Category: Puna

Hele i Ke Kumu

8/7/2013

There are life changing experiences that come straight at you like a rogue, Waimea Bay wave and there are those that sneak up on you like a mist. The Hawaiian song writing retreat, sponsored by Hawaiʽi Volcano National Park at the summit of Kilauea, was one of the latter. Like a flock of forest birds, we gathered from all directions, drawn by the beautiful mystery of Hawaiian language and melody. Some of us are master musicians and performers, others kumu hula, educators and radio announcers, but we were all following our hearts to the source.

Our guides, Hawaiian Culture and Language kahuna and hanai son of Aunty Nona Beamer, Kaliko Trapp-Beamer and master musician Kenneth Makuakāne had a flow and interplay that reflected the dynamics between words and melody. But more importantly, they cultivated a feeling of tenderness, vulnerability, acceptance and joy.
The nature of Hawaiian language is multi-layered and metaphorical. There are many gaps left for us to fill with meanings from our own lives, which are ever-changing. But the mele are also a way to understand Hawaiian thinking, which is a way of experiencing the mysterious forces at work in the world in a tangible, grounded way. Our first assignment was to write an ʽōlelo noʽeau from which we could grow our first song. Using this technique to write a song is like being a navigator, focusing on a star or constellation while at the same time holding awareness of all the other signs swirling around. Or perhaps like a seed that is nourished and comes to life with color and texture.

There were collaborative efforts as well that gave the sense of releasing our ideas into the cosmos and watching them transform. During one team effort, we each wrote a one line thought and passed it 4 times, each person adding a line. The results were stunning in some cases, in others just great fun--- language play and laughter. Another collaboration resulted from a walk through Keauhou (the one in Volcano, not Kona). We all jotted down quick impressions and when we returned we worked in groups of 4 to come up with a verse in only 15 minutes. We then compiled the verses and agreed on the order and voila! We had a new mele.

O.K., we had ʽōlelo, now we needed melody. Who needs music theory when you have Kenneth Makuakane’s fool proof simple technique for playing around with chord arrangements? As we worked on our mele, Kenneth circulated with his guitar, a strolling minstrel and played our newly sprouted seeds, helping them grow into beautiful, colorful blossoms. We were to end our retreat with the performance of one of our mele, so everyone scattered under trees, sprawled on grass, clustered at picnic tables and truck tailgates. Add to that the shushing breeze and bird calls and it was a veritable symphony.
We love our stars, the performers and Hawai'i has a plethora of them, but that is because music is simply part of life here. Music is an opportunity for folks to connect and blend their own sense of life through music with others, but it is also a chance to i kū mau mau, stand and be heard. The beauty of our concert finale was the tenderness and vulnerability that everyone felt. There was great applause and appreciation for even the most halting performances (mine for instance) but you could just feel everybody pulling for you, the feeling of being part of a whole and the melody and music coming through the group all together. There were a couple of chicken skin moments and they simply added to the atmosphere of love and trust. I felt sacredness there and a gentle life-changing experience.

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Rozett’s Nursery: An Island of Garden Wisdom

5/15/2012

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Rozett’s Nursery: An Island of Garden Wisdom

By Jan Wizinowich

John Rozett

One aspect of this island that makes it special is a powerful sense of spiritual presence. The ancient Hawaiians understood this as a physical and spiritual connection to the land. The ‘aina gave sustenance but also wisdom about their relationship to place and a spirituality that arose from a connection to something much larger than themselves. In the ‘aina they found inspiration, art and ancestral stories. Once life revolved around this relationship, but it has been masked by attitudes that sought control rather than collaboration. The vast, integrated a’apua’a are reduced to many small islands where the strong connection with the ‘aina remains.

