Spectrum Hawaii; Language Is The Root

The following program is a production of public television. The following program is brought to you in part by grants from the state foundation on culture and the Chevron USA. In Hawaii and a committee for the Humanities a public program of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Language is the route which reaches deep into the life of any culture.

It is the single most important source of our knowledge of a people. In the languages of the world. We find the accumulated experience of every culture. People saw the world and what they thought of themselves. Written or printed symbol. Signs or scripts are only the thin uppermost surface of a language and only its most recent expression. Before there was writing there was sound. The sound of a human voice the sound of songs sound of drums top of the. It was a universal. But also sight. Movement and signs and carvings. The whole culture of Hawaii shaped itself around the most beautiful spoken

language that anyone can conceive. The language of Hawaii is as beautiful as the land before the coming of Western Europe and. The culture of Hawaii was a purely oral culture which means that there was nothing with. Everything that was to be communicated. Remember all records of every bit of wisdom had to be spoken and handed down from one person to another. How does a people hang onto what is known when they live in a purely oral culture. This is one of the great marvels of an oral tradition. Generations upon generations of people can read and hold the thoughts and notable events of earlier generation. How was that possible.

How was the great Hawaiian chant of creation the 2000 line verse of who we have been hearing remembered with such precision. Like the earlier Greeks. Another oral culture handed down by word of all of the Homeric epics the Iliad and Odyssey develop their own ways of recording and expressing their thoughts. Some of these are unique to Hawaiians. What the oral culture revealed is that Hawaiians were more spiritually gifted and more philosophically sophisticated than early Europeans could ever guess. What was it like to live in a totally aural culture. When space joined the Rock the Earth heated when

space turned over the sky. First when the sun appeared standing in shadow to cause like to make bright the moon when the star small light on the night. Boy was mostly in the night darkness of the day. Darkness of night. Night alone did night give. Naked was born in the day. Naked The woman born in the land. These with the little one older one every increasing man spread abroad and was here. It was day. Every people of the world have scratched on stone. Or bone.

Or in some wall of a Rocky King something meaningful to the life of their culture. Like a fly caught in petrified and marks in stone. Resist the wear of time. Something happened here that made this the center of a very important activity for Hawaiians. Professor Edward state of the art department of the University of Hawaii has spent many years studying and pondering the meaning of certain marks which Hawaiians made in lava rock. Standing on the coast of Hawaii on the black caves in the district and I hope. And right here is the king's trail work. The first undoubtedly one. This cave is a point of natural attractions. How do we know that you noticed all of these depressions these cup like hollows

surround the cave indicating that hundreds of Hawaiians found them on the power that was natural this place this receptacle is the poop for the placement of the umbilical stump of the newborn. It would be covered with a rock and if it remains through the night and is there the next morning blessings and good man are guaranteed to the child. Beside it is an image of a of the standard a Hawaiian figure. The fact that they're side by side is no coincidence. If this is a sign of birth it's most likely that this one is also. But the birth of a child is not the only reason for making it. This is a forcefield thousands of Hawaiians have come here and made their mark over perhaps the last thousand years. Why.

Because it was a haven. Imagine someone walking on this King's trail of rough torture. Jagat lava and then coming across a place like this where the petroglyphs are the smooth surfaces. What a. What a refuge for the feet. What a relief for the soul. This is a place of serenity of rest. And reflection.

It's one of the sacred places. In the Hawaiian. Culture. Packed and scratched into the surfaces here. And a startling variety. Are complex layers of the Hawaiian culture. They're. Profoundly different. And the Berthold. And they represent. Something of the culture which should not be lost. Some of these petroglyphs commemorate such things as an important marriage as in this case with the obviously prideful man standing between his wife and his son with with fatherly protective feelings. They may also honor such as a great warrior as in this particular petroglyphs or over here we have a grand lady. If you look at her closely it's pretty obvious that she has dignity and she's pleasingly plump but at the same time and pretty obviously pregnant as the Hawaiians would say.

