Sandi, Noa, and Calley take a break from tracing the kupuna and The Thin Blue Line on Wall 8, 'Aloha for Future Generations.' |
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THE MURAL’S THEME IS
MĀLAMA ‘ĀINA.
HERE’S WHAT IT MEANS IN A NUTSHELL.
First of all, thank you so much for opening this. We are delighted to have this moment of your attention to share some bright news highlighting our Kona Airport mural's recent achievements.
The mural has one unifying theme expressed in 8 different ways (maka’walu: in Hawaiian, Lit., eight eyes. many, in significant quantities). Kumu Keala Ching describes this as ‘Āina Olawalu: Eight Life Perspectives of Honua. Honua means Earth.
Mālama means to take care of, tend, nurture, care for, protect, save, honor, n. preservation, support, loyalty, steward, caretaker.
‘Āina means land. In Hawaiian, ‘āina has at its root the word, 'āi', food. Thus, ‘āina is that which feeds. The land provides everything. The life of the land is our life, and all life is connected. ‘Āina reflects this totality and includes the plants, trees, birds, and stones.
Native Hawaiians and all indigenous wisdom carriers feel great reverence for the land. This is expressed by respecting, taking care of, and giving back to the land, as well as sharing their timeless wisdom.
Mālama ‘Āina means to take care of that which takes care of us.
The mural is a message from the Kupuna to love, protect, and care for the place where you live, especially the forests that bring the rains of
life to Honua.
Ho’olohe pono i ka’aina.
Listen carefully to the land.
The mana of the land determines the health, well-being,
and direction of the people.
King Kauikekaouli
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UNVEILING WALL 8 !
ALOHA FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS
We are thrilled to announce the recent completion of our mineral-painted background of Wall 8: ALOHA FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS.
The 12' x 40’ long wall features a lineal descendant of this land and wisdom carrier, Uncle Reggie Lee, who sits holding his grandson, Ha’a. With additional funding from the community, Reggie's beloved mother, famed weaver Auntie Maluihi Elizabeth Lee will be added.
Auntie Maluihi’s contribution to the culture, reviving the art of fine lauhala weaving cannot be overstated. She will appear in the circle with Reggie looking up to her and his mo'opuna (grandson) Ha'a looking straight ahead toward a healthy future for all the children
of all species.
While it took seven months of intensive full-time work to do the first seven walls, work on the eighth wall felt like a snap. The first seven felt like a marathon, setting up our work-station/scaffolding/storage room, preparing, priming, masking, and painting the first seven walls (40’ X 12’ each), and connecting the THIN BLUE LINE across the columns.
At that time, the USDA Agriculture building (Wall 8) did not exist. While the building’s interior is currently under construction, NAN, Inc. released the mural wall to us in May 2022.
Bringing the beautifully constructed and perfectly finished eighth wall
(a muralist's dream wall with no overflow drains, outlets, doors, or security cameras) to the level of the rest of the mural felt quick and easy after doing seven walls at once in crazy rainy weather!
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Now THAT is a perfect mural wall! Mahalo to NAN, Inc. |
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Watch Noa, Calley, Jeremiah, and friends paint the 8th Wall at warp speed! |
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Water is life. Calley, tracing THE THIN BLUE LINE, symbolic of water and the Earth’s Biosphere as seen from outer space. |
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BEHIND THE SCENES
IN THE GLASS STUDIO
featuring our
COMMUNITY COLLABORATORS
THE OCEAN WALL (3)
We want as much mana on the mural as possible through many hands working to bring the walls to life. Extraordinary people in their own right, we love our community collaborators and encourage them to work on an element of the mural from start to finish so they’ll ‘own it'.
For you reading this, THANK YOU! Know that very few will ever see these behind-the-scenes photos and get a glimpse of the detailed work that goes into such an epic project. Note, for example, Sandi, from Victoria, BC, cleaning numbers off glass mosaic pieces with a Q-tip and cutting a fishhook mylar pattern with tiny scissors. Sandi did all the work on those beautiful fins!
