Mural with Willie K dedicated at Nahienaena
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Angel Melody, 19, of Lahaina, spent her winter break painting Willie K — with his blessing and permission — on the facade of a school portable at the west-side elementary school.
A school assembly was held on campus Feb. 14, attended by Willie K and his daughter, Lycettiana, 12. The musician put his signature on the mural, which shows him playing his guitar to some local youths with a mountain and seascape backdrop.
Nahienaena and Kamehameha III schools youths, who modeled for Melody, also put their signatures on the mural at the ceremony. Some of youths were attending the Winter PALS program during the break at Nahienaena when Melody plucked them out to be models.
There is a connection between the artist, the musician and the principal of the school, Kaipo Miller. The artist and musician are graduates of Lahainaluna; the principal was Willie K’s 10th-grade teacher at Lahainaluna.
“I chose Willie K because he graduated from Lahainaluna, and he was a student of Mr. Miller; so I thought it would be a good subject,” she said.
Melody, who aspires to be an “international mural artist,” talked to the musician before embarking on the project. He said he thought it would be fun, that it would be cool, she said, adding that she painted Willie K from photos of him in concert.
When Willie K saw the finished product, “he liked it,” said Melody. “He was very happy. His daughter was happy too. It was a fun thing.”
The mural is Melody’s fourth large-scale outdoor mural in west-side schools and her second mural at Nahienaena. The other mural at Nahienaena shows the NASA Spirit Rover on the surface of Mars with a cameo of Willie K playing guitar on the Martian surface under the Hawaiian flag.
She also has a mural of Haleakela with nene and silverswords at Lahaina Intermediate School, and at Lahainaluna a mural titled “The Messenger” showing a flying horse and banyan tree.
