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Feather Lei Making: Leo Mills Carries on the Family Tradition West Hawaii Today 2/7/17

2/8/2017

Leo Mills wears a hat decorated with a lei she made 20 years ago. In her hands she holds a 1941 pelt, the year she was born.

    The feather lei, which has traversed time from prized adornment for ancient royalty, to the hat brims of paniolo, is a fine art being kept alive in Waimea by feather lei maker, Leonetta (Leo) Mills. The oldest child of Hisao and Elizabeth Kimura, Leo learned her craft from her master lei maker aunt, Tsugi Kaiama.
    Many lei traditions were carried on by paniolo. Aunt Tsugi learned her craft from her brother Yutaka, who was a master lei maker. “The cowboys wore flower lei, feather lei and it's amazing because of the kind of work they do. But they would come home with the lei still on their hats. Just maybe not the way it was when they left,” said Mills.
    Before Leo became a master lei maker, she taught home economics and then elementary school for many years. “I started out in Connecticut teaching there. Then I moved back here and taught at Kohala High School,” said Mills. It was in Waimea that she met her husband, Clarence Mills, also taught at Kohala. “I met my husband and we married and we both went to O'ahu and taught at Kahuku High School,” said Mills.
    But family brought them back home to Hawaii Island. “His (Clarence’s) mom and dad were getting up in years and they lived in Honokaa and so we both applied for jobs in Honokaa and we were hired. And after 30 years there I retired,” said Mills.

Leo demonstrates the art of making lei.

     About five years before she retired, her Aunt Tsugi recruited her to learn her craft, which eventually opened an entirely different world for her. “When I retired I saw a different world. All the creativity. I was just amazed. I thought I had seen enough in my job, but this world of the arts is just fabulous. I was so fortunate to meet so many artists,” said Mills.
    Mills’ apprenticeship ranged from preserving bird pelts to painting classes. “She had me take all these different art classes at the Firehouse Gallery. A lot of times when you create a lei it involves design, color combination and patterns and it really helped,” she explained.
    The creation of art requires a special state of mind and over the years, Mills has developed a kind of meditative state for lei making. “Before you start, calm yourself down and before you pick up your feathers and start sewing say a little prayer, clear you mind of everything. It was difficult for me at first to do that because when I entered my work room, my mind was just going,” said Mills. “It took several years. It didn't just come like that. I play my CDs. I love piano. Today, it just comes as soon as I enter my room,” she added.
    For Mills, lei making is often inspired by an appreciation of nature’s creations. “When I look at it (feather) on the pelt, it's so beautiful and then when I clip it and take it off, it no longer looks that beautiful because I’ve taken it away from the beauty that it was a part of. Then it's my job to create that beauty on the lei,” said Mills.

The last lei made by Leo's Aunt Tsugi.

    Mills gets specific orders for lei, which help her to continue to grow and learn. She has developed a technique of using feathers from the guinea hen to create the effect of baby’s breath because one of her customers, “wanted me to make it look like the lei you see on people's heads. There's always baby's breath. How can I create that with feathers? It bothered me and bothered me and one night it came to me in a dream, what feather to use,” said Mills.
    Another special request came from Keoki Freeland, a hunter from Maui, whose great grandmother is the one who taught Yutaka to make feather lei. When he requested a lei for his wife, Kohala artist Elizabeth Woodhouse, Mills was in a quandary thinking about how to design it.
    “What would an artist do? If I had a pallet in front of me (I call my feather things my pallet) I'd probably just brush it all together. So I cut the feathers and just mixed them all up and I told her ‘This is a splash on your pallet’ and she loved it,” said Mills.
    Reflecting over the years, Mills has had some “aha” moments. “After I completed my apprenticeship and I was invited to the academy of arts to share my work. That was my first contact with other Hawaiian artists. It just so happened that I sat next to the Niihau shell people. I learned so much from them. It opened my eyes to other forms of Hawaiian art,” said Mills.
    Then she was invited to go to Arizona to participate in the 2006 Western Arts Festival and although she couldn’t go, she contributed one of her lei. “They gave it to one of the hat makers, Randy Rains from Montana. They put it on his hat and displayed our work at the Phoenix airport,” said Mills.
    It also made a connection for her between the art of the paniolo and the art of Western cowboys. “It all started with the cowboys and I was able to share my art outside of Hawaii and with a different kind of art,” said Mills.
    Her last aha moment so far, was a tribute to the art she has shared for the last 18 years at the Four Seasons Resort. A regular guest decided he wanted to give something back to the resort and decided to renovate the employee dining room.
    “I remember them coming because they had little children and they used to come to the Hawaiian Cultural center while I did my work,” said Mills. As part of the renovation, “He requested to have my work in it. We spent months putting together everything and a photographer took pictures of my pelts to show how leis are put together,” said Mills.
    Over the years, Mills has passed her art on to about 25 students in the hopes that feather lei will continue to reflect the beauty of our island into the future.