And here we have probably. An important athlete with a strongly muscled legs and a strong tall stands of latent power about the women and in such as these. I think we even show that they celebrate the sexual prowess of some of them that way. This is an outdoor museum. Petroglyphs themselves have a history. They were not created all at once. The Pico holes for the umbilical stumps may be a thousand years old but other images arrived when the Europeans landed in Hawaii in the late 18th century such as this ship. It's

a really good rendering and an accurate representation of what kind of a schooner the masts the sails even the rudder are clearly delineated. Also with the European consciousness came a gift that the Hawaiians came to prize very highly. Of course in a petroglyphs such as this one we have a horse and rider. This is the pony older rider. He's wearing a hat. He's wearing spurs. The tail is waving in the wind as the beast goes charging across the lava. It's a very beautiful image in motion. Representative of a of a new kind of a vision and a new way of thinking. Now here's a puzzling image. An image of this kind would require a new kind of a cool metal scraper a metal spike a large thing and only with the

coming of the Europeans could something like this have been done. What is this figure. What do we know. Well what we do know is that it resembles many other figures in this place that don't look like anything that we can recognize in the world. They do not represent people places or things but thoughts and ideas. Well there we've got a pretty standard Hawaiian figure. But when I finished the image by putting in the neck if they were the beginnings of writing they did not develop further. There is something yet even more interesting about the more traditional pictorial petroglyphs we have seen. They are the only examples besides sculpture in which Hawaiians have made pictures. This begins to give the completion of the gesture. What are you surprising is that Hawaiians

did not develop the art of drawing or painting and we have a transformation. Into the male hula that they're in this kind of picture of live. We have the highest expression of Hawaiian rock art. After this there is nothing. The art of making pictures appear to stop wide alliance had all the materials for painting and drawing. Top of page drawing two inks yet they did not make pictures. Why not. The answer to this question may seem surprising and it takes us deeper into the all expression of the Hawaiian people. The answer is already here in front of us.

Yes. Professor Ruby Johnson of the department of Indo-Pacific languages at University of Hawaii monoid gives it the whole framework of Hawaiian pictorial art was developed and expressed primarily through dance and song poetry. I don't picture I think. Well and Rich I guess this was for three or four pictures but

carried and given a song and a dancer. To which I understand it. And. Kerry.

But just there are pictures that's worth it through words. That's the vision and the idea of the if given the words and words. But the thing is happening.

The power of the King. We like a path like that of the song. The two

words that surprised me. The power of words does not stop here. This temple of figures symbolizes another kind of word one certain Hawaiian words are spoken. They have the power of life and the power of death. The ancient saying literally means in the word is life in the word is death. Words have the power to affect people for good and for you. When the child of a chief is born the words pronounced on his or her birth have a life force. In ancient times this was done at the center of the island of

holy month where in the middle of a pineapple. Over there is the Y and Irene and there is the North Shore. There is no place where I can stand on this island which is why Central. To Hawaiian life these ruins are all that remain. Of the great temple of the little girl. It was the birthplace of kings. It was a tradition a nation Hawaii to name drop in this place the drugs named Opal and how they were sounded and echoed great distances to announce the birth of the chiefs. These rocks are like megaphone they'd crease the sounds of it it carries great distances across the lawn

so that the people on the other side will hear when the King had been born. In the back of your beginning to hear somebody which represents the most recent achievement of the Hawaiian oral tradition the geneological chant with a geneological chant contains the names of the cheers and families of cheese in this one. Up ahead we cited in the style. Oh yeah. You know what you know. What we represent.

But how is it done. And we remember it from generation to generation with right. And with every. The answer is again poetry. This time the words are a different matter. This. I. Did you hear the repetitions. The memory of the chant

by the repetition of similar vowel sounds from the end in the beginning of the next forming a bridge for the memory. Even so it was a tremendous feat for a child to recall thousands of insects. The exact order and reciting every recitation words advise and words command. You know Leo will achieve. Command is to be obeyed. The first time. I would be under your voice meaning that I would obey you. To him was born the right. Words like. The power that enables a people.

That is because these words have a moral force that binds people together in social action. In such words can be discerned the accumulated wisdom and. Yet perhaps the greatest accomplishment of the oral culture. Was to develop the power of mind to recall and record the past to re sight without error. The succession of Kings to hand on from one generation to another. Historical accounts of great and to record in the memory of the Hawaiian. The chant of creation. The people and the coming of Hawaiians. To these I. Why in the selected trainees for this vital task with great care.

Children who gave promise at memorizing were able to recite fearlessly in the ancient and as they are today in which the teacher is symbolized as the base and trunk. Tree. From the tree and later the which symbolize the new traditions are actually there. The root grow from the stem. And the buds become. The branches.

Me. You. Cool.

So the preceding program has been brought to you in part by press from the Hawaii Committee for the Humanities a public program of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Chevron USA in Hawaii and the state foundation on culture and its. A.

