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Culture & Art

Grant Will Kickstart Historical Archive

Friday, January 16th, 2026

Grant Will Kickstart Historical Archive

By Léo Azambuja

A nonprofit organization on Molokai recently received a large grant that will allow it to support the establishment of the first permanent physical historical archive dedicated to the island.

“This grant was through the Institute of Museum and Library Services, but specifically for Native Hawaiian libraries,” said Pulama Lima, executive director of the nonprofit Ka Ipu Makani Cultural Heritage Center.

She said the nonprofit has a working relationship history with IMLS, and was familiar with the grant application process. But aside from being a competitive grant worth about $100,000, what really made it difficult was an uncertainty whether the grant would be released because of the current administration’s policies.…

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Molokai Kōnane Tournament

Friday, January 16th, 2026

Molokai Kōnane Tournament

By Léo Azambuja

There was a lot at stake at the Molokai Kōnane Tournament at Keawanui Fishpond last Saturday: paid travel expenses and accommodations for the top-two players to attend a kōnane tournament in Honolulu next month, plus the prospect of playing the final match on an ancient board that hasn’t been played on for well over a century.

After an entire morning of rounds to reach the finals, Hanohano Naehu beat Kenny Adachi in a hard-fought grand final match that lasted almost an hour. 

The board game is unique to Hawaii, and its origins date back hundreds of years. Kapena Baptista, a kōnane player and enthusiast who came to Molokai from Oahu to help organize the tournament, believes it is one the greatest abstract games of humanity.…

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Malo ʻUlu Lei Workshop in Hoʻolehua

Tuesday, January 6th, 2026

Malo ʻUlu Lei Workshop in Hoʻolehua

By Léo Azambuja

Breadfruit, or ʻulu, is known for being a rich source of carbohydrates, fiber and protein. Well adapted to grow in the tropical belt, ʻulu is packed with vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. But did you know you could also make lei with ʻulu?

“Today, we’re learning the hilo-style lei for the malo ʻulu,” cultural practitioner Pōmaikaʻi Ah Mook Sang said on the first day of a two-day lei-making workshop using malo ‘ulu offered by the Molokai Arts Center’s Hawaiian Arts Program at the Hoʻolehua Homestead Makeke Nov. 22.

Malo ʻulu is the protective sheath that covers the growing ‘ulu leaf.…

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Bennett Opens Pottery Studio for Annual Show

Thursday, December 4th, 2025

Bennett Opens Pottery Studio for Annual Show

By Léo Azambuja

Ceramic artist Dan Bennett once again opened his house for his annual show and sale, something he has been doing since the mid-1970s. Emphasizing the functional aesthetic of Bennett’s art pieces, this year’s show features new sushi trays and a few other new pieces.

“This is how I regenerate. I sell off stuff and have room for new stuff,” said Bennett, whose show opened Nov. 24 and will last until Dec. 8 at his home in Kalaʻe during business hours.

Last spring, Bennett’s family visited Orcas Island. The sushi they ordered at a restaurant was served in ceramic trays, which inspired Bennett to create his own sushi trays. …

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Holiday Cheer and Special Sale at Ark Ceramics

Thursday, December 4th, 2025

Holiday Cheer and Special Sale at Ark Ceramics

Community Contributed

By Arabella Ark

At Arabella Ark’s ceramics studio, you can find unique pottery in shapes, sizes, colors from our changing natural world: vases glazed in pinks and corals like the setting sun; others in deep turquoises and greens like the sea. Many are highlighted with gold leaf like the reflection of sunlight on the rain-forested ravines at her former home in Hana.

Attracted to antiquity, she places elements of Asian temples and clothing on her large-scale teapots and lidded temples. Some of her large clay tablets for wall hanging, called Other Worlds, reflect views of galaxies seen by the Hubble Telescope.…

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Bennett Pottery Annual Show and Sale

Thursday, November 20th, 2025

Bennett Pottery News Release

Dan Bennett of Bennett Pottery will present his Annual Show and Sale open house from Monday, Nov. 24 to Monday, Dec. 8 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at his Kalaʻe Studio. 

The show will feature finely crafted high-fired functional stoneware and porcelain — items made for home and garden use, such as mugs, bowls, plates and platters, planters, salt jars, soap dispensers, sponge holders, tea pots, and much more. 

New items this year include pizza stones, sushi platters, and numerous casseroles. The work for sale is durable for daily use, and safe to put in the oven, dishwasher and microwave. …

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Princess Kaʻiulani, the Island Rose

Thursday, November 6th, 2025

Princess Kaʻiulani, the Island Rose

By Léo Azambuja

She was a surfer, an artist and a writer. She spoke four languages. She was a princess and the heir to the throne of the Hawaiian Kingdom, a nation stolen by the descendants of the people the Hawaiians had welcomed with their aloha.  

“The missionaries came here to us and taught us to look to Heaven for happiness, and while our eyes were on the skies they have taken our land from under our feet,” Princess Kaʻiulani said in an interview to The San Francisco Call newspaper Aug. 7, 1898.

Awaiulu head researcher Kalei Roberts highlighted the life of Princess Victoria Kaʻiulani Kawēkiu i Lunalilo Kalaninuiahilapalapa Cleghorn during October’s E Hoʻomanaʻo series event at Molokai Public Library Oct.…

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Library Unveils ‘The Plants of Molokai Over Time’ Mural

Thursday, October 30th, 2025

Library Unveils ‘The Plants of Molokai Over Time’ Mural

By Léo Azambuja

A gyotaku artist who was part of the Molokai Arts Center’ Artist in Residence program last April returned to the island this month to unveil a mural that wasn’t in his plans when he first came to Molokai.

“We came to this artist residency here on Molokai thinking about one thing, and it turned into something else in the middle of it. This mural is really the result of what happened to us during this process of mutual flourishing with the community,” Duncan Berry said of the time he and his wife, Melany, spent on Molokai. 

The mural, “The Plants of Molokai Over Time,” is now on permanent exhibit at Molokai Public Library, where Berry had an informal talk Oct.…

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Lei Making with Maiʻa Bark

Thursday, October 30th, 2025

Lei Making with Maiʻa Bark

By Léo Azambuja
Early Polynesian seafarers brought at least 23 different plant species to Hawaii, and among them the maiʻa, or banana. The Hawaiian Arts program at Molokai Arts Center singled out the maiʻa for a free two-part lei-making workshop that concluded last weekend in Hoʻolehua.
“Today, we are going to learn how to make roses first, and then we are going to try and build the lei,” Kaulananapua Dudoit told about a dozen people at the start of the workshop, as she grabbed a piece of dried banana bark and gracefully twisted it to create a small rose in a few seconds.…

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Making Molokai Even More Beautiful

Thursday, October 9th, 2025

Making Molokai Even More Beautiful

By Léo Azambuja

A Molokai artist shared her passion for using art to make her home island even more beautiful during the Global Citizenship Speaker series at Molokai Public Library last month.

About 30 people attended Kalaʻe Tangonan’s good-humored presentation Sept. 17 about her endeavors in the art world, underlining Molokai, Kuʻu One Hānau, or Molokai, My Beloved Birthplace, a recently finished series of murals at Molokai High School. The large artwork involved other artists, students and multiple community volunteers. 

“Going through this process, I told myself, ‘It would be nicer if we could kind of spread around our island and create more mana‘o (ideas),’” Tangonan said.…

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