One such island can be found at Rozett’s Nursery. John Rozett isn’t your average nursery man. When he discusses the natural world, as you might expect, the subjects of botany and biology arise. What is surprising is that John engages with the natural world through art, culture, history and his own sense of spirituality that he has gleaned from many years living and working with the natural world in Hawaii. On entering Rozett’s nursery you encounter bright stripes of color, plants ready to grace Hawaiian gardens of all kinds. But step into the center courtyard beyond and Rozett’s becomes a destination, a place of reflection. It is the creation of a mind that creates meaning through a text of plants, rocks, textures and smells. Exotic bamboos soar among spreading palms, a forest oasis surrounded by and integrated with elderly ohia sentinels, in deference to ancient spirits.

John has lived on the Big Island for 34 years, but like many transplants the path that would lead him here began far away in miles but in close spiritual proximity. John’s early life was spent in New Jersey, Massachusetts and New York. Moving to California when he was 11, he eventually enrolled at the University of Oregon and got involved in the landscape architecture program. This choice was partially inspired by the early experiences observing the creation of a landscape on his father’s one acre property. “Just seeing that process, I thought that that would be a pretty cool thing to do.” Later in California, he found his place in nature through frequent forays into the hills. But his early sense of the natural world made landscape architecture seem stilted and unfulfilling. “They didn’t really teach enough about plants. They taught you color, texture, time of year, drawing pictures on paper but not about plants outdoors.”

After spending two semesters at the University of Oregon in the landscape architecture greenhouse, teaching lab classes on plants for interiors, John became intrigued with exotic tropical plants, which led him directly to Hilo on the Big Island in 1976. “I took a taxi from the airport to Uncle Billy’s and I had my bicycle as part of my luggage. I rode around old Hilo neighborhoods and was looking at Crotons that were 10’ tall that I had grown in 6” pots in Oregon and was just amazed at the vibrancy.”

While part of the agriculture program at U.H. Hilo, over the next few years John studied landscape architecture and worked for Bishop Museum for two years as an ethno botanist. He also worked in the greenhouse trade business and in field stock tree moving ventures. During his time with the Bishop Museum, John was involved with creating the Amy Greenwell Botanical Garden, which was his first solo design project. In order to do this, an archeological survey needed to be conducted. This put John in touch with native agricultural practices, as well as with Herb Kane, who was living on the Greenwell property at the time. His afternoon conversations with Herb deepened his understanding of Native Hawaiian practices and culture. He also came into contact with kupuna who were willing to share their knowledge with him, which touched him deeply.

These experiences gave him a rich tapestry of resources from which to draw. “So all these things are pieces of a big puzzle. I like design. I work with people on design all the time.” Rather than doing the design himself though, John prefers to engage people in a kind of Socratic process. “Most of the time I’m working with them on turning them into their own designer. I personally believe that your home landscape should reflect your own personal aesthetics not mine… people come in and instead of giving them answers, I answer their questions with questions…. When people come in here looking for landscapes, I try to awaken the genius within them.”

Central courtyard

To do this John shares his understanding of space and features. “Look at the big picture, look at the surrounding property, following the visual space, the concept of air flow and movement on the site. You’re creating little communities of plants. Those communities have a synergism or antagonism based upon good choices.” To create a synergistic community, John thinks in layers of meaning with each of these aspects occupying a layer. Stack the layers on top of each other and a holistic picture emerges.

After purchasing the property in Pahoa in 1985 and with help of his wife, Donna, Rozett’s Nursery was born. His two sons, Ian and Colin, who grew up in the nursery, have become knowledgeable horticulturists and work along with John in the business. You can ask anyone who has had much to do with gardening or landscaping on this island and they will know John Rozett. John has been a source of boundless knowledge for island gardeners. He has conducted numerous workshops over the years and is always willing to share his knowledge with anyone who is in need of gardening and landscaping help. His is a knowledge that comes from deep connection with the ‘aina, a path he has followed to the heart of ancient Hawaiian wisdom. That wisdom is serving him well, as about five years ago John was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. It has progressed slowly so far and John has chosen to view it as a learning opportunity that will help focus his intent and understanding and has led him to decide that it is time to create a garden space that will be an intricate metaphor for all his experience, knowledge and wisdom.

