Hawaii Ocean Project and George Kahumoku, Jr., January 23, 2013

Tuesday was yet another full day of activity. Beth and I woke early to drive back to Lahaina for a whale watching tour. The sea surrounding Maui is teeming with migrating Pacific Humpback whales in January. This particular morning was especially good for sighting breaches, dives and spouts. We learned about competition pods and calving and saw first hand the courting ritual between nursing mothers and eager males. One male headed off a mother and calf headed for our boat. She was trying to shake off his advances by using us as protection. He quickly sized up her strategy and placed himself between our boat and the advancing female. This gave us a birds' eye view of the handsome suitor as he passed under us.

A friendly WWII vet offered to take a picture of us. Thanks, I'll take the iPhone back now! 

 

Nathan Aweau and Jeff Peterson

In the evening, we drove up to the Napili Kai Beach Resort to enjoy an authentic Maui musical experience. George Kahumoku, Jr. presents a concert series each Wednesday night at the resort. This week's show featured two masters of Slack Key guitar:  Maui native Jeff Peterson and Nathan Aweau, who performed selections from their just-released album, Mamo, which is currently only available in Japan.

As a boy growing up on the Haleakala Ranch, Jeff grew to love music from his father, a paniolo (Hawaiian cowboy). I spoke with Jeff during the intermission and learned that he will be performing in D.C. later this year before touring in Venezuela and Brazil. I encouraged him to check out some bluegrass during his stay here, if time permitted. D.C. is the bluegrass capital, and the six piece combo during the second set, complete with Joel Katz on steel guitar, reminded me so much of a bluegrass band. Nathan said he had just returned from D.C. that week after performing at President Obama's inaugural festivities. See? There really is a D.C. connection here, after all. 

I bought Jeff's latest solo CD, 'Maui on my Mind', and Nathan's latest, ''Io'. Both fellows are super nice, funny and incredibly talented.

Meanwhile, my Monday morning pedicure from David's Happy Nails in Ka'anapali was holding up quite well.

Kari McCarthy and Peter Naramore

Beth with and Kari McCarthy

On Tuesday I was privileged to meet graphic designer and painter Kari McCarthy at her studio in Kula, as we made our way up the mountain to the summit of Haleakala, the world's largest dormant volcano. Kari is the island's leading colorist. Beth got to know Kari from previous trips to Maui, but this was her first trip to Kari's studio, too. Kari explained her technique to us, which evolved directly from her background in graphic design. Inspired by printer inks, she uses cyan, magenta and yellow only, in addition to black and white. This technique gives a surprisingly broad range of effects and, as she pointed out, saves her a lot of money on paint as well. She works both from photos she takes and en plein air. Colorist Mark Rothko's work is her greatest inspiration.

I have purchased a small painting from Kari, which she will pack up and ship to me next week after she signs it and does some touch up on the frame. The mango and orchid colors in this painting will really brighten up my apartment in mid-winter and will be the perfect reminder of my first visit to this beautiful island.

Check out Kari's work and more of her bio on her website:  http://www.karimccarthy.com/

Beth and I would have gladly moved into the studio. The quality of light was stunning. You can see from this photo of a pillow on her chair just how beautifully saturated the colors become.

Kari applies more peach to a painting
during her weekly show at the
Ritz-Carlton

On Thursday we visited Kari at the Ritz-Carlton [above], where she shows many of her most recent works for sale each week and sets up her easel to chat with passing admirers. Kari also designs and publishes the two best art guides on the island.

Peter Naramore with Lexy, dressed for the
high winds and temps in the 30s up on the
summit of Haleakala.

We also visited woodworker and fine furniture make Peter Naramore at his workshop, not far from Kari's studio. Peter is one of the country's leading furniture craftsmen, self-taught from his days growing up near Rochester, NY. At age 18, Peter applied to RIT's School for American Crafts to begin his studies. Since he wasn't admitted, Peter struck out on his own. (He said that RIT only admitted 8 students at once, at that time.)This program and the North Bennet Street School in Boston were the only programs available at the time. Now there are about 175 programs nationwide to study woodworking. Peter also explained to us that at this time, in the 1970s, woodworking was enjoying a great revival. Peter said the Taunton Press, publisher of Fine Woodworking magazine, in Connecticut, played a big role in nurturing this movement. My stash of vintage Fine Woodworking magazines from my great uncle Vell Holcombe's library bears this out.

Check out Peter's website for more information about his process and to see some of his work, available at The Kingswood Fine Furniture Shop : http://www.peternaramore.com/

Later today, Beth and I will stop by The Kingswood Shop in Keokea. 

Friday Morning Music: Quiet Village

For my friends and family who are enduring the deep freeze on the East Coast, here is a little Hawaiian exotica to finish out the week. Throw a couple more coals on the fire and warm up with Quiet Village, one of my favorites from Arthur Lyman. 

Haleakala and Kula, January 22, 2013

Postcard from Ka'anapali

Here's the hazard of blogging while jet lagged .... I've deleted a post that took nearly two hours to write very early Sunday morning as I sat in my Portland hotel room. Much later in the day, while I waited at the Alaska Airlines gate to board my evening flight from Seattle-Tacoma Airport to Maui, I tried making a couple of minor editorial corrections to the post and ...Poof... the next thing I know, it evaporated as I quickly tapped a couple of shortcuts onto my keyboard.

