Art, Activism, and Authenticity in Hawai‘i

The Painted KingFor more information on The Painted King author events in Hawai‘i this month, go to: http://uhpress.wordpress.com/2011/11/02/the-painted-king-book-launches./

The famous statue of Kamehameha I in downtown Honolulu is one of the state’s most popular landmarks. Many tourists—and residents—however, are unaware that the statue is a replica; the original, cast in Paris in the 1880s and the first statue in the Islands, stands before the old courthouse in rural Kapa‘au, North Kohala, the legendary birthplace of Kamehameha I. In 1996 conservator Glenn Wharton was sent by public arts administrators to assess the statue’s condition, and what he found startled him: A larger-than-life brass figure painted over in brown, black, and yellow with “white toenails and fingernails and penetrating black eyes with small white brush strokes for highlights. . . . It looked more like a piece of folk art than a nineteenth-century heroic monument.”

The Painted King: Art, Activism, and Authenticity in Hawai‘i is Wharton’s account of his efforts to conserve the Kohala Kamehameha statue, but it is also the story of his journey to understand the statue’s meaning for the residents of Kapa‘au.

The Painted King will be essential reading for creators, curators, and devotees of public art.” —David Lowenthal, University College London; author of The Past Is a Foreign Country

“A path-breaking volume in conservation studies, The Painted King is certain to prompt readers to think further about the relationship between community and conservation in Hawaiian art, identity, and history.” —Stacy L. Kamehiro, author of The Arts of Kingship: Hawaiian Art and National Culture of the Kalākaua Era

November 2011
ISBN 978-0-8248-3495-1 $42.00 (CLOTH)
ISBN 978-0-8248-3612-2 / $19.00 (PAPER)

The Work of Early Hawaiian Artisans

Links to the PastThe work of Hawaiian artisans at the time of Western contact was woven seamlessly into their everyday lives and culture—the details of which are now lost. Although we can no longer comprehend the objects left to us with the same depth of understanding as early Hawaiians, we can appreciate their aesthetic qualities and the skill used in their construction, particularly when numerous pieces of the same type are viewed together. Links to the Past: The Work of Early Hawaiian Artisans, by Wendy S. Arbeit, makes this possible by reuniting more than a thousand eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Hawaiian artifacts from over seventy institutions and collections worldwide.

November 2011 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3476-0 / $75.00 (CLOTH)

Isaiah Walker at ESPN ActionSports, the HIC Pro

Isaiah Walker; photo by Daniel ItoLast week Isaiah Helekunihi Walker was featured at ESPN ActionSports, where he spoke about the inspiration behind his book Waves of Resistance: Surfing and History in Twentieth-Century Hawai‘i:

“I was born and raised in Hilo, and growing up in Hilo I always had an image of these surfers called ‘The Hui,’ so when I was on the North Shore, going to school, somebody told me ‘there is a guy [the late Imbert Soren] who works here, and he started the club and you gotta go meet him. . . . [Soren] was so cool to me—a lot of aloha and hugs. . . . [Meeting him] was a really different vibe of what I thought and what I imagined as a child. It started me off on this journey of interviewing more surfers, and from those interviews and stories, it led to a deeper analysis of how much deeper we had to look to understand some of these voices.”

Read the full post: http://espn.go.com/action/surfing/blog/_/post/7224826/shedding-light-hawaiian-culture

Walker was also interviewed at the 2011 HIC Pro, held earlier this month at Sunset Beach. Watch the video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwYThrsIbVE

Photo by Daniel Ikaika Ito

Fifty Years of Monitoring the Atmosphere

Hawaii's Mauna Loa ObservatoryHawaii’s Mauna Loa Observatory (MLO) is one of the world’s leading scientific stations for monitoring the atmosphere. For more than fifty years, beginning with atmospheric chemist Charles Keeling’s readings of carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere, MLO has provided climate scientists a continuous record of the atmosphere’s increasing concentration of carbon dioxide—and sparked the international debate over global warming. Hawaii’s Mauna Loa Observatory: Fifty Years of Monitoring the Atmosphere, by Forrest M. Mims III, tells the story of the men and women who made these and many other measurements near the summit of the world’s largest mountain.