This project is more visceral in exploring the roots of design motivation and "playing" with the parameters. It was a blank canvas and a concept that I allowed to simmer in the realm of abstract thought much longer than most designs are permitted to. As such, the evolution has remained fluid and the emergence of design enhancements has had almost a life of its own. Where I feel I'm being led to the design rather than inventing it. The plants, the boulders, the culturally divergent design philosophies I'm employing, as well as the site itself, are constantly "speaking" to me and influencing the flavor of the outcome.

Pele Art: Unearthed gatekeeper

We enter the garden space, a work in progress, in the southeast section of the property, up some lava steps, bordered by an upright lava sculpture reminiscent of a caped guardian. This and many other volcanic sculptures have been excavated by John as the garden evolves; he sees them as signifiers of the mysterious earth processes, that are continuously taking place out of sight. As we travel along the entry path, he describes what is there and how it will evolve. Every rock, plant and feature will contribute to the unfolding visual text. Layers of meaning are superimposed to express the inter-dynamics of geology, culture and history both in a broad and a personal sense.

In a personally historic sense many of the plants in the garden have come to him as gifts and rescues. One of those rescues is the center of one of the many small islands that punctuate the garden. It features a large upright stone and a singular tree. Having fallen over, the tree was fitted with an upright bolder next to its exposed roots and covered with soil and rock slabs. The bolder, reminiscent of an Easter Island guardian, exhibits the artwork of natural forces and events that leave their stories engraved, waiting for discovery.

Hawaiian coastal area

A majestic Bali sacred bamboo, a rescue that had fallen over a driveway, stands at the entrance to the Hawaiian shoreline garden. John placed the bamboo here to introduce the Hawaiian shoreline garden as a symbol of the ohe bamboo introduced by early Polynesians. It gives the sense of ancient pre-Polynesian migrants emerging from Southeast Asia, eventually sweeping east.

This theme is repeated in the overall design. Just as Polynesians sailing eastward to the outer reaches of the Pacific kingdom, the garden progresses from the West and the Asian-fusion area, eastwards to the Hawaiian shoreline garden. Standing next to the sacred bamboo, there is a pair of hala trees that stand as an invitation to what will eventually be an arbor quartet of hau trees forming a hau lanai, when they mature. Behind this is a row of Queen Emma Spider lilies that provides a shoreline feel and an Australian Flame Tree (Brachychidom acerifolium) whose leaves are a reference to papaya and kukui. There is nothing literal here as much as metaphorical whimsy.

John indulges human curiosity with features such as a line of rainbow shower plants along the fence. When they mature they will create a small mysterious path that leads through the back way behind the Bali sacred bamboo connecting to the Hawaiian shoreline garden. “This is my present to those who see a tracery of a path and say, ‘I've got to see where that goes’”.

It’s John’s intent to appeal to all senses in various degrees of subtlety. Using the trick of perspective, John is planning visual surprises. One of the small islands that is part of John’s unique island chain, is a volcanic peak that is a metaphoric reference to yin and yang, fire and water. This will be angled in such a way with relationship to the path, causing “…the isolation of different effects so that you can only view it (one side of the island) from a particular perspective. It’s the whole concept of surprise”. John uses the various lava rock colors like a painter uses a pallet to shape and suggest an erupting volcano. This is contrasted with the other side of the island which is constructed of mosaic of rock suggesting water and may ultimately feature a stream that flows into and through the Asian- fusion area.

When John is finished with his garden “songline”, it will tell many stories of his experiences and understandings and embody, “ Art as part of day to day life; art as a communication tool in culture.” It will also provide a place where people can reflect on their own place within the natural context and perhaps to be inspired to create their own “songlines”. “It’s kind of like the corner lot here, the concept of world citizen rather than separatist. I view it from the point of view of the broader context. We’re all human. We all come from different backgrounds but we have a lot more in common. We have the opportunity to share and help each other grow by being open minded.” And isn’t that really the essence of ‘Aloha?

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Hele i Ke Kumu

Rozett’s Nursery: An Island of Garden Wisdom

Rozett’s Nursery: An Island of Garden Wisdom

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