The Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts will host an opening reception for new art exhibit “Ho‘oulu: The Inspiration of Hula” as part of the Live from the Lawn event at the Hawaii State Art Museum on First Friday, Sept. 4, from 6 to 9 p.m. The art show will be on display through July 17.
The exhibit in the Diamond Head Gallery of the Hawai‘i State Art Museum presents hula-inspired and -related works in the Art in Public Places Collection.
Also on display will be hula implements and objects from the Bishop Museum and the Hula Preservation Society. Native Hawaiian artist Solomon Enos, who illustrated The Epic of Hi’iakaikapoliopele, will lend some of his original renderings from the book. Native Hawaiian kapa maker Moana Eisele will lend costumes.
The exhibition is designed to mimic the ‘ohi‘a lehua tree, a tree beloved by and associated with the hula deities. Beginning with the roots, goddess Hi‘iakaikapoliopele’s odyssey, one of the origin stories of hula, is illustrated via paintings, drawings, prints, photographs, and sculptures.
The trunk features images of kumu, the goddesses and masters, who built the foundation and transmit the art form to successive generations. The branches are the kumu hula (hula teachers), whose portraits appear in the first volume of “Nana I Na Loea Hula: Look to the Hula Resources,” a book published by Kalihi-Palama Culture & Arts Society, Inc., a grantee of the Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts.
The teachers produce the “fruits” and “flowers” displayed in the last section through the representations of dances and dancers.
The Hawai‘i State Art Museum is located in the No. 1 Capitol District Building at 250 South Hotel St. in downtown Honolulu. across from the Capitol and ‘Iolani Palace. Hours of operation are Tuesday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free. For more information, call 586-0900 or 586-0305, or visit www.hawaii.gov/sfca.