The Makawao Sculpture Project
Grounded in ‘Ōlelo No‘eau: ʻAʻohe pau ka ʻike i ka hālau hoʻokahi (All knowledge is not taught in the same school)
In 2021, Kim Thayer of Mauna Kahālāwai Watershed Partnership participated in our collaborative Hui Mo‘olelo program with Hale Hōʻikeʻike at the Bailey House/ Maui Historical Society. In 2023, we captured an audio-recorded talk-story between Kim and Scott Fisher, Director of ʻĀina Stewardship at Hawai'i Land Trust. In 2024, professional artists from across the globe submitted proposals to translate this story as a work of public art, to be installed on the property of the Makawao Public Library. Upon selection by a community panel, artist Matthias Neumann entered a period of project development to infuse his proposal in Makawao history, culture and sense of place -- ultimately resulting in a freely accessible work created through community engagement. The work was unveiled on Saturday, April 20, 2024 for a 3-month exhibition period.
Listen to Scott & Kim's story below: • Full Recording HERE • Excerpt HERE |
"My connection with Makawao is fairly straightforward: when I was born my parents were living at Sunny Side plantation camp which is in the area of Makawao-Haliʻimaile. I grew up playing soccer at Eddie Tam field, and spending a lot of time there-especially when going to school at Seabury. My brotherʻs first job was at Makawao Steak House. When I moved home in 2003 we were living in Makawao (Makawao Ranch Acres), and my daughter was born in that house (so she is actually a true kamaʻāina of Makawao). So, I would say I have some connections with Makawao. Perhaps what I have always appreciated most about Makawao is that it is the ʻgate of the forestʻ (lit. forest beginning), so it is a transition between the wao kanaka and the wao akua. I think the Makawao Public Library is a good spot if the size of the sculpture is appropriate." -- Scott Fisher
"Makawao, the gate of the forest. There is so much in that name... I have similar connections to Makawao. My first babysitter was in Haliʻimaile, and I also spent time with my godparents, Joyce and Skippy Perreira, whose house is on Kaupakalua, nearby the Kokomo junction. I, too, played soccer at Eddie Tam and spent all of my formative years at Seabury from 6th grade on up. Love hiking around in the pine forest - one of the only hikes my mom will do! My brother picked up Komoda butter rolls practically every day (except Wednesdays) throughout his high school career, and Bryce and I got our chocolate Chantilly wedding cake from them. My grandpa was a devoted member of the Makawao Hongwanji, even left them a gift after his passing. All generations of his side of our family are housed in the Nokutsudo (columbarium) there, from my great-great grandparents to my little brother. We've been going to the bon dance there every year forever. Oh, and just remembered, I took my driving test at the Makawao DMV!" -- Kim Thayer
As part of our community engagement plan for this project -- which is our very first in Makawao (!) -- we put a call out for help building a Little Free Art Gallery. With the goal of creating miniature art hubs that invite artists of all ages and skill levels to contribute their creations, the concept is simple yet powerful – leave a piece of artwork, take a piece of artwork. It's a delightful exchange that encourages artistic expression and community participation. Find them A) in front of the Makawao Public Library, B) Makawao Courtyard (3620 Baldwin Ave), and now C) at Pāʻia Youth & Cultural Center.
We extend our heartfelt gratitude to Seabury Hall for their generous donation of these galleries through their Engineering program and to UH Maui College's visual arts department for initially stocking each gallery until they become self-sustaining. Thank you, students!
We extend our heartfelt gratitude to Seabury Hall for their generous donation of these galleries through their Engineering program and to UH Maui College's visual arts department for initially stocking each gallery until they become self-sustaining. Thank you, students!
A big mahalo to Bill Levien of Seabury Hall, who has played a huge role in amplifying this project. His engineering students dismantled and repurposed the sculpture materials into sitting benches for Pōmaikaʻi Elementary School, Kula Elementary School, the Makawao Public Library and the Waihe'e Coastal Dunes and Wetlands Refuge. Repurposing deaccessioned public art is a powerful statement of resilience, creativity, and sustainability. It not only prevents waste but also extends the life of an artwork, giving it a new form and purpose. In Makawao, what began as a single sculpture has sparked a deeper connection between art, education, and community spaces. These benches won’t just be functional. They will carry with them the spirit of the original artwork. Learn MORE.
Thank you to the following donors for sponsoring these benches at their new homes: Robert & Hazel Hirayama and When We Shine.
Thank you to the following donors for sponsoring these benches at their new homes: Robert & Hazel Hirayama and When We Shine.
Artist Proposal Excerpt & Project Development
- A recurring interest explored in my work is how space, material assembly and related processes allow for the experience of the spatial condition in relation to its place, and to bring into focus notions of material, cultural and spatial ecology embedded in the built environment.
- Over the past decade I have occupied myself with a series of bodies of work that each operate within their own conceptual plain, but that share an engagement with the built environment and the specificity of site. Notably, I have been engaged with two ongoing series of public interventions under the title “Basics” and “Xabana” for the past decade with over 60 iterations in public spaces. Both series are distinct from each other and operate within their own formal language. What both work series have in common is that the sculptural form is developed through an additive assembly of identical elements that are manipulated into a specific expression registering movement around the sculpture through material form and/or color.
- The proposed work,“Basics #63”, will be in continuation of this ongoing work, and constructed out of untreated 2x4 construction lumber. The work itself will weather and slightly change in appearance over the span of its existence, while remaining formally coherent and structurally stable.
- There were two distinct observations in the conversation recorded between Scott Fisher and Kim Thayer that resonated very much with the intention of my work. Kim was talking about her childhood home, a Lindall Cedar Home, which indeed embodies a material ubiquity in the built environment. In her anthropological research, cultural ubiquity resurfaces in the study of ethnic food, however with the distinction of becoming again specific within a particular environment of diaspora. It is this tension of ubiquity and specificity that interests me in employing 2x4 lumber, and reacting in a local context, using the material in an uncommon way.
- The weaving pattern itself may be understood as an expression of interconnectedness.
About the Artist | normaldesign.com
Matthias Neumann is a multi-disciplinary artist and architect based in New York and in Athens, Greece. His work has been presented internationally, including venues such as Manifesta 8, Galeria HIT, National Museum of Contemporary Art Romania, SITE:Lab, the Queens Museum, Montalvo Art Center, and the Jule Collins Smith Museum, among others, in addition to a significant number of public art installations throughout the United States and Europe.
He is the recipient of the Kaplan Director’s Award of the Cape Cod Museum of Art, and the recipient of generous grants from institutions such as the Brooklyn Arts Council, Foundation for Contemporary Art, CEC ArtsLink, among others. He was artist in residence at Mac Dowell, MoKS - Center for Art & Social Practice, ORTE Residency, I-Park Residency, Vermont Studio Center, and Nu'Vem on Pico Island, Azores. More recently has co-founded an experimental art space and residency on the Greek island of Serifos which is a communal extension of his public art practice. |
Community Engagement
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MAHALO Scott Fisher & Kim Thayer County of Maui Hale Hōʻikeʻike at the Bailey House / Maui Historical Society Hawaii Tourism Authority Mallory Fujitani, Dana Remigio, Dakota Cotton, Aunty Audrey and Stacie Kaneshige of the Hawaii State Public Library System Hawaii State Foundation on Culture & the Arts Leilehua Yuen Lokahi Pacific National Endowment for the Arts Maui Forge Blacksmith School Hui No‘eau Visual Arts Center UH Maui College & Seabury Hall |
Project Timeline
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