th Hawaii Book & Music Festival
The 14th Hawaii Book & Music Festival Presented by Bank of Hawaii will return to the Civic Grounds by Honolulu Hale in Historic Downtown Honolulu, the weekend of May 4-5, 2019.
The Next Generation of Hawaiian Designers
A new generation of Hawaiian creative consultants is challenging our expectations for indigenous design. The phrase “Hawaiian design” calls to mind familiar visual tropes: kapa patterns, hula dancers, maybe even (cringe) tiki kitsch. But a new generation of native Hawaiian…
Nonprofit Improves Native Hawaiian Education
InPeace was founded in 1994, long enough ago to have seen lasting results from its early childhood program. “Our Keiki Steps preschool will be in operation for 20 years next year,” says Maile Keliipio-Acoba, CEO of the nonprofit that started…
Protecting Art for Posterity
Name: Cynthia Low Age: 50 Job: Director of collections and exhibitions registrar, Honolulu Museum of Art Start: Low was born in Los Angeles and raised on Maui. She got her bachelor’s degree in art history at UH Manoa, her master’s in architecture from…
Native Hawaiian Culture is Science
As with other indigenous cultures, Hawaiian knowledge adds a vital element to science. From a Native Hawaiian perspective, modern science is a valuable tool but may lack an element needed to solve some of the world’s most pressing problems involving climate…
Hands of a Skilled Artisan
Sergio Ilagan carefully engraves Na Hoku’s signature designs on a 14kt gold Hawaiian bangle bracelet using a “graver” driven by compressed air. Ilagan has 29 years of experience hand engraving jewelry, which is a rare craft in the modern world.…
When A Creative Passion Becomes Your Career
Art will rarely make you rich, but if the stars align, you might be able to turn your creative passion into a full-time job https://vimeo.com/250328380 Retired District Judge Leslie Hayashi writes children’s books. UH Manoa associate professor Chae Ho Lee,…
Making Art From Glass
https://vimeo.com/249754529 Time: Monday, 11:45 a.m. Location: University of Hawaii at Manoa Photographer: Jeff Hawe After making a “gather” of molten glass for a sculpture, Jonathan Swanz removes a small piece that accidentally broke off the inside wall of one of his furnaces. These…
Hawaiʻi is Home for Many Musicians and Kumu Hula, but Japan Pays the Bills
For many Hawaiian musicians and singers, performing is both their passion and their livelihood. So, when there's not enough places to perform locally, or the pay is too low, they have to improvise. Some work day jobs and perform at…
Shangri La: Hawaii's House of Treasures
At First, It doesn’t look like much. I’ve just parked in the driveway of Shangri La, which was once the home of Doris Duke, and I’m wondering where the house is. I see a small, plain, white windowless building nearby,…
Fashion Forward
Savvy business experts offer advice to emerging designers on going global Talk about a left-brain, right-brain challenge. Local fashion entrepreneurs need to be innovative and continually create new looks that attract people’s attention. But, if their skills end there, they…
Rebirth of the Aloha Shirt
Designers across Hawaii and around the world are reinventing the aloha shirt with both new and retro styles, for business and pau hana AFTER A PERIOD when many fashion-conscious young men in Hawaii looked askance at the aloha shirt, it…
What's It Worth: Art That Lasts About Four Hours
FOR 30 YEARS, Darren Ho has created art he describes as “simply done,” with less detail than a wood or bronze sculpture, and with a lifespan of about four hours. Using a chainsaw and a few other tools, he turns…
Travelin’ Music
KELLI CRUZ IS a “doer.” She learned early on how to build things from her father, who was a carpenter, and create Hawaiian music from her mother, who was a hula dancer. “When I was 18, I picked up a guitar…
Instrument of Aloha
Since the ukulele arrived in the Islands late in the 19th century, it has been a symbol of Hawaii and the aloha spirit. That aloha is shared widely and generously by ukulele makers, performers and teachers, both locally and around…
Wall Art for the Urban Village
A walk around Honolulu nowadays can seem like a visit to an open-air art gallery. Murals are reinvigorating communities with vibrant colors while celebrating Hawaii’s natural beauty, culture and people. Mark Brown, an artist and art teacher at the UH,…
Ulukau Serves Many Roles
The home page of www.ulukau.org has few words in English, but a click on “English Text” reveals this translation: Ulukau: “In the same way that unexplained supernatural interpretive powers can be divinely given to a person, so knowledge and understanding can…
Rules Governing State-owned Art: It's All About Public Access
The state’s art program spent time in the spotlight last year after state Rep. Faye Hanohano got upset about the art being installed in her legislative office. Now that the furor has dissipated, it’s worth considering how state- owned art ends up…
Creativity in Their Business
Roberta Oaks, Fashion Designer and Retailer Oaks did not start out to be a fashion designer. She majored in photography and art history, and then worked in restaurants for 10 years. Not until her late 20s did it hit her:…
The Art of Surfing
Matt Luttrell and business partner Chance Carpenter have added a new publication to the crowded field of surf magazines. The title, nude, is sure to turn heads. “It is supposed to be provocative,” says Luttrell, the editor. He says the name also reflects that the…
The "Economics of Hula" Seems Like An Oxymoron
But hula does have an effect on the economy, even though its appeal to participants is usually not commercial There are many reasons to launch a hula halau, but getting rich has never been one of them. That is just as true…
Vintage Cave Serves "Perfect" Food and Fine Art
What was formerly a storage area under Shirokiya has become Vintage Cave Honolulu, a venue for food and fine art. Membership in the “private society” ranges from $500,000 for charter members to $50,000 for special members; member benefits include discounts…