Sigh. The post was a pretty nice musing on the connection between D.C. and Hawaii as the country waited for the second inauguration of President Obama, native of our 50th state.

I won't bother trying to re-create the entire thing at this point. So I will stick to the basics and thank Kent Rayhill for allowing me to use the wonderful still image, above, from a 1964 promotional travel film he unearthed. Kent is a filmmaker who posted this vintage travelogue on the blog he keeps for his company's website. It's 19 minutes long, but it's well worth the time to watch. The film does a nice job of highlighting 19th and 20th century political history, geography and island culture here on Maui while giving us a taste of the wonders of midcentury modern travel. The clothes! The cars! The cocktails! It was so suave and classy back then.

Perhaps I should explain why I'm in the tropics this week, as friends and family back home in the D.C. area return to work one day after a chilly MLK holiday and the above-mentioned inauguration. Last summer my stepmother, Beth, urged me to join her and my dad on their annual two-week sojourn to the island. My father eventually opted to stay home in North Carolina with Logun and Kai, their Great Danes, instead of joining us. I miss him and wish he had been here to join us on some of our side trips this week, particularly the trip to the woodworking and furniture making studio that Beth and I will visit this afternoon. Instead, Dad and I are planning to visit some woodworking shops in Pennsylvania this spring, after he and Beth have migrated there for the summer.

My Dad and Beth have been coming to Maui for so many years that I consider her a long time seasonal resident. She knows many of the local craftspeople and checks in on them from year to year. Clearly, I'm fortunate to have her as a guide on my own inaugural trip. This week's agenda includes whale watching and volcano-hopping in addition to the workshop I mentioned above. We also hope to stop by the studio of Kari McCarthy, a painter and graphic designer. It seems Maui was made for art and craft. (Also:  coffee, papayas, pineapple, cane sugar, and abundant sunshine.) I should also mention how friendly, relaxed and welcoming the residents are here. Kent has suggested that we try Monkeypod Kitchen in Wailea, near his home in south Maui. I had asked for a recommendation for a restaurant to me in Maui's emerging craftbrew scene. Kent says this one is his favorite.

Maui seems to be the perfect place for me to rejuvenate while I start a new chapter of my life, on my own, but still in the company of loved ones and friends who have helped me through some pretty rough times during the past year. Now it's time to stop typing this morning. I'm going to step out on to the balcony and watch the sun rise. Aloha, everyone!

Friday Morning Music: Better Things

"Learn from yesterday,
Live for today."

The best way I can think of to end this particular week is to look ahead. So turn up the volume and enjoy the most optimistic, hopeful song I know of:  "Here's wishing you the bluest sky, And hoping something better comes tomorrow." The Kinks, 1981. Thanks, Dave and Ray!

Glover Park Mystery

One could be forgiven for thinking Washington, D.C. has turned into London, England. A heavy fog settled in over the weekend. The sun did appear Saturday afternoon for a few hours, however, and brought out lots of pedestrians and cyclists in my neighborhood. I took an opportunity to explore the woods next to my building for the first time since moving in. As I walked along the quiet trail in this section of Glover Park I came across this stone structure. I have no idea what its original use was. It has been turned into some sort of meeting house for ceremonies involving .... what? .... white-tail deer worship? I'm not quite sure, but students at nearby American University may have something to do with it.

 

Friday Morning Music: The Jetsons

While driving home this evening, I learned on NPR that The Jetsons are celebrating their 50th anniversary. The report focused on the cartoon characters, but I couldn't help thinking, "Hey, that was a great theme song." Just listen to those strings! 

The music in the closing credits is ten times more awesome. What a sassy horn section!

Beatrix Potter: The Picture Letters

This past weekend I returned to The Morgan Library and Museum, this time in the company of Claire and Jenna. The exhibit featuring Beatrix Potter's picture letters was the primary draw, although we also enjoyed a trip through Pierpont Morgan's study and library. It was during my first trip to the Morgan last April that I spotted one of her picture letters ("The Big Elephant is Dead"). That particular letter was not displayed in this exhibition; however, we left with an even greater appreciation of Miss Potter's craft and devotion to the minute visual details of the natural world.

Since this was just an eight-hour day trip, we saved time by taking a cab down to Tribeca for lunch at Aamaans-Copenhagen (New York City cab rates are a bargain for DC residents, anyway). There we enjoyed Danish Smørrebrød accompanying our fish entrees, rounded off with a tasty platter of three cheeses, spreads and more of that delicious brown bread. Claire and I selected a Prosecco to go with our brunch; Jenna ordered a hot chocolate. 

Claire and I then capped off the afternoon with a fascinating tour of the scandalous world of art forgery at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. With great enthusiasm and a deep knowledge of ancient cultures, our brilliant tour guide, Erin Thompson, showed us how to spot a forged work of art. We left the museum with a completely new appreciation for the cutthroat business of acquisition and the shadowy practices that sometimes accompany the need to establish provenance. Yes, folks, that ancient Greek statue may not be all it seems ....