November 2011 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3431-9 / $60.00 (CLOTH)

Traditional and Contemporary Hawaiian Beliefs and Practices

No Na MamoNo Nā Mamo: Traditional and Contemporary Hawaiian Beliefs and Practices, by Malcolm Nāea Chun, is an updated and enlarged compilation of books in the acclaimed Ka Wana series, published in 2005–2010. The books, revised and presented as individual chapters, offer invaluable insights into the philosophy and way of life of Native Hawaiian culture.

“The transformation of the Ka Wana Series represents a personal triumph for the author who, convinced of the necessity for greater public understanding of Hawaiian culture, devoted many years of research to rediscovering essential elements of the traditional world view of the native Hawaiian people and the cultural practices that gave form to that view. A key message in the book is this: To learn is to understand and to understand is to know how to navigate one’s way through the intricate cultural pathways of the moment.” —Dr. Sir Sidney Hirini Moko Mead, DCNZM, FRSNZ, Te Whare Wananga o Awanuiarangi, Whakatane, Aotearoa

ISBN 978-0-8248-3624-5 / $40.00 (CLOTH)
Published in association with the Curriculum Research and Development Group (CRDG), University of Hawai‘i

The Painted King Book Launches

The Painted KingNew York art conservator Glenn Wharton will visit Hawai‘i to launch The Painted King: Art Activism, and Authenticity in Hawai‘i, which recounts his experiences conserving the original King Kamehameha statue in Kohala.

Sunday, November 20, 2 pm:
The North Kohala Community Resource Center will sponsor a panel with the author at the Senior Center in Kapa‘au on the island of Hawai‘i.

Tuesday, November 22, 3-4:30 pm: 
Queen Lili‘uokalani Center, University of Hawai‘i at Manoa, Room 412
Dr. Wharton will give a brief presentation on his book, followed by comments from UH faculty Karen Kosasa and Ty Tengan. Professor Geoffrey White will moderate the discussion.

Tuesday, November 22, 6:30-8:30 pm:
Native Books/Nā Mea Hawai‘i
Hawai‘i Arts Alliance will join UH Press in celebrating The Painted King with a short talk by the author, followed by a booksigning and refreshments. The Arts Alliance supported Wharton’s work on the monument.

More November Book Events

In addition to book signings to celebrate the publication of Victoria Kneubuhl’s new mystery, Murder Leaves Its Mark, please note these other November events open to the public:

Historic Haleiwa Gym, November 4, 7-9 pm – The North Shore Chamber of Commerce’s Historic Preservation Committee presents “Hawaiian Surfing, Traditions from the Past,” an illustrated talk by author John Clark. $12 charge at the door;

The Hawai`inuiakea School of Hawaiian Knowledge will celebrate the publication of the first volume of the Hawai‘inuiākea Monograph series, I Ulu I Ke Kumu, edited by Puakea Nogelmeier, on Saturday, November 19, 2-4 pm, at Native Books/Nā Mea Hawai‘i.

Murder Leaves Its Mark Book Launch Events

Murder Leaves Its MarkThe public is invited to Victoria Kneubuhl’s book-signings and appearances to mark the publication of her latest Mina Beckwithand Ned Manusia mystery, Murder Leaves Its Mark:

Sunday, October 23, 3-5 pm
Native Books/Nā Mea Hawai‘i, Ward Warehouse (phone: 596-8885)
This event will include a reading by the author and friends. Robyn Kneubuhl, of Maui’s beloved duo, The Hula Honeys, will perform music to transport the audience to 1930s Hawai‘i. Light refreshments and book-signing to follow.

Saturday, November 5, 2-4 pm
Daughters of Hawai‘i Book Day, Queen Emma Summer Palace, 2913 Pali Highway (phone: 595-6291)
Book Day event hours are 10 am-4 pm.

Saturday, November 12, 2-3 pm
Barnes & Noble-Kahala Mall (phone: 737-3323)

Monday, November 28, 6:30-7:30 pm
“Thinking Out Loud” radio show interview. Live broadcast from the KZOO-1240 AM Radio Studio in Shirokiya, Ala Moana Center (phone: 941-5966)
Please note: Currently, books are not expected to be available at this event.

New Catalog: Hawaii and the Pacific 2012

Hawaii and the Pacific 2012 catalog
The UH Press Hawai‘i and the Pacific 2012 catalog is now available. To view the 4.6M PDF (the catalog is available online only), click on the cover image to the left.

