WAILUA — The final six panels of ceramic student art was installed Thursday, but the Kamalani Pavilion is still not ready for the public. Carol Yotsuda of the Garden Island Arts Council said about a half dozen Kaua‘i artists, including
WAILUA — The final six panels of ceramic student art was installed Thursday, but the Kamalani Pavilion is still not ready for the public.
Carol Yotsuda of the Garden Island Arts Council said about a half dozen Kaua‘i artists, including Ray Nitta, Pepe Orbe and Clyde Furumoto, spearheaded the installation process, joined by other artists who performed the finish work of caulking the installed panels.
Last week, Yotsuda and other GIAC artists were at ‘Ele‘ele Elementary School working with students to finalize the final panel in preparation for Thursday’s installation.
Kaua‘i County Council member Tim Bynum, the head of the Parks Committee, stopped by to watch the progress of the installation.
“Since the Kamalani project started with the playground, we have about three generations of children’s art decorating the Playground, the Kamalani Kai Bridge and now the Kamalani Pavilion,” Bynum said. “I drop by the playground from time to time and have such a great feeling when I see parents point out artwork to their children they created.”
The installation of the artwork panels, each one representing a different school on Kaua‘i, marks the end of the reconstruction work on the pavilion which was destroyed by a fire in 2007.
The county said, in a Nov. 29 release, proposed rules regarding activities at Kamalani Pavilion were recently drafted and the county is in the process of scheduling a public hearing to get feedback on the proposed rules.
The county anticipates opening the Kamalani Pavilion early next year.
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@ thegardenisland.com.