The following program is a production of Katie Chichi in one of the new hopefully public television. The following program is made possible by grants from the state foundation on culture and the arts and Chevron USA. In Hawaii. Today on spectrum we'll discover how corporations have become

patrons of the art world. Paintings and sculpture now a door on Restaurant City plazas and the downtown business centers of fun on the new spectrum also introduces Len Martin was the folk arts coordinator for the St.. Foundation on culture and the arts. She is scanning the islands to search out the genuine folk artists of our day. Folk Arts are very very special. And. Unique to traditional kinds of communities. Traditions are loosely defined skills practices and activities that are an outgrowth of a particular group's way of life. Particular groups. Of the same occupation are of the same religion or the same geographic area and over time over several generations. The skills and practices and activities of the community develops have artistic input. And.

Can be considered the Folk Arts folk artists challenge to everyday items. Producing baskets and using materials indigenous to community offices work in exchange for other goods rather than seeking a commercial outlet. Boccaccio also find ample room for expression and dance and game for any transmitting and ethnic heritage in a generation. Martin is the coordinator for the polka program here in Hawaii begun in 1983 by the state foundation on culture and the arts. This pilot program is examining the focaccia of all ethnic groups in the island. The first purpose is to identify the artists of the state of Hawaii including all the ethnic groups. And to

determine who is making what and what state of the world. Then it's nice that these folk our traditions have turned the second mission is to bring recognition and to honor those people who are still practicing their very vital Folk Arts traditions and specifically those folk arts traditions that demonstrate the highest degree of artistic excellence. Very rich in folk art tradition of course our traditions are going through and right now are generally an outgrowth of the subsistence traditional lifestyle. People the lifestyle that the arts are an outgrowth of and as our economy is changing into a cash economy very often it's easier to buy a Tupperware container than it is to weave a basket to hold your.

Hand as she attempts to locate it. Ironically the artist can often hide them as well. Authentic cars. Are oftentimes communities where they are not in the forefront of organization. They are living a life that has created the full card. And perhaps do not consider themselves very special or an artist at all. So there is some difficulty sometimes in finding. Great success going through senior citizen centers and I hope to be contacting many more because I find often the most authentic quality folk artists. Why are you. Looking for things to do when in their later years the city centers to share their skills with their fellow citizens.

In. Young adults. Other times it's easy to find the folk artists. Through organizations that the state foundation culture in the arts. There are a number of organizations who have cultural ethnic components. Sponsor workshops. Sometimes. The folk artists. Care to be recognized and would like to continue living their life in a very quiet way. And I would like to be as sensitive as possible to those situations. People don't want to be troubled that I don't want to trouble them. Then as an accomplished woman she has studied with Japanese Potters five of craftspeople. She says that being an artist has helped her in interviews with other artists.

When I go to interview them I like to. Write. Because I hope that I am in fact a cross as well to be willing to share with me any problems that special that night that they are not going to do and I don't with a view to prevent duplicate effort saying various cultural organizations while looking forward to a mega folk art exhibition and workshop. While rapid travel and medication keep shrinking our world and synthetics continue to replace natural materials. Then my question this becomes more important to the folk arts are an outgrowth of the community way of life and are passed on from one human being to another.

They are only important to the community because they give us our sense of identity and our sense of specialness. Make baskets like northern weavers in the United States. They give us our sense of pride and self-esteem. There is a tendency in the United States and in most of the Western world today to lump all human beings together and give us a Social Security number and make us part of a homogeneous situation. As we become more of the same. We lose our sense of specialness. And I believe there is something there is a psyche within people to feel and identify with their own group and to share that identity with other people. For more information regarding the focaccia program and Howie please contact the St.. Foundation on culture in Honolulu.

The public face of the private sector deep. Broad colossal private sector skyscraper a monument to business and business. Representing the pillars of our economy. Agribusiness distribution and services also representing a trivet is about community building. One recent operation to support the visual arts by commissioning sculpture and painting has operations now actively involved with God. How does this new endeavor reflect towards the community. You know mixes with good processes and news reporters in the

City Room of the morning newspaper. The one on the advertiser publishes intrigue Smith remembers how a promotional campaign grew into a major and it. Is hard to realize that looking around our walls which are covered with art as you see that when we first started off here 20 years ago there wasn't a single thing on the wall there absolutely. There are few plants here and there and it was a beautiful building but we started off with the idea of getting people in the area just to participate in the newspaper activity. But as we began accumulating ard we began hanging out on the walls throughout the building. It's in every corridor and every private office it's a storage rooms it's a beautiful room where people and you can get in to see it. So it's become a question now of where it hangs as really one of where to where Room Baggett. Recently operation such as the Central Pacific Bank have been turning their attention to the arms starkly Our support