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Makali'i: Voyaging into the Future North Hawaii News 2/3/17

2/6/2017

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Canoe Kupuna Patti Soloman and crew member Lehua Ah Sam on deck at a volunteer day. Photo: Landry Fuller

Makalii, the Hawaii Island voyaging canoe originally launched in 1995, will soon be under sail after a major dry docking that began in October 2013. Last fall, Ohana Makalii — also known as Na Kalai Waa — received an Administration for Native Americans grant. In November they started the Hanauna Ola (Sustaining the Generations through Voyaging) program, and last Saturday crew training began. The funds will also support provisioning efforts at island school gardens. The culmination of the three-year program will be a voyage to two of the Northwest Hawaiian Islands, Nihoa and Mokumanamana (Necker). Team members will begin training in the water by this summer.
The program allows Pwo Navigator Shorty Bertelmann, who sailed with Papa Mau on the first Hokulea voyage, to transmit his knowledge to the existing crew members and help them advance and get to leadership levels,” said Keala Kahuanui, program coordinator.

Pwo Navigator Shorty Bertelmann (left) watches as Na Kalai Waa employee and apprentice Lei’ohu Santos-Colburn explains to crew member Kala Mossman how to apply varnish to the canoe’s palekai. Photo: Landry Fuller

Chadd Paishon and Pomai Bertelmann

    The second pwo navigator, Chadd Paishon, is working with the land crews made up of participating school staff who will support every aspect of the voyage. “Chadd’s kuleana is to activate our community. Our Ohana Makalii feels deeply about our communities being intricately involved in our efforts, whether voyages or activities on land,” Kahuanui said, who is assisting Paishon.
    The land crew will learn about three different practices. The first is Ai Pono (eat healthy). “A few years ago at the Ku Aina Pa (garden educators program), Chadd noted that our ancestors were able to traverse this ocean and asked, ‘Can we provision one canoe on one voyage?’” Kahuanui said.
    This question set Malaai Garden’s Director Amanda Rieux and Waimea Middle School students on a quest to feed the canoe crew by creating healthy, storable foods produced from the garden. To prepare for the voyage to the Northwest Hawaiian Islands, the land crews will need to provision the canoe for a 30-day voyage with a 14 voyaging crew.
    “This is a huge effort to have the time and resources to intentionally provision our canoes better,” Kahuanui said. “If we provision the canoe for 30 days that’ll be a good test, good data collection. From Hawaii we can go any direction and reach land in 30 days.” But the hope is the voyage will continue on land after the canoe has returned.
    “We are working together in the name of a voyage, but also in the name of the continuous voyage of being a little island in the middle of the ocean. We are creating the processes and protocols on how to preserve foods so that when we have an influx of weather and we have these emergency kits, perhaps we’re not running to the store. There’s a lot of work to do,” she said.

Makalii crew members and volunteers continue workdays during a major dry docking of the canoe that began in October 2013. Photo Landry Fuller

