Spectrum Hawaii; 001; Lost Traditions; 002

The following program is a production of HGT in Honolulu Hawaii Public Television. The following program was funded in part by the Hawaii State foundation on culture and the arts. But. I.

Mean. Welcome to spectrum. I can name a heavenly brightness born of the volcano in the coming months. I will bring to you numerous examples of Hawaii's art and culture. This will be a time to delve into our crafts and our music. You will witness with me the Performing Arts the literary arts sculpture painting and custom gives shape to our days. We will discover arresting new designs in architecture in textiles and graphic arts. You will listen to the artists themselves as they

proudly present you with their creations. I will bring you inside what what in these moments when we are together. It is my wish that what we share will refresh and revitalise you. Perhaps it will cause you to reflect that in these islands of ours there is talent in abundance. Within moments we will join a renowned designer of fiber. She will speak to us and tell us about her art. She will show us how beauty may be conceived in fiber. Her works have been commissioned to appear in the corridors and meeting rooms of our state legislature. Wouldn't you like to know how she does it. I would join us and go exploring together as we meet Mrs Ruth today. Anderson.

I fell into weaving in the beginning but over the years I have discovered that it was a medium that I really enjoyed and I had explored other fields such as ceramics and metal. But I think I just discovered I really like working fibers and I love working on a loop. The subject matter or ideas for my weaving come from many sources. Sometimes just the fibers themselves suggest a kind of weaving perhaps that could be done more successfully than any other. Or I will go to nature sometimes for forms that can be used and transposed into weaving. But there is no one place that I draw from from for ideas they come from everywhere. Planting of a piece is really very exciting and getting it

under way and working out the various parts of the whole piece. Deciding on your textures your colors and so forth. Then there often comes a time where there's a little dry and you just got to keep at it even though it's not quite as exciting anymore. And if you get through that then you come to the other side where it's terribly exciting and then when you're ready to take it off alone. The weaving process involves. Preparing your warp are the threads that are strong on the loom and then cutting that warp onto the loo and then actually doing your weaving. This particular kind of weaving is a very free form and a lot of the decisions are made as I go along. The kinds of colors I will use the types of

materials and how I actually go work them into the piece. It's the decisions are made as I go although I usually work from a simple sketch or a drawing to begin with but this is a much freer kind of weaving and I enjoy it because you do go through this experimental process of decision making and choosing things that you think are more appropriate in a peculiar time. You also have to consider the construction so that if you're using dried plant material such as this piece and here that it's going to stay where you put it. And so there is a construction problem too that's involved it's not just color and texture. In recent years my husband and I have been collaborating. He's retired professor of the university and the design department and. We found that it was nice to work together with his designs and.

I would coordinate and sometimes do the weaving and or one of my associates would do the weaving and I have worked this way on many different projects. Partly it evolved because there were a few too many jobs to do at one time and because weeding is a slow process. It was it seems sensible to get more people involved so that we could create pieces and get them out without too much time elapsing. In the case of the state capital. We worked on pieces there that took about a year to produce but there were 10 people working on them. I had tried to do that on myself. I think that the state would have gotten a little tired waiting for those to be completed. So it is a large project you really have to have some assistance. We found that in the case of collaboration that

sometimes it is better to limit the styles that you use and you can adapt to the better to certain styles. By that I mean there are certain things that I would do. That only I can do and I would do the whole thing myself with maybe a little help and preparation room or something. But other than that I have to do all of the weaving because I'm making decisions as I go along and it's very difficult to have anyone else working on it with you. But in the case of the kinds of work work that I do with my husband and my other associates we have settled on two different styles. One is what's known as a flat tapestry and the other is a knotted pile technique which is a technique that was used at the state capitol for the two large wall murals. There are not a pile technique is one where again you don't you do not see your war when you're through

and you're feel threatened. In this case is on a shuttle but usually when you're doing a tapestry or you're doing a knotted pile you simply make little butterflies and hold them in your hand and work with a small unit like this so that you can work in a small area and an ordered pile means that you make knots which are tied to the warp threads. And this is a technique that's used in all kinds of oriental rugs. It's a technique that's been used in countries all over the world and developed in different countries and much the same style the climate in Hawaii is a factor to be considered in weaving because. Fibers will take up moisture some more than others and it can cause they say a sagging problem or something like

