Exhibition Schedule 2008-2009
The following exhibitions and events are scheduled for galleries at the Bishop Museum and Hawai‘i Maritime Center in Honolulu, and Amy B. H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Gardens in Captain Cook, HI beginning April 2008 through December 2009. More detailed information will be available at www.bishopmuseum.org or in Ka Elele, the journal of Bishop Museum. Visit the press room online at http://www.bishopmuseum.org/media/press_releases.html for more information.
This information is subject to change.
APRIL 2008
4th ANNUAL MAD ABOUT SCIENCE FESTIVAL at Bishop Museum
April 5, 2008; Great Lawn; 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
General Admission $15.95; Seniors 65+ $12.95; Children 4-12 $12.95; $3 admission for Hawai‘i residents and active/retired military and their families with ID; Bishop Museum members free
Everyone is invited to be a scientist at the 4th annual Mad About Science Festival, sponsored in part by BAE Systems and Safeway. From earth sciences and medical sciences to out-of-this-world space sciences, kids and their parents will enjoy dozens of activities to explore and discover. Learn about archaeology, marine biology, entomology, and other scientific areas of research.
Mad About Science Festival offers a chance to experience science at the Bishop Museum in a vast array of ways: from special tours of the Museum’s natural science collections to telescopes on the lawn for solar viewing during the day. Astronomy presentations will be offered throughout the day in the Watumull Planetarium. Ongoing demonstrations at NOAA’s Science on a Sphere will be featured and visitors are encouraged to explore the Museum’s permanent exhibit, Global Warming. Many other hands-on activities from the Bishop Museum’s own Holoholo science outreach program will be available for children to experience and explore.
Admission to Mad About Science Festival is offered at a reduced rate of $3 per person for Hawai‘i residents and Military with ID; Regular admission applies to all others except Museum members and children 3 and under, which are free. Admission to the event includes access to all of Bishop Museum’s exhibit halls and galleries featuring all special exhibitions and the interactive Science Adventure Center.
Solar views on the Great Lawn with volunteers from the Institute of Astronomy will be offered from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., weather permitting. For more information about Mad About Science Festival, call (808) 847-3511 or visit www.bishopmuseum.org. Project Coordinator is Hiilani Shibata.
MAOLI ARTS MONTH AWARDS 2008: CELEBRATING OUR MASTERS
April 19 through September 7, 2008
Joseph M. Long Gallery
Bishop Museum will begin the third annual Maoli Arts Month (MAMo) by honoring a select number of Native Hawaiian master artists with the exhibition, MAMo Awards 2008: Celebrating our Masters in the Joseph M. Long Gallery.
Coordinated by Bishop Museum’s Noelle Kahanu, MAMo Awards 2008: Celebrating our Masters honors four Hawaiian master artists who have tirelessly championed the cause of Native Hawaiian arts: revered lauhala weaver Elizabeth Lee; painter David Parker; sculptor Hanale Hopfe; and painter and arts organizer Al Lagunero. The exhibition celebrates these artists through the presentation of artworks that attest to their lifetime achievements.
The art exhibition is part of MAMo, a month-long community-based event in May celebrating Native Hawaiian art, artists, and cultural practitioners with a host of activities and events at a variety of venues throughout Honolulu, including the Hawai‘i State Art Museum, Chinatown Arts District, The Arts and Marks Garage, as well as Bishop Museum.
MAMo organizers include Bishop Museum, PAI Foundation, Hale Kuai, Maoli Arts Alliance, as well as other Native Hawaiian artists and organizations, and the City and County of Honolulu, Mayor’s Office for Culture and the Arts. Project Coordinator is Marques Marzan.
HAWAIIAN ELECTRIC COMPANY PRESENTS:
GROW HAWAIIAN FESTIVAL at Bishop Museum
April 26, 2008; Great Lawn; 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
FREE ADMISSION
Bishop Museum is hosting the first Grow Hawaiian Festival to be held on Oahu, presented by Hawaiian Electric Company on April 26, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The eco-conscious festival is being held in honor of Earth Day. Admission is free. Weavers, dancers, kapa makers, and other practitioners of traditional Hawaiian culture will join biologists, conservationists, and horticulturists to share their common passion for the native and Polynesian-introduced plants of Hawai‘i . Festival attendees will have a unique opportunity to speak to many of the foremost practitioners of Hawaiian arts including lei makers, ipu makers, and woodworkers.
Headlining the festival will be presentations by olohe lua, author, and cultural historian, Richard Likeke Paglinawan, who will discuss the plants of the ancient Hawaiian martial arts, while a roundtable of kumu hula will share personal stories and thoughts on the plants used in hula. Staff from the native plant nursery Hui Ku Maoli Ola will talk about how to choose and properly care for Hawaiian plants. Representatives from Kaala Farm will be on hand demonstrating kalo pounding and kapa making.
The Grow Hawaiian Festival provides an extraordinary opportunity for people to ask experts for advice on all manner of things biological or horticultural. Attendees can bring their unknown plants to the festival to get them identified.
The festival will also feature informational booths on local conservation and sustainability efforts, a guided tour of Bishop Museum’s garden of native and indigenous plants, and a native plants sale.
The Hawaiian music trio Pilioha and hula dancers will entertain festival attendees. Refreshments will be available for purchase from local food vendors. Hawaiian Electric Company will give away reusable grocery bags to the first 100 families or individuals who attend the festival and, while supplies last, to those who pledge to conserve electricity.
For more information about Hawaiian Electric Company Presents: Grow Hawaiian Festival at Bishop Museum, call (808) 847-3511 or visit www.bishopmuseum.org.
MAKAWALU: THE WATCHFUL ONES
MAMo Community Exhibition at the ARTS at Marks Garage; 1159 Nuuanu Ave. Call (808) 521-2903 for hours; Free
April 29 through May 31, 2008
In celebration of Maoli Arts Month, Bishop Museum is proud to present this exhibition in partnership with the ARTS at Marks Garage and PAI Foundation. It features eight native artists, eight pairs of eyes, and eight visions of the world. Experience the works of some of the top Native Hawaiian contemporary artists of today, including Maile Andrade, Mark Chai, Rocky K. Jensen, Imaikalani Kalahele, Kapulani Landgraf, Meleanna Meyer, Abigail Romanchak, and Maikai Tubs. Noelle Kahanu is project manager. For more information, call 847-3511.
MAY 2008
MAOLI ARTS MONTH AWARDS 2008: CELEBRATING OUR MASTERS
Awards Ceremony open to the Public; May 1, 2008; 6 to 9 p.m.
Bishop Museum Grounds and Joseph M. Long Gallery
This reception honors the Maoli Arts Month (MAMo) Award-winning artists and is free to the public. Come and meet the artists and view their exhibition of artworks in the Joseph M. Long Gallery.
