Freelance artist Curtis Cabral’s first Ching Young Village Shopping Center mural was 4-foot by 80-foot. “I did it with spray paint,” said the 14-year North Shore resident. “I used to hire some of the kids from Hanalei Gourmet to help
Freelance artist Curtis Cabral’s first Ching Young Village Shopping Center mural was 4-foot by 80-foot. “I did it with spray paint,” said the 14-year North Shore resident.
“I used to hire some of the kids from Hanalei Gourmet to help me with my murals,” said Cabral. “I’d tell these transient hippies, ‘Don’t you want to aspire to something else besides a dishwasher?”
But ultimately the kids he’d recruit were here only short-term and wouldn’t last long enough to finish a project.
“Then a friend of mine asked me why I bother with the transient community,” said Cabral.
Point taken.
Cabral decided to reach into the loyal community of artists that were not only passionate about making art, but also, a committed community of Kaua‘i citizens.
When a writer friend of Cabral’s wanted to have kids help her illustrate a children’s book she asked him to help her teach the kids to do illustrations.
Next thing the artist knew, he had a dozen enthusiastic kindergartners, parents and grandparents helping him with an underwater scene on the wall of the Big Save in Ching Young Village.
“The kids work at ground level and I work on the ladder,” said Cabral.
He reaches the elementary school community by sending a memo to the classroom. “We just invite the kids to join us in a community project and learn how to paint.”
At first he considered doing it as a field trip during the school week. “There was too much red tape,” said Cabral.
That was when he decided the project was best done on weekends when parents and other family members could participate as well.
After working with the angst-ridden teenage crowd, Cabral was happy to upgrade to the elementary community. “My friend Felicia teaches home school in Kilauea and she initiated the whole thing with kids,” said Cabral. “Last weekend we had the home school kids, Kula School and Hanalei Elementary there painting.”
Most of Cabrals’s work is sold out of Hanalei Gourmet. “I’m the town artist,” he said.
But he regularly paints murals all over Hanalei.
Today though, his murals are all done by brush and not spray can. “Too much overspray,” Cabral said.
“I’ll be doing it again with the kids on Saturday, Oct. 13 from 9 to 12,” said Cabral. “But anyone on the island can come.”
To learn more call Curtis at 635-5261.
