KAPAAU — June 11 starts early in Kapaau — months early — as the community prepares to celebrate Kamehameha Day with music, hula, pau riders on parade and a hoolaulea fit for a king.
Most importantly, the town will pay tribute to Kamehameha I, born and raised in North Kohala, and honor their community treasure: his vividly painted, nine-foot bronze statue.
At 8 a.m., ceremonies will begin with a formal lei-draping of the statue. Using long poles, individuals and organizations will adorn the king’s massive shoulders and arms with 25-foot garlands reaching to the ground.
Lovingly maintained by the community since 1883, the statue underwent a “head to toe” conservation in the 1990s, and requires another one soon. How it came to be the iconic landmark of North Kohala is a story in itself.
Commissioned under the Territory of Hawaii in 1878 as part of the 100th commemoration of Captain Cook’s arrival, the statue was sculpted by Boston artist Thomas Gould in Italy, and cast in Paris. The tall, foreboding bronze with magnificent gold-leaf cape was bound for Hawaii, when, off the Falkland Islands the ship caught fire and sank. The statue was lost.
With the insurance payment from Lloyds of London, a second was commissioned immediately. Meanwhile, Captain Jarvis discovered the statue at a shop in the Falklands, bought it, and boarded it on his ship full of Portuguese immigrants. The king’s hand was broken, his gold leaf worn away and his spear gone.
The original and replacement statues arrived in Honolulu within a few weeks of each other. Once repaired, the first statue was given to North Kohala, and unveiled by King Kalakaua May 7, 1883 at Ainakea School. In 1912 when the school closed, the statue was moved to its present location at North Kohala Civic Center. It is owned by the state, and placed on county property.
“All these years we always had community caretakers,” said Sharon Hayden, member of the all-volunteer Kamehameha Statue Maintenance (KSM) team, a project of the North Kohala Community Resource Center. Hayden was part of KSM during the renovation, and has been committed to the project ever since.
After so many years and coats of paint, the statue was chipped and faded and in need of some help. Hawaii Alliance for Arts Education came to the group in 1999, looking for a project of their own. With their financial support, KSM recruited Glenn Wharton, noted conservator at the Museum of Modern Art and New York University scholar.
At first, he planned to remove the paint, restoring the bronze to its original artist’s intent with a gold-leaf cloak. The townspeople, however, expressed concerns.
“Gold was not a standard of wealth in Hawaiian culture; featherwork was,” said Hayden. “So they always tried to paint the statue to look more like featherwork.”
And that, she said, was the way the town wanted their statue to stay.
“We took a community-wide vote, and they voted overwhelmingly to keep it painted,” said Hayden. “Then, every Hawaiian group in Hawaii was contacted and consulted from day one.”
She said skin tones were determined by the Royal Order of Kamehameha, when someone came forward with his family’s prized feathers from birds now extinct. Other groups planned art and music projects for preschoolers to seniors.
“It gave the community ways to support the project,” she said.
In the end, 23 coats of paint were removed. Kamehameha was painstakingly painted and a massive celebration took place. Since then, KSM has followed Wharton’s advice and maintained the statue in January and May each year, cleaning and taking note of any issues.
Now, after 18 years, it’s time to do another full conservation. With a grant from the Atherton Family Foundation, the group was able to bring in an expert to evaluate.
“Christina Varvi, conservator for Rosa Lovinger and Associates, came and spent two days with the statue,” said Hayden. “She wrote a magnificent report for us.”
Costs are estimated at $40,000, and KSM hopes to raise most of that with grants funding.
Hayden and others will host a Statue Exhibit on Kamehameha Day June 11 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Kamehameha Park, where they will accept donations for the project, and sell commemorative mouse pads and bags.
An Aug. 26 fundraiser is also being planned at the Kohala Village HUB, with music, food, and silent auction.
Tax deductible donations can be made anytime to the North Kohala Community Resource Center online at http://www.northkohala.org/projects/current-project-summaries/donate-to-kamehameha-statue-maintenance/.