Keala Kahuanui

    The Hanai Waa practice entails “learning about our ceremonies, protocols, oli and mele … creating new ones for this voyage but also maintaining the foundations,” Kahuanui explained. Embarking on an ocean voyage is to acknowledge and experience a higher power, which is where Hanai Waa (embrace, care for) comes into play.
    “Sometimes we get caught up in the physical side, training, planting, and we forget there’s another side: the spirit. It’s making sure that everyone understands that as much as it’s a physical journey, the spiritual journey is also a part of us and for us. It’s one and the same. It’s never separated,” Paishon said. “When we start to talk about ceremony and protocol, it’s the same with everything we do. When we’re putting our plants in the ground it’s the intention you plant with, the spirit you plant with. That’s really what hanai is — that connection.”
    The third practice is Pilina Kaula, meaning closely connected strands. Cordage was crucial to the voyaging canoe and was a prized gift. Olona, which is being grown at Ho’ea (the canoe garden in Kohala), provided durable strength far superior to any available European cordage, and literally held the voyaging canoes together.
    “They’ll learn to propagate the plants and make cordage from them that will be used in our ceremonies upon arrival and departure. Pilina Kaula is the physical side of Hanai Waa, creating connections. Pilina, (closeness) to the cordage, to the moku (island), our waa and the islands that we’re going to,” Kahuanui said.
     As part of the grant, students from 11 partner schools on Hawaii Island will be trained in the near future after their teachers complete training that started recently. In North Hawaii, participants will come from Kanu o Ka Aina, Alo Kehau o ka Aina Mauna, Punana Leo o Waimea, Kohala Elementary and Middle School and Laupahoehoe Public Charter School.
    “Our schools are really excited. The movement of the waa creates that excitement and the desire to participate. For those who are not voyagers, this allows them to engage and provide their resources and expertise. Everybody has a piece of the puzzle,” she said.
    The land crew will have the chance to experience “Makalii magic” and get to experience authentic learning. “Makalii is very good at creating relationships and this will set that precedence. The schools are encouraged to come to the canoe and build a relationship. The hull space is where their food will get stored. To see that, they will realize that what they’re doing is affecting more than them and their classmates. It’s helping to perpetuate and sustain our traditions,” Kahuanui said.
    While there is a foundation of knowledge and experience to draw from, for the canoe to continue to voyage it requires everyone to find and share their strengths and work together. “The beauty of the training is that we’re not supposed to have all of these already set. It’s a process and we’re going to learn from each other. We’re going to build upon our strengths and that’s the beauty of voyaging. You’re going to depend on each other’s strengths and challenges to reach our destination,” she said.
    Hanauna Ola is the next phase in a long journey to recapture the practices that made it possible for the ancestors to thrive. “We are so fortunate to live in this day and time. All the other layers have been built up and now we have this layer we can work on and start to lay out the foundation for the next generation of voyagers as a template of what we have done. What Chadd and Shorty are doing is sharing their knowledge with the next generations of canoe crew and laying down a path for future generations to follow,” Kahuanui concluded.

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Ka Lei Maile Alii: A Window into Hawaii’s Past North Hawaii News 12/27/16