has not as much as we'd like it to be. This year we've changed and central bank has decided to support. Young artists on Hawaii. In doing it. Here in the lobby as well as featured in our. How is. The McDonald's restaurant in the heart of Waikiki displays more than its golden arches. On the second floor of the final. This exhibit is a response to corporate concern that many of its customers particularly the tourist has been missing an important element. And I wasn't. Referring to the scenic beauty of this land which was legendary but more specifically to a deep and very rich culture that this

state has no other state possesses. That goes back perhaps as much as 2000 years and we felt it when we talked about this at the way that we could present. Two of us that are. Would be in the form of Fine Arts of the visual arts. One local corporation has used this issue a lot to commemorate two special celebrations. We'd like to establish an affinity between A and B in the world of creative art and including the visual arts as it happened we had occasions. In the last few years in 1975. It was our seventy fifth anniversary of the corporation so we use that as an event and you know when you have a birthday party like that you want to do something special. So we went for art. And the same thing occurred in 1981 when we had an edge in aviation so when we had two Centennial one on our sugar plantation in Maui

and the other mattes a Navigation Company our major subsidiary 19 relatively unknown local artists participated in Alexandra Baldwin's 70th anniversary and we just ask them each to pick out some aspect of A and B or our subsidiaries that interests you and you think would make a good painting or drawing. We're sent an outdoor company you know sugar shipping land these are all outdoor things and one was beautiful places in the world. So we thought that was a relatively easy task. When it came to second prize it was quite different in that we're talking about Centennial and of discrete specific companies one of the largest sugar plantations on Maui the other mattes Navigation Company the principal shipping company between the West Coast and why. So we hear we were asking that. We in each case we put we want to one artist do math and one artist to do it. We wanted from each of them working very large. Suitable for use in our

report for long term display but historical. Central Pacific Bank. The contents of a bank calendar has gone from the traditional to the very contemporary. As vice president of marketing department we annually have the responsibility of producing our calendar. And the calendar is annual thing we present to our clients and our customers and friends. We've been doing scenery flowers and things of that nature in the past. This year we wanted to do something different. And as a result we came out with this calendar and this was done to help promote. Number one the young artists that are available or here in hall and that has not had much exposure to the general public and

as they're featured doing their particular Munn simultaneously we are having an exhibit in our main branch lobby so that the. People downtown area as well as our customers can view them and enjoy. As candidates develop collections for his McDonald's restaurants. Do you find time to be sex ed.. Depend upon the scene. In a certain location. A certain area we would want the collection to reflect the people quality of that area. The history of that area that would be part of the general agreement that I would reach with that. We would come away with a feel for what we want to do. But. There is no one focus. We're not doing just one thing.

It's simply a location by location consideration has commissioned. For the night. I do a lot of murals for community and everyone. Listen. And. Wait for images to come through of the experience. Absorbing there as a mirror. So here I was. In every piece that you do it. With in a whole bunch of women. Go far away from.

This particular kind of hallway area where you only have like five of you. And it's for a restaurant. So I'm thinking in my mind I think what's best for them I'd like a piece that is going to be a ONE him two hamburger are you know am I going to really strike big and have a three hamburger. So. I'm making it filled with details. When completed and the. Community. Has given freedom to paint its commission. When I work with the artist. I try. To work with the artist as little as possible. I try to stay out of their way. Their creativity is almost magical. And I would not want in any way to hinder it I don't want to and

we talk only a very general terms. I don't mind working within a limitations at all. In fact that's a real challenge and there's nothing wrong with that. That's really a fact that can be very liberating in a sense. Sometimes working in a patient as you have your structure and from your structure you can take off from there with style or with colors or whatever but this one Pat was just he said hey you do anything you want. But even within that total freedom I wanted to make sure he you know he knew what he was getting. So I typed out all the proverbs and I typed out. And I pointed I said hey this might be a little sensitive. And Pat said anything you just do it. Go for it. So I'm taking that liberty and I'm doing strong work. This will be a community and it's a chance for me really to pull in a lot of my friends. Into the picture. It's going to be hundreds of people.

Really gives me a chance to include a lot of people out here for. The man with the stream going through his head as my father portrayed of my father and that's a proverb a wise man's words expressed deep streams of thought. This is a proverb on bravery. These guys really risked their life so here they are they're putting out a fire. And the man who is warming himself on the fire that's a proverb that says he doesn't care whose house is burned as long as he can warm himself. I have several people I'm working for I'm working for them. And. I'm working for the people he wants the picture made for and I'm working for a sense that I have to have what's needed and what's proper and what I can give that they might not have seen. That's really important to give them whoever is hiring you what they need and what they want and what's proper for them. If you don't do that then you're not going to you're not going to be filling your part of the bargain.