Highlights include:

* An illustrated history of the ‘ukulele (The ‘Ukulele: A History)

* A handy guide to “power foods”: fruits, vegetables, and nuts that could save your life (Eat Smart, Stay Well)

* The story behind the conservation of the Big Island’s King Kamehameha statue and its meaning for the residents of Kapa‘au (The Painted King: Art, Activism, and Authenticity in Hawai‘i)

* Two histories of Kaluapapa/Makanalua: (Kalaupapa: A Collective Memory) and (Ma‘i Lepera: A History of Leprosy in Nineteenth-Century Hawai‘i)

* An illustrated compilation of traditional Hawaiian design (Links to the Past: The Work of Early Hawaiian Artisans)

* Two works offering invaluable insights into Hawaiian culture: (No Na Mamo: Traditional Contemporary Hawaiian Beliefs and Practices) and (I Ulu I Ke Kumu: The Hawai‘inuiakea Monograph)

* The autobiography of legendary Hawai‘i jazzman Gabe Baltazar Jr. (If It Swings, It’s Music: The Autobiography of Hawai‘i’s Gabe Baltazar Jr.)

* A trek into the past with Hawai‘i hiking expert Stuart Ball (Native Paths to Volunteer Trails: Hiking and Trail Building on O‘ahu)

* The most comprehensive and thoroughly illustrated treatment of loulu, the Hawaiian palm (Loulu: The Hawaiian Palm)

* A look at the complex interaction between lived sexualities and socio-legal mores at the turn of the 20th century (Queer Compulsions: Race, Nation, and Sexuality in the Affairs of Yone Noguchi)

* A posthumous work detailing the spiritual journey of a young Japanese scholar who immersed himself in Australian Indigenous culture (Gurindji Journey: A Japanese Historian in the Outback)

New in Hawaiian Studies and Culture

No Na MamoI Ulu I Ke KumuNo Na Mamo: Traditional and Contemporary Hawaiian Beliefs and Practices, by Malcolm Naea Chun, is an updated and enlarged compilation of books in the acclaimed Ka Wana series, published in 2005–2010. The books, revised and presented here as individual chapters, offer invaluable insights into the philosophy and way of life of Native Hawaiian culture.
September 2011 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3624-5 / $40.00 (CLOTH)
Published in association with the Curriculum Research and Development Group (CRDG), University of Hawai‘i

I Ulu I Ke Kumu: The Hawaiinuiakea Monograph, edited by Puakea Nogelmeier, is the first volume of a series to be published annually by the Hawaiʻinuiakea School of Hawaiian Knowledge and is intended to be a venue for scholars as well as practitioners and leaders in the Hawaiian community to come together over issues, queries, and strategies. Each volume will feature articles on a thematic topic—from diverse fields such as economics, education, family resources, government, health, history, land and natural resource management, psychology, religion, sociology, and so forth—selected by an editorial team. It will also include a “current viewpoint” by a postgraduate student and a reflection piece contributed by a kupuna.
October 2011 / ISBN 978-0-9845666-0-0 / $16.00 (PAPER)
Published in association with the Hawai‘inuiakea School of Hawaiian Knowledge, University of Hawai‘i

Murder Leaves Its Mark / Murder Casts a Shadow – Special Sale

Murder Leaves Its MarkMurder Casts a ShadowNow through October 10, 2011, purchase Victoria Kneubuhl’s new Hawai‘i mystery Murder Leaves Its Mark online and receive the first book in the series, Murder Casts a Shadow, FREE.

Go to http://https://www.uhpress.hawaii.edu/p-8728-9780824899999.aspx to place your order. This special sale is online only; books ship as a set.

Advance praise for Murder Leaves Its Mark:

“[Mina Beckwith and Ned Manusia] return with another adventure in 1930s Hawaii. Journalist Mina and playwright Ned find themselves involved in the labor disputes resulting from attempts to organize the plantation workers on the islands. When Mina and Ned join family members at the Haleiwa Hotel for a luxurious weekend of horseback riding and beachcombing, they find themselves in the middle of a murder case. Mina’s brother-in-law, a police detective, asks her, her twin sister, Nyla, and Ned to help with the investigation. Suspects include a wealthy Chinese merchant who loves French cooking, a hot-headed labor organizer, a couple of wealthy businessmen, and the two enterprising Japanese daughters of the hotel owner. Mina and Nyla’s Hawaiian grandmother and her friend, a traditional native healer, make connections between the past and the present. The evolving relationship of Mina and Ned, the escapades of Ollie, a Portuguese water dog, keep the pages turning, while the island setting provides an atmospheric backdrop.” —Booklist