2/6/2017

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W.H. Rickard

       On January 17 at the Kahilu Town Hall, the Waimea community will get a glimpse into a critical period of Hawaiian history with the presentation of Ka Lei Maile Alii (The Queen’s Women), a play written by Helen Lincoln Lee Kwai and first performed on Oahu in 2001 in celebration of Queen Liliuokalani’s birthday.
    The play was inspired by an event that took place on September 16, 1897, when well over 300 Hawaiians gathered at the Salvation Army Hall in Hilo. Mrs. Abigail Kuaihelani Campbell and Mrs. Emma Aima Nawahi, who traveled throughout the islands collecting more than 38,000 native Hawaiian signatures (97% of the native population, had come to speak about the kue (to stand in opposition) against the annexation of the Hawaiian Kingdom.
     A San Francisco Call reporter, Miriam Michaelson, wrote an article about the event, which became the basis for Ka Lei Maile Alii, an audience participation, re-enactment of the meeting. Through the efforts of Pua Case and others, the play has been performed on Hawaii Island beginning in 2012. “I had been in the play as one of the audience speakers on Oahu. I felt that many in our community had not perhaps been given the opportunity to learn about that part of our history. Most of us at the time were not aware of the effort by our people to address annexation. So this was our way of bringing this essential part of our history to our community,” says Case.
    The petition, which was ignored, was housed in the Library of Congress National Archives until 1997 when Dr. Noenoe Silva journeyed to Washington D.C. and returned the Kue Petitions to Hawaii. The Hamakua to Kohala portion of the petition will be on display and provides a historical window for the descendants of the signatories and the community, a way to get “a truthful peek into history,” says Case.
The Rickard Family Legacy
    Several of the petition’s signatures bear the name Rickard, a family whose contributions to the Honokaa community will be the subject of an introductory presentation by Dr. Momi Naughton, director of the NHERC Heritage Center in Honokaa. Naughton has created a special exhibit on the Rickard family and will have a traveling version on display.
    After coming across several references to the family, Naughton became curious about them and made some phone calls, eventually contacting great grandson, Ryon Rickard. “Right away Ryon was very excited that somebody was interested. From a very young age, he started keeping all these things,” says Naughton.
    Through letters and photographs, Naughton was able to create an exhibit rich in the details of a life well lived. Originating in Cornwall, England, Rickard and his wife Nora arrived in the islands in 1866 and after a short stay in Honolulu traveled to Waimea to join his Uncle George, the first family member to come to Hawaii. “He had a blacksmith shop at Hale Kea in Waimea that was a gathering place for expats,” says Naughton.
    Uncle George was a great friend of King Kalakaua, “and so when he (W.H. Rickard) got here he was right away in with the alii. In fact Lot Kamehameha was the godfather to his daughter who was born on the ship coming over,” says Naughton.
    Rickard was a man of many talents and initially worked as a contractor and engineer for the old Kukuihaele Landing, completed in 1868. He then spent three years as a book keeper for the Kohala Sugar Co. In 1873 Rickard and his entire family moved to Honokaa where they became an integral part of the community. “His mother was a midwife and she literally delivered 100s of babies without the loss of a single mother or child,” says Naughton.
      Rickard started a sugar plantation, which with the addition of partners Joe Marsden and Mr Siemsen became the Honokaa Sugar Co. “Rickard was a beloved plantation manager for the Honokaa Sugar Company and spoke fluent Hawaiian,” says Naughton.
    Rickard was also known for his hospitality to Hawaiian alii visiting the Honokaa area. “Here’s a letter written by Curtis Iaukea (secretary) thanking the Rickards for hosting Queen Kapiolani here in Honokaa,” says Naughton.
W.H. Rickard showed his loyalty and strong support of the Hawaiian monarchy with his actions. “As soon as the overthrow happened he started working in the community to block annexation,” says Naughton.
    He ultimately gave his life for the Hawaiian Kingdom. “In 1895, Rickard took part in the counterrevolution to try to put Queen Liliuokalani back on the throne. He was captured along with Robert Wilcox, Joseph Nawahi and others and imprisoned. During this time he contracted tuberculosis and after his release moved back to Honokaa where he died in 1899,” says Naughton.
    Two buildings in Honokaa are memorial to the contributions of Rickard. “The Salvation Army Hall was their last home here. When Rickard died he left his wife Nora with 16 young children to raise and she turned it into a hotel,” says Naughton.
    The Honokaa School Auditorium, built in the 1920’s, years after Rickard’s death, is dedicated to the Honorable William H. Rickard, and stands as a testament to his community service. “Each year we begin the play with a presentation that will introduce the play and another part of history. That's why we are bringing Momi and that presentation to Waimea because many of the students that go to Honokaa School have no idea who the armory is named for. I want our students to say, 'I didn't know that was named for a non-Hawaiian patriot of the queen. That’s extraordinary',” says Case.
    While the subject of the play, the 1997 Kue is a protest, the play itself is not. “Most of us are not aware of the effort by our people to address annexation and that time period. So this is our way of bringing this essential part of our history to our community. We bring the community together to learn something together,” says Case. “We embrace the entire community and all are welcome,” she adds.

The NHERC Heritage Center, located in Honokaa, is a wonderful way to learn about and experience the richness of Hamakua history. The new exhibit gallery contains a series of collections highlighting various multi-cultural, historical aspects of Hamakua history. It’s open to the public Monday through Friday: 9am to 4pm and Saturdays: 9am to 1pm.

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Hawaiian Scholar from the Roots Up North Hawaii News / December 9, 2016

2/6/2017

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Emalani Case: Standing on left

