Kapa‘a High School senior Castiel Abadicio, who is a member of the school’s JROTC program, had about an hour to create a new chicken on Friday when the school’s Art Club put finishing touches on its project to renovate and create a new mural for Aloha Island Mart Kapahi.
“When we got the phone call, I didn’t even know it was the Aloha Island Mart,” said Vanessa Owens, a Kapa‘a High School instructor, who serves as the leader of the Art Club. “I thought it was still the Menehune Mart. They wanted to redo the mural located on the mauka side of the building on Kawaihau Road.”
Owens said the Art Club students, numbering about a dozen, said they did not want to cover over the previous artists’ work. That meant the students would create new pieces to complement the existing art, with a theme of Kapahi, centering on Kealia Beach, and the views from where the building stands.
“We’re not here to compete,” Owens said. “We are just adding to what was already there. The students took a lot of photos so they could get everything right.”
Using material and supplies left over from previous projects, the Art Club and Owens started work on the new mural that extended to nearly five days of work, ending Friday.
“Aloha Island Mart did the wall priming,” Owens said. “They also fed the students while they worked on the wall. And, when we’re done, they’re applying the protective coating layer.”
Owens said the Art Club is no stranger to doing these kinds of projects. Previously, the Art Club created a mural of the solarium at the Samuel Mahelona Memorial Hospital, and at the arboretum in Wailua.
She said when the bridge on Loop Road was vandalized, the Art Club students responded by painting over the damaged areas.
Owens said the Art Club has no projects scheduled for the future because school is winding down for this year. “We’ll just wait until someone in the community needs work done,” Owens said.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 808-245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
