Lulana Kennedy went for a combination of red and yellow paint on Friday afternoon, dipping her fingers into the paint and drizzling it over her hands.
Then, the Punana Leo O Kauai preschooler squeezed in next to Kawaikini Public Charter School student Pohai Tabian and pressed her hands against the wall.
They both laughed.
And while the kids from Kawaikini and Punana Leo plastered the walls of Punana Leo school with handprints, the adults talked about the next step — choosing the story for the mural to convey.
“Once I get the story from the teachers and the elders and the parents here, then I try and create an image (based on that),” said artist John “Prime” Hina.
You can see Hina’s work on the walls inside the county Department of Water in Lihue or alongside Kaumualii Highway near the Habitat for Humanity Thrift Store, all made in the same way, using handprints as a base.
It’s Hina’s modus operandi (MO) and the goal is to infuse his art with elements of people and places where the murals are created.
“We’re looking at it at the microbial level,” Hina said, pointing out each of the handprints left behind by the keiki contains some of their DNA. “When we move on, or if we pass, that DNA will still exist.”
That first step of creating the mural captures the people who lived and worked in the area when it was created. Secondly, Hina adds water from the place to the mural, which will further instill the microbes of the area into the art.
Then, Hina creates an image on top of the handprints and water that conveys the stories of that place — in the case of the Salt Pond mural, one of the elements in that piece is Hawaiian salt. A child sits on his father’s shoulders as well, symbolizing the connection between Kauai and Niihau.
Hina is still waiting to hear final ideas from the Punana Leo and Kawaikini kumu. That’ll give the kids, parents, kumu and other community members enough time to get their handprints on the wall before it’s time to start with the final images.
The mural started with an invitation for the keiki at Punana Leo and Kawaikini to collaborate in the mural near the road leading to Salt Pond Beach Park. Hina went to Punana Leo to get inspiration from the families of the school, and connected with the leadership. They invited him to do a mural at the school.
“It will serve as an outdoor classroom,” Hina said.
The preschool is accepting new students and is a feeder school for Kawaikini. The partnership between the two schools is longstanding; they’re located next door to each other and students who pass through Punana Leo continue their curriculum at Kawaikini.
And those kids will be able to return to the wall as they grow older and remember putting their own DNA and mana into the mural.
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Jessica Else, staff writer, can be reached at 245-0452 or jelse@thegardenisland.com.
Maikai Mana nui! Mahalo keiki o ka aina!!!! Aloha Olelo…..