The art exhibition is part of MAMo, a month-long community-based event in May celebrating Native Hawaiian art, artists, and cultural practitioners with a host of activities and events at a variety of venues throughout Honolulu, including the Hawai‘i State Art Museum, Chinatown Arts District, The Arts and Marks Garage, as well as Bishop Museum. Project Coordinator is Noelle Kahanu.
3rd Annual NATIVE HAWAIIAN ARTS MARKET AND KEIKI ARTS FESTIVAL
May 3 & 4, 2008; 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
General Admission $15.95; Seniors 65+ $12.95; Children 4-12 $12.95; $3 admission for Hawai‘i residents and active/retired military and their families with ID; Bishop Museum members free
Great Lawn; Bishop Museum
Bishop Museum in partnership with PAI Foundation will host a two-day Native Hawaiian Arts Market and Keiki Arts Festival, which will feature the stellar work of dozens of native artists, on May 3 and 4 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Market and Festival is part of Maoli Arts Month (MAMo). MAMo organizers include Bishop Museum, PAI Foundation, Hale Kuai, Maoli Arts Alliance, as well as other Native Hawaiian artists and organizations, and the City and County of Honolulu, Mayor’s Office for Culture and the Arts. Project Coordinator is Marques Marzan.
The Native Hawaiian Arts Market is fashioned after the Heard Museum Indian Fair and Market and the Santa Fe Indian Market, two of the most popular, successful, and longest running Native Indian arts events in America. A wide variety of quality arts and crafts created by Native Hawaiians will be available for sale in addition to Native Hawaiian performing arts and food booths featuring island favorites.
Among the market artists featured in previous years were master woodcarver Solomon Apio; fiber artists Maile Andrade; painters Ipo Nihipali, Joe Dowson, Kaui Chun, Sol Enos, Lufi Luteru, and Meala Bishop; feather artists Auntie Mary Lou Kekeuwa, Paulette Kahalepuna, JoAnne Kahanamoku Sterling, and Audrey Wagner; stonework artists Henry Hopfe and Kunane Wooton; and mixed media artists Imaikalani Kalahele, Bob Frietas, and Puni Kukahiko, and many, many others. Many of these same artists will participate again this year.
For the first time, the 3rd Annual Keiki Art Festival will also be taking place at Bishop Museum. Ma Ka Hana Ka Ike: Keiki Arts Festival enables children and their families to create art and meet native Hawaiian artists and cultural practitioners. The event features hands-on art activities where children can create sand art, watercolors, lei making, kapa beating, weaving, featherwork, storytelling, t-shirt screening, and much more.
Demonstrations, workshops, and performances will take place throughout the day. Those interested in learning more about the Native Hawaiian Arts Market and Festival, should visit www.maoliartsmonth.org. Coordinators are Bishop Museum’s Noelle Kahanu and PAI Foundation’s Vicky Holt Takamine.
Hawai‘i MARITIME CENTER AND POLYNESIAN VOYAGING SOCIETY FISH FRY
May 9, 2008; 6 to 9 p.m.; $100 Per Person
Hawai‘i Maritime Center Lawn
Famed Hawaiian voyaging canoe navigator Nainoa Thompson will be the subject of a humorous roast at the Hawai‘i Maritime Center and Polynesian Voyaging Society Fish Fry set for May 9 from 6 to 9 p.m. at Pier 7, on the front lawn of the Hawai‘i Maritime Center. Tickets are $100 per person, with premium tables available for $2500 and $5000. For reservations, email angela.britten@bishopmuseum.org or call (808) 848-4170.
The event will also feature a silent auction with a variety of items going to the highest bidders. Among the auction items will be a sailing adventure on the famous Polynesian voyaging canoe Hokulea; a signed navigational chart used by Thompson on a recent canoe voyage; a one-night stay at the new Wyland Waikīkī Hotel; a behind-the-scenes tour of Bishop Museum with Director Timothy E. Johns; and other Hōkūle‘a memorabilia.
Special entertainment will be provided by the crew of the Hōkūle‘a and other surprise guests. Fish for the fish fry will be provided by the Long Liners and Team Taape. Reservations for the event are currently being accepted by Angela Britten, Director of Special Events and Corporate Development, at (808) 848-4170.
The Hawai‘i Maritime Center (HMC) celebrates Hawai‘i ’s rich maritime history through exhibits, displays, and rare maritime artifacts. As an institution of Bishop Museum, HMC offers visitors a look back at the Hawaiian Islands’ extensive maritime history---from its discovery by Polynesian navigators 1500 years ago, to contact with western culture, to the effects of whaling. The artifacts on display include a humpback whale skeleton, objects from early canoe voyaging, and Honolulu Advertiser legend Bob Krauss’ desk.
HMC shares a deep connection with the Polynesian Voyaging Society (PVS), a non-profit educational organization devoted to a legacy of ocean exploration and cultural understanding. PVS has sustained, perpetuated, and expanded the traditional art of Polynesian voyaging in the spirit of exploration and cultural expression and understanding. Angela Britten is Project Coordinator.
For more information about Hawai‘i Maritime Center and Polynesian Voyaging Society Fish Fry, call (808) 847-3511 or visit www.bishopmuseum.org.
WHALES: WONDERS OF THE OCEAN
May 17, 2008 through September 21, 2008
Castle Memorial Building
Learn all about the gentle giants of the sea in this robotic traveling exhibition from WonderWorks. This exhibit tells their 54-million-year-old story, from early life on land to their journey back to the sea. Life-size robotic whales illustrate the major categories of whale origins, adaptations and behavior from feeding and reproduction to swimming, vocalization, respiration, and diving. The exhibit will feature full-sized robotic versions of a Baby Gray whale, a Humpback whale and an Orca, and animated heads of a Northern Right whale and a Sperm whale. This presentation is sponsored in part by Wyland Waikīkī, Horizon Lines, and Bank of Hawai‘i .
Whales are the descendants of land living mammals of the Artiodactyl order. Whales are the closest living relatives of hippos! They both evolved from a common ancestor at around 54 million years ago. Whales entered the water roughly 50 million years ago. These cetaceans are divided into two suborders: Baleen whales which have a sieve-like structure in the upper jaw made of keratin that is used to filter plankton; and toothed whales which have teeth and prey on fish and squid.
Like all mammals, whales breathe air into lungs, are warm-blooded, and feed their young milk from mammary glands, and have some hair. Whales breathe through blowholes located on the top of the head so the animal can remain submerged. Baleen whales have two blowholes, while toothed whales only have one. Whales have a unique respiratory system that lets them stay underwater for long periods of time without taking in oxygen. Sperm whales are known to stay underwater for up to two hours holding a single breath!
Whales live from 40 to 200 years, depending on their species, but it is rare to find one that lives over a century. Whale flukes are often used to identify whales and they communicate with each other using lyrical sounds. Being so large and powerful, whales sounds are extremely loud and can be heard for many miles.
