×

Maui Connections

Wahi Mahalo. It means “a universal thank you.”

It’s this year’s theme of the Celebration of the Arts, marking its 25th anniversary Friday through Sunday at The Ritz-Carlton, Kapalua, and I can’t think of better words to express my own personal appreciation for this unique observance of all things Hawaiian.

When I arrived on the island a quarter-century ago to take over the cultural coverage for The Maui News, it didn’t take long to wonder what I had gotten myself into. Oh, sure, I knew about movies and running a weekly entertainment tabloid. I knew about art and Culture, with a capital “C.”

What I didn’t understand, yet, was culture with a small “c.” Especially when it had the word “Hawaiian” in front of it.

I got my education at the Ritz. I didn’t get it from any one esteemed cultural practitioner, artisan, kumu or artist. It wasn’t any single panel discussion, film or hula performance in the lobby — all offered free of charge.

It was from all of them together. Presented with open hearts, a generosity of spirit, love, courage and a wisdom of the ways of nature, what I was learning was the definition of that most used, and misused, of Hawaiian words, aloha.

Celebrations are about pleasure and enjoyment. The Ritz’s celebration always feels like something more — an annual immersion course taking you as deeply as you want to go into Hawaiian culture . . . and just as deeply inside yourself.

Not being Hawaiian doesn’t mean you can’t learn from Hawaiian values. Just the opposite.

Kumu, like Hokulani Holt and the late Charles Kaupu, were among the scores of guides teaching me. My family was there for the inaugural celebration, orchestrated by Linda Morgan, which had hands-on art demonstrations, a luau and a Henry Kapono concert. I was there when Yvonne Biegel took the COA to the next level. And I was there when Clifford Nae’ole became the event’s director — as well as its face, its heart and its soul — which it’s been ever since.

Clifford chooses each year’s theme by “listening” to the spirits of Honokahua, the enormous burial mound on the Ritz property where 900 ancestors were interred a millennium ago.

Honokahua’s more recent history — how, and why, the discovery of the bones convinced resort developer Colin Cameron to send the plans back to the drawing board to preserve the burial site — was another lesson learned at the Celebration of the Arts.

A pod of dolphins joined me swimming at nearby D.T. Fleming Beach one Easter morning, to bring home to me the theme of that year’s celebration: ‘aumakua. Rainbows have a way of showing up on cue at the Ritz, like punctuation marks for epiphanies.

Are these spiritual events? Or mere coincidences? Do I file them in the “Rick, you’ve been in the islands too long” drawer?

I think not. Anyone looking for a deeper understanding of this place we live — or happen to be visiting — should check out this milestone edition of this unique event that offers a glimpse into Hawaii you won’t find anywhere else.

For more information, visit kapaluacelebrationofthearts.com.

* * *

Speaking of Henry Kapono, Suzi Osborn and Libby Tao from the Big Island were among all the Friends having a Goodtime Together as Henry’s Lifetime Party came to the Maui Arts & Cultural Center on Saturday night.

“The energy in Castle Theater was delicious!” Suzi reports. “I’ve never noticed so many folks bobbing their heads to the music and rocking in their seats. . . . Everyone in the audience was completely in love with him.”

* * *

I was witnessing a different sort of love Saturday evening — the sex life of plants. Gary Greenberg presented “Florotica, The Sensuality of the Microscopic World” to a small but rapt audience, hosted by Tom and Michelle Sewell in Tom’s Haiku Studio.

Gary, well known on Maui for his pioneering work developing microscopes and camera systems that turn grains of sand into spectacular works of art, this time was focusing on plants, whose reproductive organs turn out to be incredibly erotic when viewed under the microscope. Who knew?

Gary will be delivering the presentation to 350 art students at my alma mater, the University of California at Santa Cruz, on Wednesday.

The evening provided a chance to catch up with Glenn James, the island’s longtime weather guru. Olivia Coletti, who ran the slides for the presentation, is the executive manager of Gary’s microscope company, Edge-3D. They are in a joint venture with Dan O’Connell of HNU Photonics to innovate and build cutting-edge 3-D microscopes on Maui.

It’s a small world, after all.

* Rick Chatenever, award-winning former entertainment and features editor of The Maui News, is a freelance journalist, instructor at UH-Maui College and documentary scriptwriter/producer. Contact him at rickchatenever@gmail.com.

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper?
     
Support Local Journalism on Maui

Only $99/year

Subscribe Today