that even while the yarns are on the loom there will be some variation in the tension caused by the difference in the humidity. The yarns that the walls that I use are almost all moth proofed a permanent moth proofing which is done at the time the yarns are died. I prefer using wool's of this type because you avoid the whole problem of Maw's which can damage well in and weaving and they are a definite problem here in Hawaii. I think that works that are hung in the air conditioned areas and which do not receive direct light would probably last a century if they're well cared for others where they are

subjected to weathering and that kind of thing it can only be a few years. Today it seems that many people don't care that much if it's for a hotel or something of that sort they change their work so frequently that the lasting quality is not as important as when as for instance in the state capitol where the works are expected to stay there for years and years. And in that case I think there would be no problem because the materials were used and the the situation within the or in the two chambers. When you work on commissions. It's always a challenge for me

and I I really enjoy having certain limitations set up. A space where you know when you're through with your work it already has a home. And you have limitations say with color and texture. The scale is important. But. I find it an exciting way to work to have some limitations. For me in the very beginning. There were no men to please the client as well as myself. I wouldn't think that my style had been compromised because I work on commission. There are certain techniques and styles that have always been good. I think they always will be good and they're appropriate for certainly. And I think particularly if you're working or

doing work for public buildings I think you have a tremendous responsibility to do something that. Will withstand the rigors of time and will be still good years later. I think you have a certain responsibility to the. General public. We're going to be using the building. And. Perhaps if I had gone the route of a good number of artists. Who. Have mostly prepared themselves for one man exhibitions one person exhibitions I might have worked in a different way but I don't feel I was ever held back at all. I really chose to do what I wanted to do. Did you enjoy that. I thought you would. Did you ever imagine what could occur to me five years under an experience and how

I might enjoy decorating the inside of my volcano is such treasures they would remind me of one of the many ways in which artists reach us. Now it's time to be reached by music. American music the jazz of the West. Q Martin and his quintet The Cavalier's offers some of Hawaii's finest progressive jazz. Won't you welcome Hawaii's own Cavalier's as they demonstrate the pulse of the free is musical form. Time.

As time. Goes on

we can be. In.

The. Middle. As.

Well. As. Me.

My book they've got beat. I'm still pulsating. Calm yourself. You are about to enter the world of silent watchfulness. There isn't a Zen Buddhist priest who rises every morning to rake his stone garden. Have you ever heard of a stone garden. I'll give you a hint. It grows thoughts not plants.

Let's go to the Soto mission temple to watch the Rev. Matsuura and find out why he goes about this daily duty. The teachings of Zen. Have been directly handed down from the historical. Disciples and on through to all present there. In the old Japan. Was. Historic were allied with the Warriors. Of Bushido. This warrior's code was especially developed among Japan's. Known as. Such a belief was not unlikely. And. As always trust discipline and self control. In mind but. Here in the garden of the mission. We work to provide a peaceful sphere. Of. Example.

The garden helps to represent the unique character of Zen Buddhism. It is the urge to discover nature and a place within. Iraq and stimulates the mind. To see it as any number. As mountains. The. Woods. Was. All. Stone garden is a replica of the Rangi garden. Kyoto Japan is gone. Shows you part of the world in miniature. These represent our. Surroundings.

Symbolizes the seed. And. Rake. In a circular. Flow. Stone. In order to give the appearance we. Rush. To the shore. In the garden. By walking out here in the morning. In that these some see. Me reminds me. That I might be in a larger war are normally seen. By reducing the skill. Sure I will support. Stone is the bone there. This reminds me. That I should remain steadfast and sure. Or. Whether it is burned scorched by the sun. Drenched with in a dome for. The storm continues to endure silently without complete.