The exhibit features several participatory stations where visitors can learn to identify whales the way scientists do; by their songs, their markings, their fins and tails, and their behavior. The six large motorized creatures on exhibit operate on air pressure and were constructed in Los Angeles. Andrewsarchus will be the first motorized creature to greet visitors as they enter the show. This hairy, ugly, land-dwelling mammal with a snout is included in the exhibit because it belongs to a group of primitive carnivorous land mammals dating back 50 million years, which scientists believe may have been the predecessors of whales. The subsequent displays feature a tail-waving orca, a lanky basilosaurus, and the gray whale with a calf, among others. Inside each creature is an aluminum and steel robotic skeleton.
The movements of the robotic whales are controlled by a computer mounted in the creature’s base. The computer regulates the flow of compressed air through a series of air lines and valves to various cylinders. As air is forced through the system, it causes the piston inside each cylinder to move in and out. Large cylinders are used for tail and flipper movements, while small cylinders are used for the eye and mouth movements. A sound system, controlled by the same computer, is mounted in the base and is used to create life-like whale sounds. The skin is made from thick foam with a flexible elastimer coating that shows all the bumps and folds of the full-size clay sculpture. The whales’ creators have gone to great lengths to make the exhibit as authentic as possible, including putting lice and barnacles on some of the whales and even the sounds of the thumping whale heartbeat. Project Coordinator is Leon Geschwind.
JUNE 2008
BISHOP MUSEUM FAMILY SUNDAY – Whales: Wonders of the Ocean
June 22, 2008
9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Sponsored by Bank of Hawai‘i
General Admission $15.95; Seniors 65+ $12.95; Children 4-12 $12.95; $3 admission for Hawai‘i residents and active/retired military and their families with ID; Bishop Museum members free
Great Lawn and exhibit buildings
Bishop Museum’s Family Sundays provide a day of fun on the Great Lawn with special reduced rates of only $3 per person for Hawai‘i residents and Active/Retired Military and their families with ID. Entertainment, games and activities for the children, and food booths are featured. Enjoy gallery tours and access to daily programs in the Planetarium, Science on a Sphere, and the Richard T. Mamiya Science Adventure Center. Project Coordinator is Linda Chock.
BANK OF HAWAI‘I PRESENTS: MOONLIGHT MELE ON THE LAWN
JOHN CRUZ AND THE GIRLAHS
June 19, 2008;
ADVANCE TICKETS: $15 General Admission; $10 Bishop Museum Members, Military with ID, Bank of Hawai‘i Customers and Employees with ID; Children 4 & under free; Available at Bishop Museum or Hawai‘i Maritime Center 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily.
TICKETS THE DAY OF OR AT THE DOOR: $20 GENERAL; $10 Museum Members, Military with ID; Bank of Hawai‘i Customers and Employees with ID
Gates open at 5:30 p.m. for Bishop Museum members; 6 p.m. for general public
Concert begins at 7 p.m.
Great Lawn, Bishop Museum
Bishop Museum presents Moonlight Mele on the Lawn. The concert series is a staple of Honolulu’s summertime fun. Pack your low-height sand chairs or bring a blanket or a beach mat and enjoy Hawaiian music under the stars. Local eateries will provide a variety of food and beverages for purchase. (No coolers or outside food and beverages are allowed.) Only sand chairs under 12-inches high are allowed. Hand-held umbrellas are encouraged for the occasional mauka showers. Project Coordinator is Linda Chock.
JULY 2008
BANK OF HAWAI‘I PRESENTS: MOONLIGHT MELE ON THE LAWN
MAUNALUA
July 17, 2008;
ADVANCE TICKETS: $15 General Admission; $10 Bishop Museum Members, Military with ID, Bank of Hawai‘i Customers and Employees with ID; Children 4 & under free; Available at Bishop Museum or Hawai‘i Maritime Center 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily.
TICKETS THE DAY OF OR AT THE DOOR: $20 GENERAL; $10 Museum Members, Military with ID; Bank of Hawai‘i Customers and Employees with ID
Gates open at 5:30 p.m. for Bishop Museum members; 6 p.m. for general public
Concert begins at 7 p.m.
Great Lawn, Bishop Museum
Bank of Hawai‘i presents Moonlight Mele on the Lawn. The concert series is a staple of Honolulu’s summertime fun. Pack your low-height sand chairs or bring a blanket or a beach mat and enjoy Hawaiian music under the stars. Local eateries will provide a variety of food and beverages for purchase. (No coolers or outside food and beverages are allowed.) Only sand chairs under 12-inches high are allowed. Hand-held umbrellas are encouraged for the occasional mauka showers. Project Coordinator is Linda Chock.
BERNICE PAUAHI BISHOP AWARDS DINNER
July 19, 2008; 6-10 p.m.
Reservations: 848-4170 or email angela.britten@bishopmuseum.org
Great Lawn, Bishop Museum
Nearly 1000 people attend the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Awards Dinner each year making this the largest and most lavish event in Honolulu. The event celebrates selected individuals who have made life-long commitments to Hawai‘i and its people. Under the starry night, there’s live entertainment, epicurean delights from the best chefs in Honolulu, behind-the-scenes tours—including a peek inside of Hawaiian Hall while it undergoes a $21 million renovation, and a celebration of excellence in philanthropy and leadership. For premium tables or reservations, call (808) 848-4170.
Bishop Museum’s major fundraising event honors two long-standing community members for their devotion and outstanding civic leadership and who exemplify the spirit and purpose of the Museum’s founder Charles Reed Bishop. This year’s honorees are famed Polynesian navigator Pius Mau Piailug and Kamehameha Schools Chief Executive Officer Dee Jay Mailer. Project Coordinator is Angela Britten.
AUGUST 2008
BANK OF HAWAI‘I PRESENTS: MOONLIGHT MELE ON THE LAWN
MAKAHA SONS
August 14, 2008;
ADVANCE TICKETS: $15 General Admission; $10 Bishop Museum Members, Military with ID, Bank of Hawai‘i Customers and Employees with ID; Children 4 & under free; Available at Bishop Museum or Hawai‘i Maritime Center 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily.
TICKETS THE DAY OF OR AT THE DOOR: $20 GENERAL; $10 Museum Members, Military with ID; Bank of Hawai‘i Customers and Employees with ID
Gates open at 5:30 p.m. for Bishop Museum members; 6 p.m. for general public;
Concert begins at 7 p.m.
Great Lawn, Bishop Museum
Bank of Hawai‘i presents Moonlight Mele on the Lawn. The concert series is a staple of Honolulu’s summertime fun. Pack your low-height sand chairs or bring a blanket or a beach mat and enjoy Hawaiian music under the stars. Local eateries will provide a variety of food and beverages for purchase. (No coolers or outside food and beverages are allowed.) Only sand chairs under 12-inches high are allowed. Hand-held umbrellas are encouraged for the occasional mauka showers. Project Coordinator is Linda Chock.
