While Annaleah is on vacation, Kathleen Ho, the fine arts manager of Hale ‘Opio Kauai Inc., has stepped into the Corner to share how HOK’s logo reflects its mission to nurture and shelter youth on Kauai. Here in November, we
While Annaleah is on vacation, Kathleen Ho, the fine arts manager of Hale ‘Opio Kauai Inc., has stepped into the Corner to share how HOK’s logo reflects its mission to nurture and shelter youth on Kauai.
Here in November, we enter into the traditional season of Makahiki. In pre-contact Hawaii, this time touched the life of every islander, helped manage and distribute the bounty of land and sea, and mandated a prolonged period of peace and festivities. Based on star and lunar events, the fall/winter season lasts about four months with themes of abundance, thankfulness and peace. In modern day, it is still observed in a variety of ways that honor and acknowledge the rhythm and cycles of life, a time of gratitude for the riches that life has to offer.
I am grateful for the 28 years I have had the opportunity to the offer art and cultural programs to youth through HOK In that time I have been touched by a spectrum of youth who have been involved in the variety of available programs. HOK is unique in that as it provided a multitude of much needed services for youth and their families, it has always had an arts program.
From 1975-2009, the art and cultural program was a vital part of the therapeutic group home program for youth. Daily after school sessions for residents offered art, photography, ceramics, canoe paddling as well as making their own paddles. This fostered an alternative means of healthy expression. During this time, these youth won many public art awards as well as experienced personal growth that became part of their nurtured foundation.
In 2009 the art and cultural program, “Ke Kahua O Ka Malamalama” (The Foundation of the Light of Knowledge), was created to reach out to youth in the community. Since then, through this program, many public art projects have been created that honor Kauai’s history and culture. If you are in the Nawiliwili area you can view two beautiful mosaics. One, fronting Nawiliwili Yacht Club, greets those that enter the Nawiliwili Small Boat Harbor. Created with the help of over 55 youth from the community, this six-foot mosaic depicts pre-contact Nawiliwili Bay. The mural offers an artistic view of the balanced practice of sustainable values applied in a lifestyle that recognizes the interconnectedness of all life.
The latest mosaic graces the hale of Niumalu Canoe Club between Kalapaki Beach and Nawiliwili Park. This twelve by three foot mosaic, portrays the night Queen Lili‘uokalani sailed into Nawiliwili Bay, July 8,1891, on her royal tour of the islands. Inspired by the queen’s enduring love of Hawaii and its people, this mosaic, entitled “Onipa‘a” (steadfast), was completed with the help of over 100 Kauai youth. It is dedicated to hope for the future of our keiki.
To continue our commitment for the revitalization of a healthier Nawiliwili Bay, a third mosaic is in the works. These projects allow for a greater understanding of this altered land and waterscape by learning the value of its history to better participate in its future developments. Interested youth will have opportunities to deepen their connection to this ‘aina, learn new skills and have ownership in creating a public art project for the community to enjoy for a very long time.
Providing culturally meaningful and creative opportunities is just a small part of the many needed services offered HOK’s residents and now the greater community. It reflects HOK’s gratitude and love for our beloved Kauai and its people.
HOK’s gratitude for and the appreciation of Kauai’s culture of working within nature’s rhythms and cycles inspired HOK’s logo. I had the honor to help with this project, to create an image that represents the organization’s four decades of service to Kauai’s community.
The kalo (taro) is the focal point of this logo. The corm outline is inspired by the magnificent and revered Haupu mountain, which can be seen standing tall from the HOK office, and majestically viewed from many other vantage points on the island.
Kalo and its cultivation is the staple of the Hawaiian diet and core of the Hawaiian culture and identity. It is a plant with strong, sheltering, heart shaped leaves. If you ever experienced the gift of observing kalo in the rain you would see that the broad leaf (lau), gathers water drops and collects it in its piko. In a beautiful dance of balance with the gravity that holds it to this earth, it bends to funnel the life giving water, not toward itself, but directs the water outward to nourish and shelter its ōha, its keiki and the community it is rooted in.
That reaching out, to nurture and shelter our youth, is what HOK has done for 40 years and continues to do today. We appreciate the many of you in the community who support this mission, the agencies, donors, board members and especially its staff, who have participated in this giving cycle. HOK is dedicated to nurturing Kauai youth by providing services that strengthen individuals, families and our island community.
Youth will always require a great deal of nurturing, guidance, and protection and above all, love. In this time of gratitude, let us continue together to gather the raindrops, to provide the sustenance and shelter needed for thriving youth in our community.
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Hale ‘Opio Kaua’i convened a support group of adults in our Kaua’i community to “step into the corner” for our teens, to answer questions and give support to youth and their families on a wide variety of issues. Please email your questions or concerns facing our youth and families today to Annaleah Atkinson at aatkinson@haleopio.org For more information about Hale ‘Opio Kaua’i, please go to www.haleopio.org