Every day as I glance at the stone. I realize that my mind should share this attribute of peace and doings. I am old but was a stone. The stone garden strengthens me. Strength from a stone. I like that. I've been surrounded by stone for centuries. I like to think of them as my noble neighbors and that my friends completes the first step by a long journey together. I was so pleased to have you with me. Where else could you find an example of progress in Western jazz distinguished fiber. And an ancient Eastern tradition. All in the same place where else but here on spectrum won't you return again and join me in our continuing voyage of discovery

a voyage that will give us a new view of life and all its creations great and small. Let me leave you with this closing thought from Diest sweet Christina Rossetti diea father here and blessed beasts and singing the words and God with tenderness small things that have no words. Spectrum was funded in part by the Hawaii State foundation

on culture and the arts. The following program is a production of HGT in Honolulu Hawaii

Public Television. The following program was funded in part by the Hawaii State foundation on culture and the arts. Today on the spectrum of last traditions. Research the sea bottom Hawaiian style will discover the crackling energy that shapes neon sign. And the patience skill that lies behind prize winning and made. Be on to. Don't let the signs in which they appear. The shapes of these signs of faith

rendered by the practice and also known by their lights this time spectrum finds of these cheerful decorated toys. Obviously a best friend might make the switch to a spectrum lens while the traditional Hawaiian method of octopus is here to begin our journey into Hawaii's traditions. Newspaper columnist Mike Mockridge. The Hawaiian word for octopus's but usually it is called squid. It has been an important part of the diet of many people in Hawaii for hundreds of years. The fishermen who know how to find it are said to have squid. This is Julia Nocco remembers.

How old was that. Ever since I remember I was a little girl my mother's brother. He was a fisherman and he went out squealing. He had the EIF with squid. Not everybody is able to see squid in the here in the holes. So the person who fish must have a good eye to see. You can tell how the fish how the squid looks like in the air holes sometimes just the head part is sticking out of the hole sometimes it's a big portion with all the suckers sticking out side of the hole. And that person must be used to just how it looks in that hole and in the water among the sea weed you know. And that's what you see when a person has a good squid. You can see that he can catch spear that not everybody has it. Not everybody squid fishermen rise early for the low tide. They look carefully for signs the octopus is left on the sand a bit of shell or a rock arranged in the

special way that marks a square hole. Mr. JOHN MINER a longtime Wyoming fisherman explains why when you walk this way down the bottom we'll go. Oh yeah you know where the squeeze keeps Yeah. Every rock you see he turns it over. And from there. He goes. Then he. Goes. That's why people pass by they don't see. What do you see to the ground. You know something the old me do good because you know. We go with. It. And we took it up. Well what we do is moving water and the water gets clear they can see where you are. On. The bottom. Back in the old days the fishermen all taught their children you know how to fish how to Squid. You know because it was very important for their livelihood. That was the means to get

food for the family. And as they grew older they would have to support their family and they were not taught at a very early age how to plant Taro how to own or how to go to fish how to look for squid. They just were able to care for the family so the fishermen took their children a lot of things Cornello was the God of the squid. You prayed to him to tell him to take care of them when he got to wanting to make their fishing gear Squitti profitable that day. Did they go out and come back with something. You leave it on that shrine if you ever try to leave it on that shrine you leave it there for the gods. And you know in some way in the old days some way the spirits come and take that away the mines believed in that the spirits come and take them for themselves to feed themselves because that was my witchcraft. Actually the old Hawaiians way back in the old days they also used the

squid for healing sickness. This is. Part of sorcery. Or Hawaiian witchcraft which is Kahuna that does all that work. When a person is sick they went out to the deepest part. It's not any kind of squeak they caught but they went out into the deep pot with. The KOHONA would let down. He's newer which is the. Kaare you know that with the hook underneath down to the bottom of the ocean. This particular squid that they're looking for must be outside of his whole name flat on the ocean floor with all its arms the arms is what they call in how and of the arm sticking out into out onto the sand. And he will lower that down to pick up that squid and the squiggly thing on there. That's the one they will bring back. And they would treat the sick person with it. However they

used it. I don't know maybe they placed it against that person's body for some reason. I don't know how they do it but they used it for that purpose for treating the sick people. And the Kahuna has a lot to do because he is chatting away and his chance you know oh you were afraid to come in law who is the God of the squid and I had the word squid the. Squid the Hawaiian squid is a winner. And when we talk about squibs squid is the Hawaiian so called Mukha which is one with longhaired and the shopper needs you know what kind they like the California squid the long years and the short legs they are called squid. But the squid the Hawaiians call them just a you know which is supposed to be octopus. Well the previous octopus was photographed in a tank at sea life park. This one was photographed in the depths of twelve hundred feet off of the banks by Professor

