Diane Widler Wenzel : Native Hawaiian Weaving with Hulali Jewell




Hulali assisted me by tying off ten locked ends
 to keep them in place while working on the other side.
This is the stage where a flat weaving
is made to have four corners.

The last baskets I made were during my early teens. For several years I made paper Easter baskets for four neighbor kids. The baskets were held together with stapples. They were decorated with paper flowers and animals, filled with decorated hard boiled eggs. While vacationing in Hawaii, I learned of the basket making and woven bracelet class from a park ranger and immediately I wanted to experience and appreciate the pleasure of touching natural fiber in the process of creating. I wanted to try something new.
         For the price of the materials, Huilsli teaches traditional Hawaiian weaving classes every Friday and Saturday morning at the headquarters of Kaloko Honokohau National Heritage Park on the Kona Coast in West Hawaii. Preregistration is necessary so Hulali can make kits for each student. For reservations call 329-6881.
           Materials from nature are rewarding to my senses. I am often repulsed by perfect manufactured slick plastics. The aesthetic richness and soothing rhythm of the weaving craft permeating every aspect of the lives of my weaver friends. Their immersion and connection to the natural world is an art form transforming the quality of their lives. Even their values!
       I foresee a time when more and more people in our consumerist American culture will again value working with natural materials over the convenience of plastic containers and toys.  The process of crafting natural materials will tap into our creative selves satisfying a basic need to express ourselves. The bonus will be a more complete and satisfying life styles like my utopian fantasy of Hawaiian culture. I imagine the Hawaiians and their children together. Adults sitting and weaving while children sometimes looking on absorbing the art of living or the children imaginatively entertaining themselves now and then being entertained with their elders' stories and songs in the rhythm of their weaving.
      Neither on line nor at the Kona Bay Books was an adequate book to prepare me. A teacher like Hulali is essential to demonstrate just how to distinguish the right side from the back side of the pandanus leaf, just how much mist is required to keep the fiber pliable and not soggy limp, and just how much to pinch or tug. There is no substitute for Hulali's vigilance to catch mistakes early enough to correct them easily. As a beginner I held the basket awkwardly making weaving difficult. I tried to hold the basket as she suggested. Of course the smaller the class, the better she can assist. When I was wove a basket, I was the only student.
       From Hulali's class I received a greater appreciation of an under appreciated vehicle for creative expression. What I enjoyed most was the feel of the leaves. The right side of the leaf has a natural sheen. The back has visible, slightly hydrated veins strengthening the basket with a nice supple body as though the leaves are alive.  The fiber properties must be respected but with love and care the leaves are amazingly forgiving allowing finesse.

 

     Like in making pots the basket fibers are gleaned from the earth, aged, hydrated to the right consistency, coaxed to being pliable with a bamboo straight edge like the wooden potter's rib.  Both materials, leaf or clay, are measured exactly, cut and arranged precisely, tightly centered to make a vessel. Both are built up from the bottom. Both have a mind to spread outwards as the sides build upwards. Clay and natural fiber both require a feel of how much to pull inwards until the top of the vessel is reached.  Turning the lip is critical and difficult. The shaping of the body is the most rewarding. The final stage included pushing in and pulling out the body in both. Love was the pinching pushing and pulling down the lip to make a nice tight edge.  The diagonal spiraling directions of the plated weave allows for shaping reminding me of the spiraling movement of clay on a potter's wheel. The dampened slightly misted leaves slip against one another just as the molecules of clay do so in shaping. When pulling up the wall and later shaping a pot on a potters' wheel, the water makes the vessel pliable and strong holding their shape.
       The properties of the materials of both also reminds me of the way clay can imitate fabric. In both wheel thrown and handbuilt clay the softness of the natural convex shape is like the basket's body. The tendency of both clay and pandanus is to flare like a trumpet at the lip. Also like clay the woven pandanus fiber leaves behind a story of every touch. In my inxperience the story is one of struggle.

