The Maui News

An Arizona-based artist has been selected to create a sculpture for the Imua Discovery Garden as part of a collaboration between the local nonprofit and a Wailuku-based public art program.

Last fall, Wailuku’s Small Town Big Art teamed up with Imua Discovery Garden to put out a call for artists to create a large-scale set of wings as a standalone sculpture that inspires inclusion, inspiration and discovery, according to a news release.

Slated for installation at Imua Family Services’ newly acquired 6-acre Imua Discovery Garden in the former Yokouchi family estate in Wailuku, the final piece will be accessible to the public, providing an interactive experience where children can stand or play in front of the work as the moment is captured for an ongoing photo project.

On Feb. 9, Small Town Big Art representatives from Maui County, Hale Ho’ike’ike at the Bailey House/Maui Historical Society and Maui Public Art Corps joined Imua Discovery Garden staff to welcome the artist selected by a community panel — Bobby Zokaites, who traveled to Maui with his studio assistant Kara Roschi for a weeklong site visit designed to provide an initial orientation of Wailuku’s history, culture and sense of place.

The site visit included excursions into Iao Valley and Kepaniwai Heritage Gardens, a tour of the Bailey House Museum, Waihee Coastal Dunes and Wetlands Refuge, Waihee Ridge Trail, the Wailuku public art walking tour and Imua Discovery Garden, among other sites.

Based on the site visits, ongoing community consultations and a four-month period of project development, Zokaites will fabricate the piece in his home studio and assemble it on Maui in June.

Zokaites explained that his public art process “begins by identifying what excites the community by tuning into the emotional cues within local storytelling.”

“Gravitating especially to tales of ingenuity and adventure, unknown or under-told stories, I’ve found that current residents often have interesting anecdotes that add insight and nuance to the accounts of record,” Zokaites said. “From those conversations, I then design towards sculpturally articulating poignant notes or recurring themes as substantial touchstones informing the larger form or function of the work.”

For more details on the project, visit smalltownbig.org/zokaites.html.

For more information about the work of Imua Family Services, visit imuagarden.org.