The art of Kapa
Kapa-making practitioner and artist Dalani Tanahy shares insights about the Hawaiian bark cloth-making process and its history Thursday at the Hui No‘eau Visual Arts Center in Makawao. The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo
Her kapa is featured in “Woman Makes the Malo, Makes the Man: A solo kapa exhibit by Dalani Tanahy,” on display at the Hui through Sunday. The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo
Kapa-making practitioner and artist Dalani Tanahy shares insights about the Hawaiian bark cloth-making process and its history Thursday at the Hui No‘eau Visual Arts Center in Makawao. The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo
Her kapa is featured in “Woman Makes the Malo, Makes the Man: A solo kapa exhibit by Dalani Tanahy,” on display at the Hui through Sunday. The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo
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Kapa-making practitioner and artist Dalani Tanahy shares insights about the Hawaiian bark cloth-making process and its history Thursday at the Hui No'eau Visual Arts Center in Makawao. Her kapa (second photo) is featured in "Woman Makes the Malo, Makes the Man: A solo kapa exhibit by Dalani Tanahy," on display at the Hui through Sunday. The Hui is open daily 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tanahy is a grower of wauke trees and dye plants on Oahu, a craftswoman who creates the tools she needs to pound and print kapa and dyes and a researcher who has learned to understand the nuances of kapa through a long series of trial and error. She said that due to a lack of written descriptions of how ancient Hawaiians made kapa and dyes, modern-day practitioners have had to relearn and do a bit of educated guessing to mimic their forebearers.