If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.
Herb was good friend who guided me over the years, as well as a voice of historical reasonableness. One thing he said I never forgot, "Captain Cook may have 'discovered' Hawaii, but on that same day, Hawaiians discovered the rest of the world!"
Sail on, my friend.
Burl Burlingame "Art is never finished, only abandoned." -- Leonardo Da Vinci honoluluagonizer.com
Very sad that he's passed. I own one of his original (1982) paintings (see photos below), and spoke to him last just a few months ago.
His passing is online now at this Star-Advertiser link, which includes:
Herb Kawainui Kane, a Hawaiian artist, historian, and a founder of the Polynesia Voyaging Society who designed and helped build the voyaging canoe Hokulea, died yesterday.
(...)
Kane's passing also was noted on his website. Daniel K. Akaka Jr., the son of the U.S. senator, said on the website that: "Herb Kane was a titan and a giant amongst Hawaiian historians ... His works will continue to inspire generations of students of Hawaiian culture and those who love Hawaii."
(...)
Kane was born in 1928 and raised on the Big Island in Waipio Valley and Hilo, and Wisconsin.
After serving in the Navy he studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where he received a master's degree in 1953. He also studied at the University of Chicago.
His paintings have appeared on seven U.S. postage stamps and stamps for the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, and French Polynesia. Kane's most recent stamp commemorated the 50th anniversary of Hawaii statehood in August 2009.
Kane's paintings are also on display in numerous museums and a painting of the goddess Pele is on display at the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.
As a design consultant, Kane worked on resorts in Hawaii and the South Pacific and a cultural center in Fiji.
(...)
He was selected as a Living Treasure of Hawaii in 1984.
Here are three photos of his painting in my living room:
Herb was one of my favorite artists. I never had the chance to 'talk story' with him, as so many vied for his attention at meetings and gatherings I attended.
I have never forgiven Burger King Kane`ohe for covering over his original beautiful and moving his painting of a Hawaiian deep sea voyaging canoe with stupid, tactless wallpaper with mainland icons of Hawai`i nei. That painting, if it could be recovered, is likely more valuable than all of "Burger King Hawaii."
I no longer eat at Burger King, and never will again.
Some people just never get it.
Herb got it, he was in the middle of it. Now he is in the center of he lani i luna, making his art upon honua, in the sea, the land, the clouds and the people.
Aloha oe, Kawainui Kane.
Be Yourself. Everyone Else Is Taken!
~ ~
Kaʻonohiʻulaʻokahōkūmiomioʻehiku
Spreading the virus of ALOHA.
Oh Chu. If only you could have seen what I've seen, with your eyes.
The link I posted yesterday was to the brief Breaking News item; the full story and many photos of his artwork are in today's paper at this link. One of his photos and a brief item were the bottom half of today's main front section, and the story itself was on the front of the second section.
Comment