SEPTEMBER 2008
‘ILI IHO: THE SURFACE WITHIN
September 20, 2008 – January 11, 2009
J. M. Long Gallery
‘Ili Iho: The Surface Within, an exhibition of exquisite and rare textile treasures from the Bishop Museum paired with contemporary new works by Hawaiian artists, opens in Bishop Museum’s J. M. Long Gallery September 20, 2008 and remains on view through January 11, 2009. Regular admission fees apply.
‘Ili Iho: The Surface Within will explore, from an indigenous perspective, four textile treasures from Bishop Museum: a magnificent feathered cloak, fine makaloa mat, intricate kapa, and moving protest quilt. Guest curated by Hawaiian artist and University of Hawai‘i Associate Professor Maile Andrade, this exhibit will invite eight contemporary Hawaiian artists to explore these ancestral creations, creating their own works that delve into the surfaces within. ‘ Ili Iho thus considers how thin the veil between the past and present; the traditional and contemporary – revealing how surface the surface truly is.
‘Ili, the surface, is as expansive and textured as the earth and ocean. ‘Ili, our skin, is as dark as kou, as fragrant as sandalwood. Ili, our land, is as large as a valley, as small as a pebble. For what is on the surface reveals but a fraction of that which is within. The stories of Hawaiian featherworkers, weavers, kapa makers and quilters cannot be found in the study of fibers, but rather in the myriad of reasons why they created, who they revered and who they inspired.
Andrade is a native of Mākaha, whose family roots are in Moloka‘i, Hawai‘i , and Kaua‘i. A multi-media artist, she has a Masters of Fine Arts degree from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, and is an Associate Professor at Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies, developing a Native Hawaiian Visual Culture Program. Andrade has received a variety of academic awards and has participated in numerous indigenous symposiums and gatherings. Through the exhibition of her works locally, nationally and internationally, Andrade has raised the prominence and appreciation of Native Hawaiian visual arts.
The exhibit, which runs from September 13, 2008 – January 11, 2009, coincides with the 11th Annual Textile Society of America Biennial Symposium being held September 24 - 27, 2008. This international event, whose theme is Textiles as Cultural Expressions, will draw hundreds of curators, scholars, dealers, experts, and students. There will be a city-wide schedule of exhibitions featuring rare textiles from the collections of Bishop Museum, Honolulu Academy of Arts, Shangri La, University of Hawai‘i , Mission Houses, Queen Emma Summer Palace, and many others. The exhibitions, which will be on view at venues throughout Honolulu, and the International Textile Marketplace at the Sheraton Waikīkī will be open to the public. Attendance at the Textile Symposium is by registration only. To register, visit www.textilesociety.org.
Andrade is a featured speaker at the Symposium. This exhibit will “put into practice” what she discusses in her Symposium presentation. Issues considered will include: native practitioner as scholar and expert and the responsibilities and burdens of the observer and the creator. This exhibit makes imperative the role of the native community in interpreting and understanding their own material culture.
Other exhibition components will include a multi-media piece featuring interviews with the artists, an exhibition pamphlet, a panel discussion on September 25, 2008, and daily guided tours. Project Coordinator is Noelle Kahanu. The exhibition is supported in part by a Smithsonian grant from the Native American Indian Museum.
For more information about ‘Ili Iho: The Surface Within, call (808) 847-3511 or visit www.bishopmuseum.org. For more information about the 11th Annual Textile Society of America Biennial Symposium, visit www.textilesociety.org.
3rd ANNUAL BENEFIT DINNER - Picture Gallery and Art Restoration Fund
September TBA, 2008; 5 to 8 p.m.; (808) 848-4170; or
Email angela.britten@bishopmuseum.org for reservations and price information
Morton’s, The Steakhouse, Honolulu at Ala Moana Center
The 3rd Annual Benefit Dinner supporting Bishop Museum's Picture Gallery and Art Restoration Fund will be held in September from 5:30 p.m. until 8:30 p.m. at Morton’s, The Steakhouse, Honolulu, located at Ala Moana Center. Premium tables and limited strolling buffet tickets are available.
For the third year in a row, Morton's, the Steakhouse, Honolulu and Bishop Museum have teamed up to offer a fabulous evening at Morton's, including a lavish, strolling buffet of Morton’s signature dishes, select wines and classic martinis. In addition, event goers will have the rare opportunity to view selected pieces from Bishop Museum's extraordinary collection of oil paintings of Hawai‘i from the 19th and early 20th century.
All funds will go to the Museum's Art Restoration and Picture Gallery Fund to restore paintings in need of conservation work and prepare them for eventual display in the Museum's Picture Gallery. The Picture Gallery recently opened in newly renovated spaces on the second floor of the Hawaiian Hall complex.
Event guests will also have the rare opportunity to bid on silent auction items featuring recently deaccessioned archival photographs and other special treasures from Bishop Museum's Library and Archives. For reservations and more information please call (808) 848-4170. Premium tables and seating are also available. Project Coordinator is Angela Britten.
OCTOBER 2008
MEGALODON: LARGEST SHARK THAT EVER LIVED
October 11, 2008 through January 11, 2009
Castle Memorial Building
Sharks have been around for more than 400 million years—about 200 million years before dinosaurs even existed. It’s no wonder people the world over continue to be fascinated by these extraordinary, ancient creatures of the sea. With the support of the National Science Foundation, the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville, Florida, has created Megalodon: Largest Shark that Ever Lived, an exciting new traveling exhibition that highlights the evolution, biology and misconceptions regarding giant prehistoric sharks. This fun and fascinating exhibit will be coming to Honolulu October 11, 2008 through January 11, 2009 for a three-month run in Bishop Museum’s Castle Memorial Building.
The exhibit Honolulu’s debut will be sponsored in part by Wodehouse Trust and Horizon Lines. Regular admission will apply, except on Family Sunday when discounted admissions are offered to Hawai‘i residents and Military. (Also need family Sunday date for this event.)
Related to the modern great white and mako sharks, the 60-foot-long Megalodon lived worldwide until it became extinct 2 million years ago. Megalodon’s beautiful fossil teeth are highly prized by collectors and have been found in many parts of the world, including Europe, North and South America, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Africa, Malta, and India. It is among the most highly studied prehistoric sharks in the world. As unique as it was, so, too, is the exhibit that tells the story of this enormous creature. This exhibit conveys current research findings of University of Florida paleontologists and showcases both fossil and modern shark specimens and full-scale models from several collections. Learn about the process of science and shark conservation. Walk through a sculpture of a 60-foot long Megalodon. Find out what it ate, its size and structure, how long it lived, who its neighbors were, how it evolved, and why it became extinct.