So I but I at the same time I want to give something that's just not decoration. I'm not a person who believes that things should just be decoration I think art has a higher purpose. Being a part of what the artist does I think is by far and away the biggest charge but I still have to find a way to commercially justify it. Can I quantify. Whether or not we've sold more hamburgers with those. Undoubtedly we have. I don't think I would be able to tell you that we we serve one hundred more hamburgers a day or something like this I know that we have seen the difference in the volume. I know that we've made a point here and it makes sense and it makes enough sense for me to cause to want to do it in other restaurants as well. And when business is not on a connex and commissions It also provides support services such as the exhibition

space and the. Fact. That. The Antec Santa was originally built by Center properties and initiated the program exhibitions and cultural programs. By about the mid 70s this was formalized. We now have a new limited partnership and they intend to continue the programs with the type of exhibitions that we like to see sponsored here that will not only interest the public but bring people in and into a position of countering the ads. So we've found that the law shows through this very well and a good example of that is the white craftsman show. We've had that here for quite a few years. It's just a show that is very high quality and consequently an excellent showcase for local Ottis.

But at the same time it's it's a wonderful experience for the layman who a lot of people haven't even been to shows or exhibitions don't make it to a museum but they're able to see this. And so this is very good. They're good thing here. We do like to sponsor a retrospective. We have Francis has a retrospective here this month. Again this is something that. Is a very nice way of introducing the public to the ads. But at the same time acknowledging the contribution to the community by a fellow artist. On the first floor of the newspaper building a Contemporary Art Center is now a public museum but still relies heavily on its original benefactor.

The Honolulu Advertiser is really our big daddy. They've bought all of our art for us and what they do is they buy it and then a few years later they give it to us so. That collection that is in this building is really half ours and half their size. They give it to us a few years later but we've gotten to the point where we've got an awful lot of art really squeezing out the walls. The Honolulu advertises collection is a considerable one as the number of words began to accumulate and we began to find hundreds of artist Representatives with our About 700 different artists represented in the collection. As that number began to be significant we began to realize that what was happening here was an accumulation of work that resembled a museum more than simple collection because we were getting. He's a work of art every month from a different artist. And didn't they very long before that became a very significant feature of the community because it was the only place where you could go and see what people were doing in a way this year so

that we began to realize it. Whether we landed or not. From the very beginning this really was becoming a museum of contemporary art. Gallery property here in this world. We also have art on the second floor and all over this first part. In terms of what we show and how much we show or how often they really just stand back as the helpful good guys they've never tried to tell us what to do or tell us what to do that we kind of tell them what they should buy from each shelf. At the moment. Probably about 2000 pieces of art and I would run all the way from. Watercolors to a sculpture of bronze or. Any kind of media that you can name we have something from every possible medium and out of those 2000 or those 2000 works of art or have been done by some

700 artist more than 700 artists right now. So it does cover a wide range of artists through most of these of worked in a way on the since World War 2. As a museum what we want to do is deal with contemporary art in Hawaii and exhibit all kinds of contemporary art. We want to collect primarily the last four decades that we're talking about in any given time. So that so that we don't become a custodial institution. In other words so that the basement doesn't fill up until we can't move anymore. So we were going to try and keep just a 40 year record at any given time. And at the end of a decade for instance in 1990 we would look at everything that we have between nine hundred forty one thousand fifty and we would let's say 10 pieces of art that are very important. And after 40 years you can pretty much tell which ones are important in historic reference the Contemporary Art Center has run out of space.

And if we're going to have to raise a lot of money. We've been getting everything for a year. You know we're just taking care of us we have security. We have air conditioning. We have the space we're not paying rent for any of this and to exist in any other place we're going to have to do a lot of fundraising. The advertiser happily will continue to support us to a certain extent but there will be a lot of things that the public's really going to have to help out with. The effects of corporate support go beyond annual reports and promotional campaigns. It touches all who work in IT and around it. There's really a lot of upfront money that has to go into to paying for something like this and not many people can do that in our society it really is only the McDonnell's and and the large corporations who can finance something like this. Oh well we wouldn't exist without them.

It has been quite a Exposure to me personally to see all the different type of works and I mean in contemporary art which encompasses so many different forms of art it's been quite a learning experience for myself as well. Thoughts from the folks. At corporate dot for the on look at. The work that. THE CUSTOMER. Or the tourists. The aughts sees each of us differently. Yeah derives from the nation of a single creator. And when it reaches. In the manner we. Join us again on the next spectrum. The preceding program has been made possible by grants from Chevron USA

in Hawaii and the state foundation on culture and the arts.