McMurtry in a submarine McAleese boom. Mr. Miner described how octopus lures are used. Some people the always who they grab you know grab a free whatever you do they put it on here and strip it down. They tied up a little. Here. And then from there they. Get a line to tide over here. You're got to be it you are a hundred fold. Way. This is what he wants. To show. He doesn't care about the crab. He doesn't care about the crab. He goes for the crab. Go ahead no. Don't move very much. Very slow. What a crab does. He get that. When he gets that that's when you get caught.

Because he put one lid on it then he put it makes me want it and then continue on. Set right on it when he says I don't need you. My can come with you know one of the leg a hole in a rock. Then he stretched over the line. Then we know it on there by the hour. I want you to have both. And this one is stronger than steel. We just did something. We've been there for years but don't sweat it because it doesn't bend right when you put it up. You won't bend the octopus won't bend the bone. No no they won't bend vote. With no idea. But if you tell me if you leave it down too long the octopus will smash the car. Yeah he will. But you will leave it alone because you don't know what the feel of the pool.

Yeah. And you pull that up. You go you want to just yourself. This read well. Once an octopus is caught it is carefully cleaned like this wouldn't bite. Lonnie and her father Harold who the. You know explains I just that you know with open parties and. Take out the on the set. He. I know that with the big kind of squid that they catch the big kind of heat we usually trip leagues strip all that out the skin off because they come much more tender and then you don't have to see the tentacles when you eat it wish them all the young ones you don't need to do that. So you clean out the ink sack. And then you find the whole thing with salt until you hold you hang onto the neck of the head and then you just don't do it until the teeth of

their arms begin to curl up and then it's great for me to see for the whole thing. And you can boy do you will have to acquire a teeth. Not everybody. That's how I know people. Yes. Hundreds of years the knowledge of how to survive from the sea is passed from one generation to the next. The tides change the shift to the Stones move. But the reef is still here and so are the owners. And so long as their octopus to be found there will be fishermen who seek them and the successful ones will have the high. Coming up Chinese kites fly high in the Hawaiian skies. But now spectrum travels to the neon lit streets of Honolulu. It is here with the season technique of bozo Shimoda sheds its light. Neon a flash in the night. Pointing the way. Where to go where to eat

or to show me. So common that its presence can be taken for granted. It was in the 1920s when neon first lit up the street. And among the first here to learn the new trade or sign making was Robert Chickamauga. I want that. Print. Job. I watching get off. So I don't know why and why. So. He is a quiet man who works by himself. At the neon electric service company in Cali. Although he's in his 70s he still handcrafts signs for those stores and even individuals who want to see their names in lights. Robert Chickamauga is simply known to his friends and customers as Bozo the

old boy. Oh and work for a company. So Wal-Mart we're looking people call me names on me all the postal employees they go to war a war men know me you call me Bubel when I first heard the name you call me. So keep going. Bozo signs begin with Robert Green the company's designer who first draws the sign to scale on paper. This is then transferred to asbestos sheeting which bozo uses as a heat resistant pattern to shape the bends and curves of the lettering. He works quickly marking with chalk. The place where I bend is to be made. Then he hits the straight tube carefully to prevent cracking and deftly manipulates the heated glass to conform with his signs pattern

plugging one end of the tube bozo gently blows air through a rubber hose into the other end to prevent the heated tube from collapsing before it has cooled once the tube has been shaped and is cooled. Bozo inserts electrodes at both ends and tests it with thousands of volts crackling from end to end. Now the sign is ready to be filled with the neon gas that will give it life. Different glaze is baked on the inside of the tubes create the spectrum of greens oranges whites dark blues and yellows. Bozo uses transparent tubing when he wants the natural scarlet color of neon gas and the light blue color of argon gas. His career has been affected by blackouts during the war and then again by recent ordinances preventing the construction of large outdoor signs. And you know my job is often often wrong because you don't have one big man on your side.

