Mo`olelo o nā Lei
Virtual Art Show
by
Leilehua Yuen


Leilehua and her
grandmother getting 
ready to make lei kui 
puamelie

     E komo mai! Please enjoy my virtual art show. These are selected pieces from my show held at the Wailoa Center in Hilo, Hawai`i. It hung from March 30 through  April 30, 2005. Information on the Wailoa Center is at the bottom of this page.

     The Lei is a universal concept. It carries with it connotations of love, renewal, continuity. From the garland worn by the Swiss bride on her wedding day to the floral strands worn at Hindu festivals in India, the lei is known around the world. 

Ke lei maila `o ka la i ke kai
Ka malamalama o Ni`ihau ua malie
A malie pa ka Inuwai
Ke inu maila na hala o Naue i ke kai
No Nae ka hala, no Puna ka wahine
No ka lua no i Kilauea
Ua`ikea

      In Hawai`i, our most beloved chants and songs speak of lei, for a lei is not simply a strand of flowers sewn on a string, it is a garland of the many strands of love which grow over time, woven together into a symbol of affection and care for the recipient. Things strung on a string are a necklace. A gift woven of love is a lei. 

Lei may be fashioned from flowers, leaves, vines, twine, and cloth, from shells and paper, from tinsel and snips of cut drinking straws. The value of a lei lies in the love with which it is made and given. How many `ilima lei are kept for twenty years or more? How many paper and plastic straw lei hang in the back of mothers’ closets long after the preschooler has graduated from college? 

Maoliola Cook wrote a charming lei song which says, "A lei is a story of long ago, told by those with hair as white as snow. . ." Yes, a lei is a story. It is my sincere hope that our stories, our lei aloha, will continue to grow with their roots firmly planted in the fertile soil of the past, continuously unfurling in beauty now and the future

Aunty Nona Beamer, who has graciously guided me in my fumbling forays through Hawai`iana, instigated this show. In the months of preparation it went through many changes, growing from a tiny seed to a grandiose dream, and then shrinking to a doable reality.

 

Click here to see photos of the opening reception, 8 April, 2005

Prints and other items of selected works from the show may be purchased at:
www.CafePress.com/HawaiianCards

Welcome to the Fountain Gallery at the Wailoa Center!

     Far beyond the range of human sight, cosmic dust swirls and coalesces into galaxies and stars. The telescopes atop Mauna Kea capture these celestial images.  
     Wakea Ho`opa`a, "Sky Father Drumming"  was inspired by a Canada France Hawai`i Telescope image of Emission Nebula NGC 6820. Though it bears a prosaic name, the nebula is awe-inspiring in its beauty. 

     Mauna Kea, kamaha`o i ka malie - astonishing in the calm. She wears clouds like a lei, gathering them at her bosom. They rain down upon the district of Hilo, blessing us with Ka Ua Kani Lehua, the rain that makes the lehua blossoms resound.

For performances, my little pahu drum wears fresh lei, the foliage varrying, depending on the chants and songs with which it will be played.

     Famous in legend, song and chant, the `Ohi`a-Lehua is the mortal remains of two lovers who would not be separated by Pele's wrath. Lehua Mohala, "Blooming Lehua". 
     *Private Collection

     Beloved of Queen Emma, the `ilima is so delicate 
that it can take thousands to make the lei for one hula 
dancer. The flowers close each night, reopening in the 
morning. `Ilima ku kahakai, "`Ilima Standing beside
the Sea."

      `Ae, "Polypodium pelliculum vulcanicum" is a leathery sword-fern like plant which is one of the first to re-populate fresh lava flows. It is delicate, yet strong, and symbolizes those characteristics when made into a lei.

     The birds of Hawai`i provided feathers for beautiful lei.

     The Maile Sisters are gentle forest spirits. They are related to Pele. Like the many subspecies of maile, each has her own fragrance and her own kuleana, sphere of responsibility, helping the many tender plants of the undergrowth to be luxurient, and leading hula dancers to the correct ones for their lei and kupe`e. In legend, they are often caretakes of beautiful princesses who are awaiting the arrival of their true love. Wahine Maile `Elima. Click here for information on hula ki`i

Wahine Holo Lio

     Wailoa Center celebrates the multicultural heritage of ka Moku Hawai`i, and strives to make art, music, history, and cultural traditions available to people who otherwise would not be able to experience them.
     Local artists, craftsmen, and teachers from formal as well as traditional backgrounds come here to share their ideas. This sharing leads to the creation of three new exhibits each month.
     The Wailoa Art Center was built in 1967 on the banks of the Wailoa River in the Wailoa River State Recreation Area. 
     The widest river on the island, for centuries its banks were the site of thriving Hawaiian villages, and, eventually Shinmachi, a Japanese village.
      In 1946, and again in 1960, tidal waves swep the area, destroying homes, business, and the people in them. The tragedy and heroism of the people of the area is memorialized in a graceful lava rock open-air rotunda. From the air, the memorial appears as a deep pond between two volcanic waves.
     On the center's other side a tomb-like memorial surrounded by stately palm trees holds an eternal flame dedicated to the soldiers of the Vietnam War. 
     A statue of Pai`ea Kamehameha, Hawai`i's last traditional war chief and first monarch, stands just a hundred yards from the center, reminding people of the days when Hawai`i was an independant nation.
     On the serene river, local fishermen catch the famous `ama`ama, a prized food fish, as Hawaiians have done for centuries.