In both my clay slab handbuilt and my plated pandanus basket
the materials want to push outward especially around the lip.
They both show the touch of the maker revealing my struggles.

The walls of the basket could be shaped into greater angularity.
I see eight triangles not so natural for clay.
 

     What took the longest for me was tucking in the loose ends to finish the basket. I recalled my weaving friends who were always so patiently finishing their weaving. No final tucks for clay vessels.
      I came into this class careless about craftsmanship. But I soon learned that each stage whether it is a basket or a bracelet, requires correct tightness from the start with consistent rhythm to the end. The bracelet furthered my appreciation of the fiber because it feels so good hugging my arm.  According to a park ranger who takes regular lessons from Hulali, she never takes her bracelet off and wears it even when she swims in the ocean. Truly amazing pandanus fiber! Only in the tropics, Hulali and islanders do not export the raw material for weaving. At home in Oregon best to collect and use natural fibers growing in Oregon.
        I commend the National Park for programs like Hulali's class as a national treasure that will continue to inspire our mix of cultural exchange for a brightly satisfying future for those who will it.


     

Andries Fourie's criteria of selecting works for the 2018 "Around Oregon Annual"

I am very enthusiastic with the well said statement of the "Juror's Statement, Andries Fourie, Around Oregon Annual 2018.

 To me these criteria embrace opposites that are like reminders of meaningful directions. These remind me of my instructors at Portland State University. Like Frederic Littman who showed the marks of his knife  drawing onon the surface of his sculptures harkening back to the many preparatory drawings he did.

Also Frederick Heidel in his watercolor paintings put down general washes then he left tentative markings  before adding another wash and finaly  drew  his confident emphatic lines . This process reveals his journey towards resolution. His work is rooted in his vision of his garden  and figures with mysterious stories that engage the viewer in the process of their own imaginings of a story.

Andries Fourie's criteria also remind me of Katharine Kuh, the art editor of the "Saturday Review" during the 70's.  She said what makes a painting of nature great art to her is when the image changes the way she sees nature.  So when she sees a tree, she sees it like it was painted.

 

These are ideas I can use in looking at my own process and where it is going. Andries Fourie said:

I feel truly fortunate to be able to spend my days looking at, writing about, and making art. Every time I look at a work of art it allows me to see the world through someone else’s eyes.  When a work of art holds my attention I lose my sense of self and feel, even if only for a moment, immersed in the experience of another person. I am thankful to all the artists who submitted work, and gave me the opportunity to see the world through the lens of their temperaments and experience.

 

One of the reasons we value art is that it serves so many purposes.  It can examine the idea of beauty, explore the nature of perception, communicate ideas or emotions, or even evoke pleasure.  Art is a house with a thousand doors.

 

That said, a juror is tasked with selecting a small number of works from a large pool of submissions, and in doing so, each juror employs a set of fairly individual criteria.  My own criteria for selection were roughly as follows:

 

I am interested in art that is more than just an image or an object, but rather serves as a catalyst for an experience.  I am less interested in work that is academic or was executed purely as an exercise, and more interested in work that seems to me fully formed, complete and resolved.

 

I am drawn to works of art that create their own consistent and convincing logic or reality.  I value originality and a distinct perspective.  I am attracted to work that is almost immersive in nature.

 

I respect craftsmanship, technical facility and mastery of design, but feel that they are most effective when used in much the same way a writer uses grammar: to tell stories and relate experiences.  When it comes to form and meaning, I want to have my cake and eat it too. 

 

I prize confidence just as much as doubt, and emphatic gestures as much as tentative ones.  I love clarity as much as ambiguity.  I am impressed by work that shows me something in a new way, or from a new perspective.  I am as impressed by spontaneity and the beauty of an accidental gesture as I am by the simple clarity of structure and intentionality.

 

I want to be challenged and seduced by forms, textures and colors.  Sometimes I appreciate work that stumps of baffles me, and forces me to unravel the maker’s strands of thought.  I believe ideas can be as elegant as textures or colors.

