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Art

Visual and performance arts stories on Molokai

The Nine Sides of Father Damien

Friday, March 5th, 2010

The Nine Sides of Father Damien

While a picture is known to be worth a thousand words, for some it can also be worth a thousand memories. For her latest mixed media artwork project, Molokai born and raised Paula Mondoy Scott relied on personal experiences from her childhood and plenty of research to create nine original pieces. The works of art represent different aspects of Father Damien and Kalaupapa.

Scott grew up in Kalae, just a few miles from the peninsula, and while she didn’t visit until the required age of 16, she was connected to the history-rich settlement from birth. Her father, John Mondoy, would often go down to play music for the patients, and she had some aunties and uncles work at the settlement.

One New Year’s Eve, “I was dancing all night with the patients,” she said. She also met Richard Marks, who was “instrumental” in patient advocacy.

,” she said.

Scott said her key points of inspiration were the children Saint Damien worked with; his advocacy – “even to the point of becoming unpopular with the diocese” – and his work as a healer.

Scott is well-researched in the life of Saint Damien, which led her to know a little about another famous Kalaupapa healer – Mother Marianne Cope. When visiting Hawaii last month for her father’s birthday, Scott was in Oahu for the dedication of a Mother Marianne statue.

“I’m getting a nudge from the universe to do a body of work on Mother Mary,” Scott said

Scott created a blog many years ago called Molokai Girl, to broaden her audience for her artwork. All her work, including the process of making her Father Damien series, is available at her blog.

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Keep Molokai Art in Molokai

Friday, December 11th, 2009

Keep Molokai Art in Molokai

Art From the Heart News Release

Molokai Art From the Heart, formerly known as Molokai Artists & Crafters, is committed to promoting the talent so abundantly found on Molokai. We have found a new talent which we would like to share with the rest of our island.

Steve Legare, our retired Fire Captain from Ho`olehua is our latest discovery. Steve has been photographing sunsets for about four years. We could see he had a great artistic eye so we asked him to give acrylic paint a try. His first two paintings of the buildings on Kaunakakai’s Hotel Lane turned out great. The first one was the old Imamura Residence, built in the 1930s. In the second, Legare did a great job of capturing the essence of the old Molokai favorite, hot bread.

We want to encourage him to continue to paint because he has a lot of talent. You can see his work on display at our gallery located next to Misaki’s on Ala Malama Ave. in Kaunakakai. For everyone’s convenience we will be open in the evenings on Wednesdays, Dec. 9 and 16. We are also open every day and evening the week of Christmas.

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“Find the Humor”

Friday, December 11th, 2009

“Find the Humor”

Donald Sunshine had one terrible day of traveling. While coming back to Molokai from his other home in Virginia, he and his wife missed their flight from Honolulu to Molokai due to a previous four-hour delay; his luggage was torn to pieces; and his finger slashed open traveling to his hotel. But Sunshine, channeling his last name, was able to laugh it off.

Sunshine shared this story and many more like it in his newest book, “Life’s Moments.” He was at Molokai Public Library last week to discuss the collection of short stories that focus mostly on his grandfather.

“In these troubled times I was inspired by remembering my grandfather and his gift of trying to find the humor in things,” he said.

The book is also filled with life lessons Sunshine picked up on the road. A common theme for Sunshine is traveling, as it lends itself to many horror-turned-humor accounts.

One story which he read to the audience is called “The Reluctant Traveler,” where he recounts his attempts at packing for himself for the first time, and forgets his shorts. They were vacationing in Tahiti.

Joanne Sunshine, who Donald calls his ‘guiding force,’ smiled at these shared memories as they were read and interjected some more humor into the live reading.

The Sunshines’ have lived in Molokai and their farm in the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia for 10 years. He is a Professor Emeritus of architecture at Virginia Tech, and has written several architecture books, five Molokai-focused books (including a themed “Molokai Moments”), and 13 volumes of sketchbooks.

“Life’s Moments” is available at the Big Wind Kite Factory, Molokai Fish and Dive, Molokai Drugs, Coffees of Hawaii, Import Gift Shop and The Local Store (Hotel Molokai).

Sunshine left his audience with some advice.

“I thought it’s a special time when we need faith, hope, and humor,” he said. “I’d like to suggest ‘lighten up.’”

 

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