Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 30, Number 9, 1 September 2013 — Pacific weaving traditions earn museum spotlight [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Pacific weaving traditions earn museum spotlight

By Lynn Cook magine you live on an isolated island called Majuro, in the center of a vast oeean. From childhood you hear stories about beautiful objects woven by women from your islands, many generations ago. As you grow up you seem drawn by natural talent to the art of weaving Jaki-ed clothing mats of pandanus. One day a visitor, traveling the Paeihe, sees your work and introduces herself. Her name is MaryLou Hata Foley. She tells you an amazing story of the Berniee Pauahi Bishop Museum on an island called O'ahu in the Hawaiian archipelago, where the woven mats, created as early as the 1800s by weavers from your villages, are revered and cared for. She describes

the mats and promises that she will return with photos. On her return trip she brings photos of the Marshallese mats from the museum's collections. On her third trip, her hands are laden with the original Jaki-ed clothing mats. Foley says that Bishop Museum director Blair Collis and cultural collections director Betty Kam allow her, along with museum staff member and expert Hawaiian weaver Marques Marzan, to bring mats from the museum collections. Caroline Yacoe, cultural photographer and journalist, joined the pair to record the arrival of history. Patterns and techniques are studied and recreated, bringing forward the lost designs to new generations of weavers. Kam says the museum staff hoped that seeing the early mats

would create an opportunity to restore knowledge. The weavers agreed that seeing what eame from the 200 years past created a responsibility for them to use the new information, taking weaving to the next step. Onee Western clothing heeame eommon on

Paeihe islands, using mats as clothing went out of style, and then out of the mainstream as an art form. Officially, the criteria for Jaki-ed mats include round corners, though some creative evolution is taking plaee with young weavers. As Bishop Museum celebrates the reopening of Paeihe Hall this month, weavers from the Marshall Islands, French Polynesia and Hawai'i will gather on site Sept.

16 to 21 for a weaving symposium. (See sidebar.) On Sept. 21, the day of the hall's grand reopening, Dr. Irene Taafali will join a stellar list of cultural practitioners to tell the story of Paeihe weaving. Taafali invites everyone to take 5 a virtual tour via www.clothing r ofthemarshalls.com created by designer and journalist Karen Eamshaw. "This is a walk in our country, not just a documentation of museum rooms," Taafali says. A/ī (\rp> ei n o r] p* r- o r\ p' orrrx 1h r-il t±\i

J.»J. ti uvvuut "5^'; -L vzi\^y brought cultural expert Maria

Fowler from Majuro to Honolulu and they generated < I

what they called "pie in the sky dreams" that are I coming I t r u e , . thanks

to Taafali, director of the University of the South Paeihe Majuro campus. Taafali found funding, and developed a partnership with Tahitian weavers through Dorothy Levy, Papeete community liaison, and Betty Kam of the Bishop Museum. Taafali calls it a productive partnership with the University of the South Paeihe. "There is a strong sense of urgency to document the

Pacific Hall grand reopening ^ i'WIm Acelebration forthe grand reopeningof Pacific ' *f|! Hall, whieh showcases items from across Oeeania, will be held from 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sept. 21. The free event features music, dance and a wide varietyof Pacific lsland arts, crafts and foods. On the Gallery Lawn, see hula by Hālau Mōhala 'llima, presentations by Māori, Samoan, īokelauan, Tahitian dance and musical groups, and headliner Taimane. An extensive program of presentations in Castle Memorial Building will include: • Dr. Patrick Kirch on Pacific and Hawaiian origins • Dr. Irene Taafaki on Pacific weaving • Meleanna Meyer leading a discussion of Moana Nui Akea eommunity murals • Dr. Fata Simanu-Kluz on the role of women in Oeeania • Readings byisland poets/artists led by Brandy McDougall • Screening of Land of Eb, a Micronesian film followed by Q&A For more information, visit www.bishopmuseum.org/pacifichall.

Weaving symposium Sept. 16-21 Weavers from Marshall lslands, Tahiti and Hawai'i will be exchanging techniques and patterns of mat weaving from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. eaeh day. Weavers, and all others interested in weaving, are invited to stop by the symposium, at Hale Ikehu, surrounded bythe native plant garden, and "talk story" with the invited panel of artisans. On Sept. 21 at 1 p.m., Dr. Irene Taafaki

)tthe Umversity ot the South Pacific will lead a | panel discusit sion on

Marshallese weaving. Te Rangi Hiroa

The late Māori anthropologist Te Rangi Hiroa,

aka SirPeter H. Buck, will be honored as part of the newly renovated Pacific Hall. Born in 1880 in New Zealand to a Māori chiefess and lrish father, Buck was the "first Polynesian to receive widespread recognition for this research and scholarship on Pacific cultures," Bishop Museum said in a news release. As the museum's director from 1936 to 1951, he is credited with helping to expand its Pacific collections and establishing the museum "as a world authority on the cultural and natural environment ofthe Pacific." The museum will showcase items from his collections, including a kahu kiwi (eloak of kiwi feathers), a mere pounamu (greenstone club), a taiaha (ceremonial staff) and one of his manyfield notebooks.

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A woven Jaki-ed clothing mat. - Courtesy: David Franzen

weavers art before knowledge of traditional materials in a culturally customary style is lost," she says. Her description of the weavers' first-hand look was that "they fell upon them in delight at the insight they gave their skill." To combine the revival of the patterns and fine weaving of the past with the development of sustainable livelihoods, yearly weaving auction/exhibits have already been presented in Majuro. Purchases were made for private collections and for the Bishop Museum eolleetion. Mats at one sale were made by young women fromthe National Vocational Council. All proceeds return to the weavers. The number of mats has grown from 17 to over 40. The 2009 sale of one mat generated a record $750. In 2010 the total, with sales and prize money,

was $6,125, and $8,620 in 2011. The happy extension of this revival are programs in the schools, giving young Marshallese a sense of value to the daily weaving that is part of their collective experience. The upcoming weaving seminar, celebrating the weavers and the opening of Paeihe Hall, will have no closed doors, just open-air weaving and exchanging of ideas. Taafali, Kam and Marzan say that the weavers are looking forward to meeting other weavers, not just of mats, but also of contemporary art pieces, hats and bags. The new "pie in the sky" dream is to make this an annual event. ■ Lynn Cook i.s a loeal freelance journalist sharing the arts and culture ofHawai'i with a glohal auāienee.

There is a strong sense of urgency to document the weavers art before knowledge of traditional materials in a culturally customary style is lost." — Dr. Irene Taafali

MaryLou Foley, center, of the Bishop Museum Association Council, and Marshallese officials gathered in the Marshall lslands last year. From left, Senator Kessai Note of Jabat, Research and Development Minister Kejo Bien, Mike Cornelius of Malaoelap, President Christopher J. Loeak of Ailinglaplap, Speaker Donald Capelle of Likiep, and Transportation and Communications Minister Rien Morris of Jaluiti. - Courtesy: Caroline Yacoe