 

I value persistence and consistency.  Nothing makes me happier than to see an artist pursue and elusive idea, skill or visual effect doggedly and thoroughly.  It gladdens my heart to see work that shows evidence of having consumed and absorbed its maker.  I love to see the residue of struggle and joy in a work. I am inevitably impressed by art that bears in its form evidence of the nature of its birth.

 

I will be very interested to see the "Around Oregon Annual 2018" June 1 -July 13 with a reception June 7, 5:30 -7:30 with a brown bag art talk June 14,  noon -1:00 pm at The Corvallis Arts Center

When is a painting finished?

A painting is never complete. I never set aside a painting  until I can look at it for a long time without it telling me it needs changes.  I never stop painting until it resonates emotionally with the mood of the beholder. Also for story illustrative paintings, they are never satisfying me until they communicate to others.

A neighbor brought back a painting I had originally finished eleven years ago and I had given the neighbors as a wedding gift about ten years ago.  It had darkened hills as though a rain storm was coming. The image of it on their wedding announcement had lighter hills. Apparently I had darkened them to make the yellows stand out  as happy perky survivors. After all this time I could see my last minute changes gave the painting an overall feeling of foreboding.

This is how the painting looks after taking a few minutes to paint over the the mountains and green up the valley. Now the neighbor says the painting is after the rain instead of before the rain.

 

 

The original of the Greenwell beach cabin that I thought was finished in Hawaii seemed incomplete when I looked at it hanging at home.

 

With white lines suggesting back lighting, I popped out the plumeria tree, added definition to child gate on porch,  added some fallen flowers.

The white on the plumeria's branches did not help so I removed most of the white lining and now it is like the original with very small changes.

 

 

 

Of all the on location paintings I did in Hawaii in February the wedding painting was by far the most painted over and over. I had no fear of overworking it. At first I had an uneasy feeling about the wedding but as time went by my feeling was for weddings in general so the painting took on the dreamy atmosphere of hope.

When the  wedding painting was almost complete, but I was not sure, I shared it with the Tuesday Critic Group at the Old World Delhi  in Corvallis.

 I like to hear critics of my new story paintings to make sure people see my story. I received good feed back. The log and sand was ambiguous. The painting had a hole in back of the log - a difficult problem for painters.  To my fellow artists the log looks like ground.  So at home I made the sand lighter to define where the log ended.

 

Before critic

After

 

 Another painting hanging up on trial is of fan coral. I thought it was finished in January, but it is still in question hanging up in our kitchen/ dining area. Living with it for awhile, I may decide but another way to decide is to put it in a closet for a few months until I can look with a fresh critical eye.
 

 This is how the painting looks now.

This painting was started years ago of an entirely different subject.  North Albany Autumn has become a poetic interpretation of Belize fan coral and fish.

 

My belief is never be afraid to overwork a painting. Working on an exercise is nonsense and an easy excuse for abandoning the work that could transform itself many times.  Paintings are not suppose to be perfect. Paintings do not need to be finished; they are part of an ongoing learning experience.

Projects in process

by Rain Trueax

On a personal level, about the only exciting news for this week is we saw the first of the wildflowers. This is not supposed to be a spectacular wildflower season due to not enough rain in the fall. We will take them in whatever small quantities they appear.

The project for the week, besides getting my fourth in the Hemstreet Witches series ready to be published, involved the arrival of the last pieces for the king-sized bed (frame, head and baseboard, mattress, etc.). This was good but also complicated. The house has three bedrooms but one has been a den for Ranch Boss's engineer consulting and publishing work when here (he is my editor and publisher). 

The original goal was turning the shop (outside the living room wall and under the same roof as the house) into a den/library. We would then have three bedrooms with two having queen beds. The king was for our master bedroom (not very master sized but it has a second, tiny bathroom off it). It would be a nice addition but still keep it a small home with maybe 1600sqft or so.

