KOHALA COAST — This Sunday, the return of three treasured kapa (bark cloth) that have recently been conserved by Honolulu’s Bishop Museum will be celebrated at a special event open to the public at Mauna Kea Beach Hotel.
They are the first of a collection of 11 kapa made by artist Malia Solomon in the 1960s that have been given conservation treatment and reframed at the museum. This work is being done as part of a collaborative effort by the hotel and museum to celebrate the arts of Hawaii and the greater Pacific, and to improve the care of the hotel’s extensive art collection.
From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday, kapa-making demonstrations will be led by renowned Hawaii Island kapa makers Roen Hufford, Kaiulani DaSilva and Verna Takashima. An unveiling of kapa at noon will begin with an oli (chant) by Nani Lim Yap and Manaola Yap, followed by remarks from Mauna Kea Beach Hotel manager Kansas Henderson, Bishop Museum’s Ethnology collections manager Dr. Alice Christophe and Dr. Adrienne Kaeppler, curator of Oceanic Ethnology at the National Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian Institution.
Guests will have the opportunity to ask kapa makers and museum professionals questions and can see the next two Mauna Kea kapa that will be going to Bishop Museum for conservation before they are crated for shipping. Thirty-minute art tours will be led by Mauna Kea art docents Patti Cook and Suzanne Hill as part of the event lineup.
“We are beyond excited about the return of these conserved kapa and our partnership with Bishop Museum in their conservation,” Henderson said. “Mauna Kea’s collection of kapa is significant and priceless. To have the help of the experts at the museum means that generations of Mauna Kea guests and kamaaina can continue to enjoy these cultural treasures.”
Mauna Kea Beach Hotel developer Laurance S. Rockefeller commissioned artist Malia Solomon to create kapa for Mauna Kea’s collection in the mid-1960s. Mary “Aunty Malia” Blanchard Solomon is regarded as an expert in the field of kapa making and helped revive the art of kapa in Hawaii.
“This collaboration between Bishop Museum and Mauna Kea Beach Hotel is a wonderful opportunity to shed light on our collective interest and ability to care for one of Hawaii’s most vibrant art forms,” said Bishop Museum CEO Melanie Ide. “In the 1960s, Malia worked closely with renowned Bishop Museum anthropologist Kenneth Emory and with the museum’s extensive kapa collection. She also traveled throughout the Pacific to study kapa until her work, as declared by Emory, ‘became nearly indistinguishable from the ancients.’”