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Amy and Eli make working on the mural a family affair, and even brought Dad along! When you see the beautifully complex mosaic diver, Alohi, you will know this family team constructed her. Amy's skills know no bounds. She even made herself at home on Lamar's grinder, and he taught her to cut glass as well. |
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Esteemed Kupuna, Papa Ling Nakachi passed away in May of 2020. He was the beloved father of the Moana Ohana. |
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A very full kiln of the ocean wall Kupuna, showing the sixth glaze painted layer
(of 10 or more) ready to be fired.
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Selecting glass to dress the Kupuna is a joyful and challenging endeavor. In this case, dressing three divers in dark-colored wetsuits was especially difficult for two reasons: 1) very dark glass can get too hot to touch on the mural, and 2) plain black or gray wetsuits could be boring. Finding ways to keep it real while making the figure visually pleasing is one of Calley's superpowers. |
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Hannah, a Parker School student fully concentrates on cutting of the mylar mosaic pattern pieces. Her attention
to detail is impressive.
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Sandi, our resident Canadian, spends as much time as she can working on the mural. We feel blessed to benefit from her many skills and abilities. |
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Coloring the various aspects helps immensely when it comes time to place the mylar pattern pieces on stained glass. This portrait of Alohi was complex, as she is portrayed with a complicated pattern crisscrossing her full-body wetsuit. |
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Visiting from California, Dora met Calley at her Full Body Elixir class and offered to come and help on the mural. Little did we know she would spontaneously take on the tiny but difficult project of nipping glass to make the background negative space for Kaikea's fish hook pendant.
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Sandi took charge of the fins, from mylar pattern cutting to fitting, grinding, and mosaic taping. They are stunning! |
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CUTTING A LAVA STONE FOUNDATION and AHU MO’OLELO |
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There will be a 300’ x 5" lava foundation across the mural. It represents the low-lying stone walls of old Hawaiian horticulture. These frames will protect the mural's message engraved in stone within them.
The mural's right-hand man is Calley's son and well-known drummer, Noa Eads. Now that he and his team have completed painting the walls, he has begun tracing, cutting, fitting, routing, and grouting the lava. It was precision cut from a huge local basalt boulder by master stone cutter Virgil Macy of West Hawai'i Concrete in Waimea. He
used an 8’ wide diamond blade! (see below).
As the lava and Kupuna will gradually be installed, please be sure to watch the mural as it evolves.
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These beautiful frames representing a sacred Hawaiian altar, or 'ahu' will protect the mural's message, which will be permanently engraved in the storyboard spaces framed by the 16 ahu. We are currently seeking the right company to engrave the text in stone or marble to fit inside each frame.
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BEGINNING CONSTRUCTION OF
THE KUPUNA
on THE FOREST WALL (4 )
NEARING THE HALFWAY MARK
of Calley's State-Funded Mural Foundation
Ah, now we enter THE FOREST. Forests are the heart and center of Hawai'i, the culture, the land, and our breath (the climate). Every time we listen to Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) the wisdom traditions teach us to restore the forests to heal the land, water, and air.
Our esteemed Wall 4 Kupuna, Yvonne and Keoki Carter, guide the Pu'uwa'awa'a Dryland Forest Restoration.
All the Kupuna in the mural have stated that, above all, they stand for the forests. More on the importance of forests next time.
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Master incense artisan, Ken Cannata, shares his mana with the mural.
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We love it when talented youth artists concentrate their energy and work with tremendous precision cutting detailed and difficult patterns.
Atticus Wiggins and Eli O’Meara add their mana to the mural.