     Grounded in strong Waimea roots, Emalani Case has branched out to reach across the Pacific and will be returning home in December after finishing four and a half years at Victoria University in Wellington New Zealand, completing a Ph.D. in Pacific Studies and a teaching fellowship.
     Case’s story begins in Waimea, her tap root an immersion in Hawaiian culture and language. “I've always had a strong cultural foundation. I grew up dancing hula with Pua (Case) before I ever went to school. So that really set the foundation for me,” says Case.
     Those strong roots have nourished Case as she engaged in an odyssey of story and an exploration of Pacific Islander culture. “Hula taught me how to see the world as being storied. It doesn't allow you to step into the world as an unconscious traveler. Every rock, every mountain, every river, has a story that is connected to people. It set that foundation for wherever I go in the world. You have to understand story and you have to understand your place within that story. It's humbling,” says Case.
     Hawaiian language has always been at the center of Case’s educational endeavors. Born in 1983, Aha Punanaleo o Waimea, whose original director was her mother, Keomailani Case, came too late for her to attend. But her Hawaiian language roots were nourished by the burgeoning efforts of Ku and Nalei Kahakalau, founders of Kanu o ka Aina New Century Public Charter School.
     “Kanu o ka Aina definitely played a big role in everything that I did. I can’t even express how thankful I am that Aunty Ku was able to show me at a young age that our histories, our stories truly mattered. We could really acknowledge who we are and who our ancestors were at every point of the day and that our education can revolve around that. She truly set me on my path,” says Case.
     Her love of story led Case to earn a B.A. in English at U.H. Hilo. “I initially went into English because that was where I could really learn about the craft and engage in reading stories from all over the world. I'm a lover of words and language. I wanted to learn about writing and telling stories from different perspectives and languages,” says Case.
     After completing her B.A. Case continued in English receiving an M.A. in English from U.H. Manoa, interweaving her cultural and academic experiences. “I took everything I had with the bachelor's degree and everything that I had growing up in hula and that's where I to started to explore literature about Hawaii and the Pacific,” says Case.
     When she completed her master’s degree and needing to work and take a break from studies, Case began a teaching position at U.H. Hilo. “I was blessed to be offered an instructor position in the English department at U.H. Hilo. I taught there for a couple of years and then I was offered an amazing assistant professor position in Hawaiian studies. For four years I taught a mix of English and Hawaiian language and Hawaiian studies courses,” says Case.
     Her roots and varied experiences were pushing her to reach further, which she did by pursuing a Ph.D. in Pacific Studies. “While I was teaching I was definitely continuing to learn from my students at U.H. Hilo. I decided I wanted to go into Pacific studies. It's interdisciplinary. You can pull from history, from English, from languages, Hawaiian studies and bring that all together,” says Case.
     Because Pacific Studies is a relatively new field, there were no Ph.D. programs at home. Case found herself reaching across the Pacific seeking the knowledge and wisdom from the S.W. corner of the Polynesian Triangle. “I knew right away that I wanted to come to New Zealand because it has some of the best Pacific Studies programs. I looked into the program at Victoria University in Wellington and I saw that the director of the program was a woman named Teresia Teaiwa. I had read some of her work and have always loved her scholarship,” says Case.
      Not only was Case accepted to the program, but was given a full scholarship and in June 2012 began a three year program. “I left Hawaii’s summer and moved to the middle of New Zealand's winter. I quickly learned Wellington has some of the harshest wind in New Zealand. In the first couple of months I struggled with trying to find my grounding on multiple levels and that was rough,” says Case.
    Submitted in July 2015, Case’s Ph.D. thesis, I Kahiki ke Ola: In Kahiki there is Life, Ancestral Memories and Migrations in the New Pacific, explores the concept of Kahiki as it encapsulates, “our ancestral memories of migration,” says Case.
     Through her Ph.D. work and a teaching fellowship, with a range of Pacific Islander students, Case has explored first hand, issues facing many indigenous people, “Here I am considered a Pacific Islander not in my homeland. What does that mean? I was able to open up that space for those conversations,” says Case.
     A grounding in personalized learning, a hall mark of Kanu o ka Aina education, was something that Case was able to pass on to students in an art and activism course she taught. “This class on art and activism was such an emotional one for me and I think for many of my students because we definitely pushed that personal connection. They're essentially given the opportunity to challenge the way that their people, their families, and their cultures and communities have been represented by outsiders. They're given the space to voice their opinions about that,” says Case.
     So what’s next for Case? “I was offered a position in Hawaiian and Pacific studies at U.H. West Oahu. I start there in January. While we honor our culture, our histories in Hawaii, we have to also see them in relationship to the rest of the Pacific and build on those ancestral connections. There are so many exciting opportunities there and who knows what we can build there?” says Case.

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Feather Lei Making: Leo Mills Carries on the Family Tradition West Hawaii Today 2/7/17

Makali'i: Voyaging into the Future North Hawaii News 2/3/17

Ka Lei Maile Alii: A Window into Hawaii’s Past North Hawaii News 12/27/16

Hawaiian Scholar from the Roots Up North Hawaii News / December 9, 2016

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