Megalodon: Largest Shark That Ever Lived will also provide details on improving the health of our oceans and the survival of threatened species. Recent worldwide declines are attributed to commercial and sport over-fishing. Scientists estimate humans kill 100 million sharks, skates, and rays each year, and the life history of most shark species makes it difficult for populations to rebound. For those wondering why we need sharks, Megalodon, the exhibit, asks guests to consider the marine food web domino effect caused by over-fishing.
Other parts of the exhibit will describe how this animal continues to fascinate many, elevating Megalodon to near cult status. From biker jackets to postage stamps, the exhibit explains the many ways Megalodon remains part of human culture through art, literature, music, and film.
For more information about Megalodon: Largest Shark That Ever Lived, call (808) 847-3511 or visit www.bishopmuseum.org. Project Coordinator is Kathy Izon.
NOVEMBER 2008
BISHOP MUSEUM FAMILY SUNDAY – Megalodon: Largest Shark That Ever Lived
November 9, 2008; 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sponsored by Bank of Hawai‘i
General Admission $15.95; Seniors 65+ $12.95; Children 4-12 $12.95; $3 admission for Hawai‘i residents and active/retired military and their families with ID; Bishop Museum members free
Great Lawn and exhibit buildings
Bishop Museum’s Family Sundays provide a day of fun on the Great Lawn with special reduced rates of only $3 per person for Hawai‘i residents and Active/Retired Military and their families with ID. Entertainment, games and activities for the children, and food booths are featured. Enjoy gallery tours and access to daily programs in the Planetarium, Science on a Sphere, and the Richard T. Mamiya Science Adventure Center. Project Coordinator is Linda Chock.
DECEMBER 2008
BISHOP MUSEUM HONORS MUSEUM NAMESAKE
FREE ADMISSION FOR RESIDENTS/MILITARY
Celebrating the Anniversary of the Birth of Bernice Pauahi Bishop
December 19, 2008; 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Bishop Museum and Hawai‘i Maritime Center are offering this free admission program in celebration of the birthday of Bishop Museum founder Bernice Pauahi Bishop (1831-1884), who was memorialized by her husband, Charles Reed Bishop (1822-1915), with the opening of Bishop Museum in 1889 in her honor. Free admission is available for Hawai‘i residents with proof of residency and Active/Retired Military and their family members with ID.
According to new Director Tim Johns, the free admission policy on the birthdays of both Princess Bernice Pauahi (DECEMBER 19) and Charles Reed Bishop (JANUARY 25) will be an annual event. The founding of Bishop Museum was the result of an unconventional love story between a haole man and a Hawaiian Princess. Charles Reed Bishop fell in love with Bernice Pauahi Paki when she was only 16. In 1847, he met her for the first time and began calling on her nearly every night thereafter. They fell deeply in love. But Pauahi’s parents heatedly opposed the match. They had already betrothed her as a child to Lot, who later became Kamehameha V. She was in line to be Queen and yet, she rejected it all for love. Despite the objections by family and friends, they were married in a small private ceremony in 1850.
Their relationship stood the test of time and eventually won the respect and admiration of Pauahi’s parents and that of the greater Hawaiian community. They were married for nearly 35 years until Pauahi’s untimely death separated them. Bishop was at her side when she died October 16, 1884. He was devastated, mourning Pauahi’s loss deeply and profoundly. The founding of Bishop Museum in 1889 was an act of love by Charles Reed Bishop in honor of his beloved wife. From 1898 to 1903, he built the Hawaiian Hall Complex to house Pauahi’s personal collections. It was Charles Reed Bishop’s intention that Bishop Museum study, preserve, and tell the stories of Hawai‘i and the Pacific, a mission that is still being carried into the next century.
JANUARY 2009
BISHOP MUSEUM FOUNDER’S DAY
FREE ADMISSION FOR RESIDENTS/MILITARY
Honoring Charles Reed Bishop, Founder, Bishop Museum
January 25, 2009; 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Bishop Museum and Hawai‘i Maritime Center are offering this free admission program in celebration of the birthday of Bishop Museum founder Charles Reed Bishop (1822-1915), who memorialized his wife, Bernice Pauahi Bishop (1831-1884) with the opening of Bishop Museum in 1889 in her honor.
According to new Director Tim Johns, the free admission policy on the birthdays of both Princess Bernice Pauahi (DECEMBER 19) and Charles Reed Bishop (JANUARY 25) will be an annual event. The founding of Bishop Museum was the result of an unconventional love story between a haole man and a Hawaiian Princess. Charles Reed Bishop fell in love with Bernice Pauahi Paki when she was only 16. In 1847, he met her for the first time and began calling on her nearly every night thereafter. They fell deeply in love. But, Pauahi’s parents heatedly opposed the match. They had already betrothed her as a child to Lot, who later became Kamehameha V. She was in line to be Queen and yet, she rejected it all for love. Despite the objections by family and friends, they were married in a small private ceremony in 1850.
Their relationship stood the test of time and eventually won the respect and admiration of Pauahi’s parents and that of the greater Hawaiian community. They were married for nearly 35 years until Pauahi’s untimely death separated them. Bishop was at her side when she died October 16, 1884. He was devastated, mourning Pauahi’s loss deeply and profoundly. The founding of Bishop Museum in 1889 was an act of love by Charles Reed Bishop in honor of his beloved wife. From 1898 to 1903, he built the Hawaiian Hall Complex to house Pauahi’s personal collections. It was Charles Reed Bishop’s intention that Bishop Museum study, preserve, and tell the stories of Hawai‘i and the Pacific, a mission that is still being carried into the next century.
FEBRUARY 2009
ANIMATION
February 14 through May 10, 2009
Castle Memorial Building (This is tentative)
This exhibit is created by the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) in Portland, Oregon in collaboration with the Cartoon Network. Animation is everywhere! Every time we turn on a TV set, go to a movie, or surf the Internet, we see animated segments. But how does animation really work? Get ready to explore the science behind the art when you visit Animation! The Honolulu presentation is supported in part by Horizon Lines.
From concept to finished product, visitors will learn all about the intricacies of the art of animations. From storyboarding to character design and drawing techniques, to movement, timing, filming, and sound—come to Animation and see how it all works. Larger than life graphics of popular Cartoon Network characters provide a colorful backdrop to the exhibit, which also explores the history of Animation and features a screening room and a cartoon museum.
To illustrate convincing movement, animators apply knowledge of the physics of motion, and the science of human perception. Animators plot out a character’s path of action on a grid before producing an animated sequence. The animator creates characters in scale with their environments through the use of basic geometry and spatial sense.
Several of the exhibit areas feature digital slide shows of real animators working in the studios at Cartoon Network. Visitors will learn about the skills and training needed to pursue a career in animation.
Six thematic areas are explored in the Animation exhibit:
History: Learn about early animation and apparent motion. Visitors can try using a praxinoscope, posing a three-dimensional figure and spinning it to see the figures morph into a single animation. At the penny Arcade, you can “crank” out animations with an old-fashioned mutoscope.