We just got the estimated cost for the addition. Way over our budget. Except, now what do we do with that extra queen bed? After much work for Ranch Boss in disassembling it, it's stacked in the second bedroom but that can't stay that way (although one of the cats likes its elevation for her sleeping). 

Our time here has been one project in progress after another (as a writer I am used to those). This one may take another year to get it to fruition.

One problem with spending more to do the addition than we had intended is that it'd not be a good investment, as either a rental or sale, unless we intend to make this our permanent home (that has not been ruled out eventually). The

United States has some areas (Oregon is one) where housing costs are skyrocketing. Tucson is not in that situation. With so many homes being built, more desert scraped off for developments every time we get down here, it keeps housing cheaper comparatively. There are some ritzy areas, of course; but even the more expensive sections in the Santa Cruz river valley (Tucson has several rivers and streams but most only flow after storms) are far less than they'd be in parts of California. 

Our home is in a nice little suburban feeling area where homes were built in the '70s on an acre or two of desert. It has a covenant protecting it to stay as it is. The reason we have so much wildlife is this isn't where they scraped off the desert, as they too often do today. These homes were set into their desert. Wildlife in Tucson has less and less of these places. 

Another reason for more wildlife here is we aren't far from the La Cañada Wash, which comes out of the nearby mountains. Fortunately, washes are places that they don't allow development due to flash floods after storms. That leaves them also conduits for the critters that many desert lovers don't desire or respect-- sadly. 

A lot of those who come to Tucson only want the golf, swimming, shopping, restaurants, bicycling, hiking, and endless sunshine. Nothing wrong with those activities, but it leaves the original residents just in the way-- unless being viewed in a zoo...

The photos of the bed being put together are because of how a process like this amazes me as to what Ranch Boss knows how to do. If he didn't, we'd have to pay someone who did, as no way could I do it. These projects are never without glitches. The end result though is a very nice bed with room for us and four cats if they so desire :). Through the window, you can see where we store our vacation trailer when we are here.

View out the bedroom window. We do have a wall that is mandated around the pool (does not keep out rabbits or birds). This one is to fence our cats in and let the wildlife have the rest. There is a neighbor at the back of our acre that we can see their porch light at night. The little sculpture garden is new with herbs being added. I don't how they'll do when we are not here, but we are hopeful the drip system can keep them growing. Having an herb garden off the kitchen is one of the many sensual pleasure that this place provides.

Another new addition this year is a hummingbird and loose seed feeders on poles. In the past, we only put out quail blocks but this year we decided to add seed intended to bring in cardinals. It has along with many other songbirds we hadn't regularly seen. When we are gone, the summer has more lushness for them to get feed and some, of course, migrate north to avoid the extreme heat-- snowbirds ;).

Craftmanship and Art

The spawning salmon painting is an example from a student's work at the November 4, Fall Creek Art Festival  Watercolor Class at the Oregon State Fish Hatchery and Research Center. The primary focus is the salmon with four secondary subjects.

Some say class work is probably instructor influenced and cannot be considered as original art. However, I believe this student came late and had her own ideas. I like her painting so much, I wish it were my own. She has a main focus but many secondary objects. My idea was to limit the number of secondary things within the painting. So this is an exception to what I was teaching. I am humbled. 

While anyone can learn to make an artistic, creative painting with a few basic technical skills, a general belief is that not everyone who paints pictures are artists. Not all well made paintings are art.  Certainly there should be some word to recognize extraordinary commitment and continued practice and deep involvement in using materials or ideas creatively to express their own original story. Everyone has their own individual story, some are more committed to self-expression.  There must be, also, a word for the people whose art has informed all aspects of their decisions of how they live.

Art can also be made without technical craft like when Picasso made a Bull's head from handelbars and a seat of a bicycle.  Two unrelated things put together in new context is creative art.

from page 10 of H. W. Janson, History of Art,