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We took creative liberties with Yvonne Carter's earring, using a cross-section of a shell that will be filled with stained glass. |
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Calley works in her drawing/painting studio to portray the Kupuna's faces, hands, feet, and occasionally, complex tattoos. First, she paints the outlines lightly, using vitreous glass paint that isn’t paint at all! It is very finely powdered glass. Once carefully painted and fired, another glaze of shading can be lightly applied. Repainting is not an option, so each layer must be left as a thin glaze. This happens over and over, painting and firing until she feels satisfied with the portrait. Calley feels that painting is far superior to constructing them in mosaic. Painting them on both the front and back of the glass adds dimension and vitality otherwise impossible in the details. |
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PUEO
(NATIVE HAWAIIAN SHORT-EARED OWL)
FOR THE LIVING WATER WALL (2)
IS BEGINNING CONSTRUCTION
One of the Special Elements on the mural, the endemic Pueo, Endangered on Oahu and declining on the major islands, is funded by a community member
Nancy S. Mueller. As a result of her donation of stocks, The Rama Tree, our sponsoring non-profit, can now accept stocks. We are so grateful to Nancy for stepping forward to sponsor the Pueo and look forward to meeting others that
will be inspired to patronize their favorite mural elements.
First, a little story about the word Aumakua: Pueo are one of the most beloved Aumakua of Native Hawaiians and many local people in Hawai’i. Au means far-traveling, and makua means parents or ancestors. Aumakua are ancestral guardian spirit guides and protectors, honored as part of the family. Often, a pueo, shark, or another life form such as Kalo (taro) is considered the family aumakua. The entire species is loved and protected.
Surprisingly little is known about the beautiful pueo and less about its current population and conservation status. The Kupuna have told us that in the 1800's, at dawn and dusk, Pueo graced Waimea in such great numbers, that they darkened the sky when they flew overhead.
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The Living Water (Wall 2) featuring esteemed Kupuna Hannah Kihalani Springer and her son, Kekaulike Tomich, together with the Pueo and their beloved Hualālai. Once the Pueo is complete, there will be added a living water mandala, representing the water cycle, as directed by Hannah Springer. Water is Life. |
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Jazmin spent ten years working as her husband attended medical school, and now she’s on sabbatical, enjoying the luxury of spending time in creative endeavors, including hula and working on the mural. |
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NATIVE TREE ARCHES
FUNDED AND BEGUN
Calley initially drew the 7' x 9' Aloha wall (1) corner arches as ulu (breadfruit) and then decided to feature the ulu in the central
'living quilt mandala' and portray 'IIiahi (sandalwood) in the arches instead.
Sandalwood represents the original forest cover. Notably, Kumu Keala Ching (below, left) wears a beautiful six-strand sandalwood bead lei. The ulu living quilt mandala (see the white circle in the photo below) is available for sponsorship.
Seeking to find the right dryland forest tree, Calley was taken to see and photograph a sole survivor of the native sandalwood forest that once was the dryland forest in the lower watershed of South Kohala. Mike Burnett of The Nature Conservancy led our trek to the lone tree. MAHALO NUI loa Mike!
A very special thank you to the Kasser Family, who have funded all eight pairs of the Native Tree Arches. We are so very grateful to you!!!
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Aloha Wall 1, featuring Kumu Keala Ching and Uncle Earl Regidor, with the Ulu Living Quilt Mandala. Walls 1 and 8 are both 'Aloha walls' because, as directed by Kumu Keala Ching, everything begins and ends with Aloha.
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Calley's original drawings of ulu, which will be transformed to become the drawing for the Living Quilt Mandala on Aloha Wall 1.
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Mike Burnett of The Nature Conservancy led Calley and new Airport Construction Manager, Marc Boticelli on a hike to meet and photograph the lone survivor of the South Kohala Sandalwood Forest. Look hard to see the tree on the horizon in the picture below. |
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BE A PART OF THE FLOW!
THIN BLUE LINE PLAQUE
GIFT CERTIFICATES
If you are looking for a uniquely meaningful Christmas gift for your people, please consider giving them custom recycled blue glass plaques on the mural's symbolic THIN BLUE LINE. This 'river of life' runs through the mural and the columns for 321’. Your favorite quote or your river, lake, forest, sacred place, or people can be honored here, adding to the mana of the mural.
THE THIN BLUE LINE is our key element of connection to Water, which is life. From Hawai’i Astronaut Ellison Onizuka’s perspective, the living thin film in which we live (the Biosphere), looks like a Thin Blue Line around our planet. On the mural, this lifeline will be composed of recycled, fired blue glass plaques made from Waimea's Moa Kitchen, which donates all of their sake bottles.