Animation Studio: Explore the process of animation, story creation, and animator techniques and tools. You can develop a storyboard from a series of picture cards, design objects with a pantograph, and create scenes using layered cels and moving backgrounds.
Art in Motion: With help from the characters of Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends, discover why art and math are important allies when it comes to creating characters, motion, and change. The illusion of movement will come alive as you magically “move” around a room without using your legs.
Animation Laboratory: In Dexter’s Laboratory, you can delve into the science and technology that make animation possible. Create the illusion of a bouncing ball with the technique of ”squash and stretch” and find out how the action slows down or speeds up with time-lapse videos. You can also see yourself hover while exploring visual effects in a full-body interactive experience.
Sound and Stage: Discover the principles of sound and phonetics with the Kids Next Door, while exploring the complexity of matching phrases to different mouth shapes. You can add your own voice to a silent animation, and set the mood of the film by selecting background music from a variety of soundtracks.
Cartoon Museum: Take a seat in an intimate theater setting and view clips of popular animations while learning the secrets behind their production. Examine important artifacts such as cels, models, and storyboard drawings from classic and favorite animations such as Scooby-Doo, The Powderpuff Girls, and The Flintstones. Project Coordinator is Kathy Izon.
AMY GREENWELL GARDEN 5th ANNUAL GROW HAWAIIAN FESTIVAL
February 28, 2009; 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.; Free
Amy Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden, Captain Cook, HI
The 5th Annual Grow Hawaiian Festival at Amy Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden in Captain Cook, Hawai‘i Island, will be held Saturday, February 28, 2009, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Admission is FREE!
Weavers, dancers, kapa makers, and other practitioners of traditional Hawaiian culture meet with biologists, conservationists, and horticulturists to explore their common passion for the native and Polynesian introduced plants of Hawai‘i . Festival-goers have a unique opportunity to meet and talk with many of the foremost practitioners of Hawaiian arts including lei makers and kapa makers, as well as leading scientists and entomologists.
The festival includes cultural demonstrators, ask-the-expert booths, and displays by schools, parks, and conservation organizations. There will be a continuing program of speakers and panels on the main stage throughout the day, activity areas for young and old, and plate lunches by Super-J’s.
On the main stage, the program will be a mix of cultural insights, entertainment, and fascinating accounts by leading conservationists and botanists. There is never a dull moment with Tom Cummings and Kealoha Kelekolio as masters of ceremony--they are well known storytellers who work with the Bishop Museum Education Department and they fit in a number of their dramatic presentations on traditional themes during the day.
A roundtable of well-known cultural practitioners including will bring their personal stories of plants and planting. Kanu o ka Aina will open and close the program with chants, and Ulalia Berman and her dancers will provide an interlude of hula.
Cultural demonstrators will be available all day for visitors to meet and talk story about their specialties. The Kona Weavers Club, an informal group that meets once a month at Amy Greenwell Garden to weave, will be at the festival making hats, mats, and other items from lauhala.
One of the most popular activities at previous festivals is a guided tour of Amy Greenwell Garden led by David Orr, curator of collections at Waimea Arboretum and Botanical Garden on Oahu. His deep knowledge of native plants and enduring passion for conservation make this tour a must-do event for garden lovers and conservationists in West Hawai‘i .
The festival provides an extraordinary opportunity for people to ask experts for advice on all manner of things biological or horticultural. Bring your mystery plants or bugs to the festival to get them identified.
At the many booths in the festival, conservation experts will be ready to talk to visitors about projects on Kauai, Molokai, Maui, and Hawai‘i . For more information call (808) 323-3318. Amy Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden is a Bishop Museum’s native plant facility located in Captain Cook on Hawai‘i Island. The Garden is located twelve miles south of Kailua-Kona on Highway 11, just south of mile marker 110. The garden welcomes all visitors from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on weekdays. Admission to the garden is by donation, suggested at $4. These and other programs are supported by the Bishop Museum, the Native Hawaiian Culture and Arts Program (NHCAP), and the Education through Cultural and Historical Organizations (ECHO). For more information, contact Noa Lincoln, Garden Educator, at (808) 323-3318; by fax at (808) 323-2394; or email agg@bishopmuseum.org. Or Visit the web site at: http://www.bishopmuseum.org/exhibits/greenwell/greenwell.html. Project Coordinator is Peter VanDyke.
SUMMER 2009
HAWAIIAN HALL RESTORATION PROJECT
Grand Opening Phase I: Summer 2009
Hawaiian Hall
For more than a century, some of the most precious and beloved treasures of the Hawaiian people have been housed in Hawaiian Hall. Completed in 1903, this building complex, with its volcanic stone exterior and extensive use of native koa, is considered a masterwork of the late Victorian museum design. Over time, however, the building’s historic interior had deteriorated, and its exhibits, which reflected a different style of museum technology and intellectual and interpretive approaches, had become outmoded.
In July 2006, Bishop Museum launched a $21 million restoration project aimed at restoring the Hall to its architectural glory, while at the same time installing elevators and air conditioning to ensure modern comforts. The project will also modernize the Hall’s methods of interpretation, bringing multiple voices and a Native Hawaiian perspective to bear on Bishop Museum’s treasures. Hawaiian Hall will convey the essential values, beliefs, complexity, and achievements of Hawaiian culture, and examine Hawaiian history objectively. New ways of exhibiting fragile objects will enhance their exquisite beauty and creativity revealing the skill of master craftsmanship in featherwork, tapa, fiberarts, woodwork, use of hardwood tools, and fine cordage unknown to other cultures that lacked metal tools.
The museum has brought a diverse group of organizations and individuals together to assist with the Hawaiian Hall Restoration effort. Hawaiian artisans, artists, scholars, and leaders have advised and given freely of their time. A new hale pili is being built by a Hawaiian group following closely upon the nearly 100-year-old structure it is replacing. Project manager Fray Heath of Heath Construction Services, and Architect Glenn Mason of Mason Architects, Inc., bring their extensive experience in the renovation of historic structures in Hawai‘i , while world-renowned museum planning and design firm Ralph Appelbaum Associates guides the effort on the exhibits design.
Financial support has been provided by the J. M. Long, Vera M. Long, Geist, Cooke, Strong, and Atherton Foundations, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Kamehameha Schools, the State of Hawai‘i , Bank of Hawai‘i Foundation, A&B Foundation, Frear Eleemosynary Trust, Hawai‘i Community Foundation, as well as many private donors.
Once completed the Hawaiian Hall restoration project will give Hawai‘i something that has never existed before—access to a record number of the Museum’s deep and rich collections, together with native and western interpretation. Watch for the grand opening of Phase I in Summer 2009. Project Coordinator is Elizabeth Tatar, Ph.D.