But like all night. Thirty thirty two was so busy on the big sign on the plane I mean The ago was facing a white guy meeting a couple yelled at a hero theater so far from it. I cannot remember not only have many theaters carried neon signs by bozo but restaurants bars shops and even a whole district. Well first read you know more Fred. There's a famous breastfeeding. Need. You don't lose sight you don't sing anymore. The old tradition of handmade Kites was brought to Hawaii from China

by Mr. Richard Ching many years ago. Richard Ching learned how to make painting kites through application and skill. He advanced to a degree of technique which created kites that soared higher and stayed up longer than most others. Let's see how he does it. Well I may cut because I love to look at an object. I need to challenge that what or how good can I make it. And I have a lot of fun. I like flying objects. I try to use clay. That book is a kite. They found a square piece of paper issued at a great pace really square. Then you have two pieces of bamboo. And then when you make your ball no ball is this way. The it is. Just the opposite way on the American ball looking ball goes.

This week the Chinese call it has more flexibility. But flexibility I mean does. The wings you shake it. It flaps. And when you fly when your pool was trying it flaps it gradually goes up and up and up. With I'm looking crazy. Do you have that the eyes of this here. Nowhere else. One way. So it's a little bit more than just bamboo than just requires the. Flexibility to make a kite. You've got to have them both. So I go being a farmer's bamboo forest where there is bamboo. Then I select my bamboo when I select my bamboo that bamboo should have long not from here to here. All right but not short kind of a knot. Then it all depends on the size of that one for the size of a king got to have now. And. I got an inch or inch and a quarter inch thick bamboo. Bring it on.

Cut it up and split it up in half like this. After it's been dried then after that I split it up in small sections like this. Then after that. I find the one that I want. Then I start to work on my bowl and the centerpiece by shaving it down. The next step I do good the string here. What does not. One two three four times turn full. No no I turn it over. Do the same thing more or less. Get an idea how big the ball is going to be. The next thing I do is to put the ball on the cart and see how does it look. Does it work. You're not. Good enough. Then I have my contact cement you contact cement.

Then I put a little bit on the bamboo. So efficient. I don't know how to make it or will the. Paper take too much time. And. This and that. So we do it this way in the old days. The regular pace cost too much money. So instead of using the regular pace I used to use rice flour and sometimes poi. But there's one fault with it. At night time gone for long. The cockroaches eat them up. So that's the problem. Just from the bamboo is a fish and you're obviously not too sure to put on the paper. No but I do say some

group appreciate this. OK and the next thing. The centerpiece. To get under here you there. Would be food for thought and I use the same group. On. The. Film on. The paper. Well I like more than 60 years. I'm the one so you can see one was 11 probably I was about nine when I started like 11 years old when my dad took me to China. And that is when the real challenge came in because when I seen the light up in the air it was a win. And I was so happy I got to make something like that one that I can fly over like we fly.

And so when I came back to all I know to make all the difference quite like this. And. When I started to make my life I didn't even know if they were destroyed that I made about one or two years ago I would be ashamed to show them to you know do your love of painting. But as we go along then I start to improve. Well to me cake making is not. Any Tom Dick and Harry can make a claim but will it really fly. So I make a play and when I say to. Me do make a kite flying like a wing meaning wind and strong wind. Well I like cut because I have some kind of a. Sense of happiness when I see the light in the air that night. I'm so happy I see the

kite flying in air. And then I see the bird fly around. And sometimes the bird will even hit the street and give you that kind of feelings or even to come to investigate you know. Give you heck of a good feeling that you cannot even express here at all. Why. Do. You. Do. To. Get. You.

To. Go. Were. You. You. Were off. I'm. Still on. A. Now from Hawaii Public Television's many each series.

Here is Charles K. Al Davis his tribute to Henry Burga past master of the traditional royal Hawaiian band. It was started by Berger that island visitors became so familiar with both the lilting and upbeat sounds of Hawaii. One song that is still often played is the Martes originally called La tuberoses. This song was written by Joseph and later changed by Burgard to become one of Hawaii's most popular island Moxon's. In.

Tradition some lost on me when they are never found again. As we survey the rich legacy of our heritage we learn to consider those traditions worth keeping and to build upon those traditions when it's changing.

Join us again on on next. To. You too. The

Spectrum was funded in part by the Hawaii State foundation on culture and the arts.