The plaques will be inscribed with the words you request.
You are invited to put yourself and yours on the line and be a part of the flow! Donations for individual plaques begin at $100, and all gifts are welcomed and tax-deductible through our 501(c)3, The Rama Tree.
TO THE THIN BLUE LINE
PLEASE CONTACT CALLEY
or click on the links for further details / donations / submission forms
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Above is a sample of the letter that you can present with your gift certificates for plaques on The Thin Blue Line. Once your people receive their gift, they can send us their unique inscription to be engraved on their plaque. |
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These are sake bottles donated by Waimea restaurant, Moa Kitchen, as they are placed in the kiln to melt. It takes two bottles to form each 3" x 5" plaque. Below are a few we have already engraved. |
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The Kupuna directed that the walls be connected by the element of water.
Lead painter, Noa suggested this graphic to connect the columns.
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AND FINALLY,
THE WALLS AS THEY APPEAR TODAY
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Thank you to photographer, Thomas Holguin. |
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BE A PART OF THE FLOW!
THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR YOUR INTEREST! By following our photo journeys once or twice a year, you are a part of the flow.
- If you have wisdom or skills to share, please let us know.
- If you know someone who would enjoy following us, let them know.
- If you know a journalist who’d like to follow this story, please call them.
- If you know a company or foundation that might like to sponsor an element or wall through our non-profit, please contact us.
Calley - (808) 987-7003
Julia - (808) 557-0363
Who do you know who would love to hear about this project?
Please forward this to them!
If a picture is worth a thousand words,
you just read 103,000 words!
and here's one more!
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I cannot thank my dearest friend, assistant, right-hand woman, and advisor, Julia Fairchild enough. She’s the one who skillfully and impeccably puts together this newsletter with my thousands of edits and design changes (no small task).
If you love the newsletter, it’s Julia and Calley as an inseparable team. As a matter of fact, what’s invisible is that much of the mural work is organizational, and I have Julia to thank for standing with me all ways and doing an outstanding job of it for over a decade.
Love you, Julia!
Calley
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KOA AIRPORT MURAL OHANA
So many hands have guided and worked on this mural, thus far, and here they are! We treasure our Community Collaborators as ohana.
We acknowledge their invaluable contribution and give 1001 mahalos!
OUR CORE TEAM
CALLEY O’NEILL
NOA EADS
JULIA FAIRCHILD
LAMAR YOAKUM
JEREMIAH HOLQUIN
We gratefully acknowledge and thank
HAWAI’I STATE FOUNDATION ON CULTURE AND THE ARTS, and Calley’s extraordinary project manager, Aaron Ackerman
HAWAI’I DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
ART ADVISORY COMMITTEE
ELLISON ONIZUKA KONA INTERNATIONAL
AIRPORT AT KEAHOLE’s LEADERS
Chauncey Wong Yuen,
Cy Duvauchelle,
and their remarkable staff
OUR MURAL KUPUNA,
those on and behind the wall guiding the mural
And our COMMUNITY COLLABORATORS,
including all those who have helped us thus far:
ALEX ECKHART
AMY O’MEARA
ANNABELLE URIBE
ATTICUS HIGGINS
(the late) BEVERLY ARNTZEN
BRYAN GAZAUI
DINA ALOHA
DOMINIC HILMAN
ELI O’MEARA
ELIZABETH ROSE
JAZMIN HICKS
JEFF and JAKE CLOSS
KEN CANNATA
LEE GLENNAN MOTTER
LEIANNA GAZAUI
MARC BOTTICELLI
MICHAEL HESS
MIKE BURNETT, TNC
MOA KITCHEN, WAIMEA
THE amazing NAN TEAM
OLIVER ZEICHNER
PEACH GODDARD
RACHEL WALKER
REDWING KEYSAR
SANDI PLAYSTEAD
SHELLEY REAGAN
THOMAS HOLQUIN
VIRGIL MACY, WEST HAWAI’I CONCRETE
YASI ZEICHNER
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