CONTINUING & PERMANENT EXHIBITIONS
NOAA’s SCIENCE ON A SPHERE (SOS)
Ongoing permanent exhibit
Cooke Rotunda, Jhamandas Watumull Planetarium
Bishop Museum’s newest permanent exhibit allows you to see our planet as the astronauts do—as a great blue marble in space. Created using technology and data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and funded through NOAA, this exhibit will change the way you see the world—literally. Science on a Sphere (SOS) achieves its extraordinary effects by projecting satellite imagery onto a 6-foot diameter sphere suspended from the ceiling. The results are startlingly realistic. While remaining motionless, the sphere appears to rotate slowly. Onto this virtual spinning sphere, a variety of views are projected throughout the day.
During the live demonstration Too Hot to Handle visitors can explore the causes and impacts of Global Warming. Science on a Sphere is used to run the earth forward to 2200 AD to show possible methods of global warming if we continue to emit greenhouse gases at our current levels. The show also talks about steps that we can take now to reduce future impacts. The live demonstration, The Science of Paradise uses the sphere to explore the reasons for Hawai‘i ’s wonderful climate—from the islands’ tropical location to the reasons for the trade winds.
In between live programs, automated programs about the earth and planets in our solar system play continuously on the sphere. During these automated programs, visitors will see the cratered surface of Mars, a global view of the moon, where even the so-called “dark-side” is visible in rich detail, and the surface of Venus, with the planet’s dense clouds stripped away.
The global view from SOS neatly complements the more local perspective offered at the Richard T. Mamiya Science Adventure Center on the other side of the Museum’s campus.
GLOBAL WARMING
Ongoing and co-located with NOAA’s Science on a Sphere
Cooke Rotunda, Jhamandas Watumull Planetarium
A companion piece to our NOAA Science on a Sphere, this new interactive exhibit explores causes, effects, and possible solutions to global warming, one of the most important issues in science today. Compare your temperature to the planet’s temperature; discover the impact of global warming around the world, from receding glaciers in Alaska to “climate refugees” in Micronesia; learn about steps we can all take to help slow global warming.
RICHARD T. MAMIYA SCIENCE ADVENTURE CENTER (SAC)
Ongoing permanent exhibit
In the Richard T. Mamiya Science Adventure Center (SAC) you can see the mechanics of tsunamis in the wave-making machine, or watch a display of volcanic activity at the model volcano and lava melting demonstrations.
Opened November 19, 2005, the SAC is a 16,500-square-foot facility with more than 30 custom-designed interactive exhibits and unique learning opportunities for children and adults. The dramatic centerpiece is a giant walk-through volcano that really “erupts.” This volcano is loosely modeled after Kilauea’s active vent, Puu Oo on the Big Island of Hawai‘i . There is also a 30,000-gallon Deep Ocean Tank with remotely operated vehicles you can pilot through a model of Hawai‘i ’s youngest volcano, Loihi.
Other exhibits include the Hawaiian Origins Tunnel where you can learn about the natural and cultural origins of the islands through glowing artwork created by Hawai‘i ’s schoolchildren.
AMY GREENWELL GARDEN FREE GARDEN TOUR
Second Saturday of every month; 10 a.m. – to 11:30 a.m.; Free ongoing event
Amy Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden; Captain Cook, HI
Learn about various aspects of the Amy Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden on the free monthly tour. For more information call (808) 323-3318. Amy Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden is Bishop Museum’s native plant arboretum located in Captain Cook on Hawai‘i Island. The Garden is located twelve miles south of Kailua-Kona on Highway 11, just south of mile marker 110. The garden welcomes all visitors from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on weekdays. Admission to the garden is by donation, suggested at $4.
THE CANOE: AN ALASKAN AND HAWAIIAN TRADITION
Ongoing through 2008
Hawai‘i Maritime Center, Pier 7, Honolulu Harbor
Indigenous cultures around the world share many similar practices—among them canoeing. This exhibit, produced in cooperation with the Alaskan Native Heritage Center (Anchorage, Alaska) and North-Slope Borough (Barrow, Alaska), presents a comparison and contrast of Hawaiian and Alaskan canoe voyaging traditions. Among the featured items include Alaskan and Hawaiian canoe-building materials including adze, lashing materials, dye, seal skin, birch and cedar bark, kapa, coconut husk cordage, and basalt rock. This exhibit celebrates the January—March 2007 voyage of Hokulea to the Western Pacific and the island nations of Micronesia and Japan.
PAUAHI: A LEGACY FOR HAWAII
February 3, 2007 through Spring, 2009
Castle Memorial Building, Second Floor
The founding of Bishop Museum was the result of an unconventional love story between a haole man and a Hawaiian princess. Pauahi: A Legacy for Hawai‘i opened on February 3, 2007 on the second floor of Castle Memorial Building. The exhibition features personal legacies and bequests from the collection of Princess Bernice Pauahi Paki Bishop, and includes treasures from others that may not have survived without the founding of Bishop Museum.
Charles Reed Bishop fell in love with Bernice Pauahi Paki when she was only 16. In 1847, he met her for the first time and began calling on her nearly every night thereafter. They fell deeply in love. But, Pauahi’s parents heatedly opposed the match. They had already betrothed her as a child to, Lot, who later became Kamehameha V. She was in line to be Queen and yet, she rejected it all for love. Despite the objections by family and friends, they were married in a small private ceremony in 1850.
Their relationship stood the test of time and eventually won the respect and admiration of Pauahi’s parents and that of the greater Hawaiian community. They were married for nearly 35 years until Pauahi’s untimely death separated them. Bishop was at her side when she died October 16, 1884. He was devastated, mourning Pauahi’s loss deeply and profoundly. The founding of Bishop Museum in 1889 was an act of love by Charles Reed Bishop in honor of his beloved deceased wife. From 1898 to 1903, he built the Hawaiian Hall Complex to house Pauahi’s personal collections. It was Charles Reed Bishop’s intention that Bishop Museum study, preserve, and tell the stories of Hawai‘i and the Pacific, a mission that is still being carried into the next century.
Today its collections encompass more than 24 million catalogued objects and specimens from across the Pacific, placing Bishop Museum among the top five natural history museums in the United States and among the top ten in the world. For more than 100 years, Bishop Museum has served as the keeper of extraordinary Hawaiian cultural treasures, including those of Princess Pauahi, Princess Ruth Keelikolani, and Queen Emma. Hawaiian Hall, currently undergoing a massive $20 million renovation, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Opened in February 2007, Pauahi: A Legacy for Hawai‘i is an ongoing exhibition of objects with several rotations planned while the Hawaiian Hall Complex undergoes renovation and reopens in December of 2008. Among the first treasures will be Princess Bernice Pauahi’s feather cape, a feather cloak of Kamehameha the Great, Princess Ruth’s buggy, an early holua sled associated with Lonoikamakahiki, journals and letters by the alii, makaloa mats, umeke (bowls), ipu (gourds), and the personal journals and objects of adornment from Princess Pauahi such as jewelry and hats. Weapons, poi pounders, kapa beaters and stamps will also be featured.
