A Rare Look Into Hawai‘i’s Fashion Heritage At Bishop Museum
Two New Exhibits Open Friday
Two new exhibits at Bishop Museum showcase wearable art unique to Hawai‘i - both open Friday, November 13th and continue until April 11, 2010.
Ka Lei Pāpale: Hats of Hawai‘i, features the Museum’s 19th and 20th century hat collection alongside contemporary hats. The second fashionable exhibit is Ho‘olaulole: The Joy of Wearable Art, which explores the concept of cultural body – what makes it “native” and how is it expressed in these modern times?
Ka Lei Pāpale: Hats of Hawai‘i is located in the Castle Building, 2nd floor gallery. This exhibit is a collaborative effort between Bishop Museum and the Island plaiting community to honor the skills of our kūpuna and offers the genealogy and living story of plaiting in Hawai‘i. More than 100 hats will be on display – half represent the Museum collection, and an equal amount offered for display by hat makers or by hat enthusiasts throughout the Islands.
By combining early and recent creations, Ka Lei Pāpale recognizes the continuity of traditional knowledge that remains part of hat making. This exhibit features elaborate and sometimes delicate examples of hats of every shape and stature, many with decorative patterns plaited into the surface. Marvelous creations from Bernice Pauahi Bishop’s own collection will also be viewable.
Vice President of Cultural Collections, Betty Lou Kam, said, “Hats are often displayed as accessories, but in this exhibition they are the focus, and they are rarely presented in this manner. Here is a real treat for anyone with an interest in Hawai‘i’s fashion heritage!”
More of today’s fashion heritage can be found in the J.M. Long Gallery with Ho‘olaulole: The Joy of Wearable Art. This exhibition is derived from discussions and dialogue between exhibition coordinator and Associate Professor Maile Andrade, visual art students, and contemporary Native Hawaiian artists of today.
“The cultural body,” says Andrade “is a place that launched our own creative expression on what we wear to express it.”
Maori artist Donna Campbell is an artist-in-residence at Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies. Campbell said, “For Maori, the body is a landscape that is related to the ancestral land it descends from.”
Andrade added, “As native people, the body and skin takes on many forms. It’s not just about the physical bodies we inhabit, but the world we live in.”
Ho‘olaulole: The Joy of Wearable Art is made possible through the support of the Native Hawaiian Culture and Arts Program.
To see these incredible exhibitions, visit Bishop Museum Wednesday through Monday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (Museum is closed on Tuesdays and Christmas Day.) Regular admission rates apply. For more information, please visit www.bishopmuseum.org or call 847-8511.
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