Among the rare objects in the first rotation will be an 19th century Makaloa mat woven with a tax protest made by an elderly Hawaiian woman named Kalai and intended for King Lunalilo. With the introduction of written language to the Islands, Hawaiians incorporated letters of the alphabet taught by the missionaries in tattooing and mat decorating. Short affectionate greetings were woven into mats, but lengthy messages, such as the one found in the “Protest Mat” were rare. Only one other mat with such a long text is thought to have existed, one proclaiming the Lord’s Prayer. Because of his unexpected death, the mat never made it into the hands of Lunalilo, but the subsequent king, Kalakaua, received and displayed it. At least two newspapers printed Kalai’s message in its entirety. This makaloa mat can be seen as an exquisite poetic expression of protest, one not easy to ignore.
Other highlights include alii ornaments such as kahili (feathered standard bearers) and lei niho palaoa (necklaces of braided human hair holding precious ivory pendants).
The most famous fishhook in the Pacific, the Manaiakalani (Hook from the Heavens) will also be on display. The Manaiakalani was acquired from the Hawaiian National Museum in 1891.
This legendary hook is said to be the one demi-god Maui used to lure the great ulua, Pimoe, from the depths of the sea. For two days and nights the giant fish pulled on the line while Maui’s brothers struggled to keep the canoe afloat and paddled for shore. They were careful not to look at Pimoe, lest he turn himself into an island to avoid capture. But closing into shore, they turned and gazed at Pimoe. As they did so, the line broke and the magical ulua became a solid island that would no longer move. Mauifreed Manaiakalani and threw it into the sky, where it formed a constellation now known as Scorpio. Project Coordinator is Betty Kam.
PICTURE GALLERY
Ongoing
Hawaiian Hall Complex
Bishop Museum’s premiere collection of art about Hawai‘i finally has a new home. Renovations for the new Picture Gallery are completed and the Gallery opened January 19, 2008. For more than 60 years, the collection has been unseen and unknown to the greater Hawai‘i community because the Museum lacked appropriate gallery spaces for displaying the unrivaled collection.
Bishop Museum’s extraordinary collection of visual art of Hawai‘i and the Pacific focuses on art from the 18th and early 19th centuries. This collection represents a remarkable window into the past—a visual documentation of Pacific cultures at the time of western contact and beyond. The earliest pieces are those of artists associated with voyaging expeditions of the 18th and 19th centuries, including John Webber—the artist for Captain Cook—and Louis Choris, the artist for explorer Louis Von Kotzebue.
The Museum’s art collection spans a broad array of cultural and natural history subjects, including significant images of early Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders and their lifestyles. Illustrations of flora and fauna of the Pacific region, incredible early views of volcanoes, and striking portraits of prominent individuals all provide us with important glimpses into the historical times this art represents.
Bishop Museum’s art collection includes approximately 250 oil paintings and 4,000 works of art on paper. Notable artists represented in the collection include: British painter George Carter (1737-1794); Titian Ramsay Peale (1799-1885); international portrait painter Enoch Wood Perry (1831-1915); maritime artist William A. Coulter (1849-1936), Joseph Dwight Strong (1852-1899), and volcano artist David Howard Hitchcock (1861-1943), among many others.
Bishop Museum’s first building, part of today’s Hawaiian Hall complex, was constructed in 1889. It contained just three exhibit rooms, one of which was the Picture Gallery. At the public opening in 1891, the Picture Gallery presented portraits of Hawaiian monarchs, photographs documenting many Pacific cultures, and books. Later, display cases, koa furniture, and busts of Princess Pauahi and Charles Reed Bishop were added.
The Picture Gallery was closed in 1940, to be used first for storage and later for other types of exhibits. At the time of the closure, the art from the gallery was either relocated within the Museum or placed in storage. Since then, the majority of this collection has not been available for public viewing. And many additional pieces have been added to the Museum’s holdings. With the re-opening of the Picture Gallery in 2008, the Museum will present the first showing of selected pieces from this outstanding art collection in more than sixty years.
Oil paintings from the 18th and 19th century will form the foundation of the Picture Gallery's new permanent displays. More delicate watercolors, such as the first views of the Hawaiian Islands created by the artists that accompanied Captain James Cook, will be periodically rotated together with rare books and manuscripts from the Museum’s library and archives. The renewed Picture Gallery is a place to experience the stories of Hawai‘i and the Pacific; to appreciate fine art; and to visually experience the Hawai‘i and the Pacific of earlier times.
For more information about Bishop Museum’s Picture Gallery, call (808) 847-3511 or visit www.bishopmuseum.org. For more information about Hawaiian Hall Renovation Project, call Amy Miller, Vice President for Institutional Advancement at (808) 848-4169. Project Coordinator is DeSoto Brown.
ANIMAL GROSSOLOGY
February 9 through April 20, 2008
Castle Memorial Building, First Floor
When was the last time you were really en-GROSS-ed, or totally GROSSED OUT? Welcome to Animal Grossology, the interactive exhibition coming to Bishop Museum February 9 through April 20, 2008, that takes a slightly different view of Fluffy, Fido, and the rest of the animal kingdom.
Created and produced by Advanced Exhibits, a division of Advanced Animations L.L.C., Animal Grossology takes solid scientific information and incorporates it into a fun and entertaining learning opportunity for kids and adults. Prepare to meet frogs that give birth by belching. You may think leeches are pretty disgusting, but did you know that they’re used after some surgeries to assist in the healing process?
Museum visitors will experience some of the slimiest, stinkiest, and downright yuckiest creatures on earth. For instance, learn why the dung beetle is considered nature’s original pooper scooper, and why cows chew cud, and why snail and slug slime might provide scientists with more insight into treating cystic fibrosis. Inquiring young minds want to know these peculiar and fascinating things!
Kids can play Tranfusion Confusion and discover which animals have what color blood. Animal Grossology follows in the footsteps of the highly acclaimed and very kid-popular exhibition, Grossology, which focused on the impolite science of the human body. Bugs belch, too! Did you know honey is bee barf?
Take a scientific look at nature’s blood sucking, vomit munching, slime making, and dookie loving creatures and come away with a whole new appreciation for the animal kingdom! Visitors will even learn a few safety tips about avoiding West Nile Virus, Lyme’s Disease, and what to do if a jellyfish stings!
The popular exhibit series is based on the GROSSOLOGY series of books by author Sylvia Branzei, published through Price Stern Sloan, a member of Penguin (USA) Inc. In Honolulu, the exhibit is sponsored by Horizon Airlines. For more information about Animal Grossology, call (808) 847-3511 or visit www.bishopmuseum.org. Project Coordinator is Kathy Izon.
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