KEKAHA — When the Wyland Foundation announced the winners of the 2023 Wyland National Mural Contest, Kekaha Elementary School was named the winner of the Elementary, K-5 division for its “Malama i ke kai, a malama ke kai la ‘o” mural, which is based on a Hawaiian proverb meaning “Care for the Ocean, and the Ocean will care for you.”
KEKAHA — When the Wyland Foundation announced the winners of the 2023 Wyland National Mural Contest, Kekaha Elementary School was named the winner of the Elementary, K-5 division for its “Malama i ke kai, a malama ke kai la ‘o” mural, which is based on a Hawaiian proverb meaning “Care for the Ocean, and the Ocean will care for you.”
Another Hawai‘i school, Moanalua High School in Honolulu, was deemed the winner of the High School, ninth through 12th grade. A middle school in Barrington, Rhode Island, was named the winner of the sixth through eighth grade division.
“I don’t know how many schools entered this competition,” said Kekaha School art teacher Mikaela McLeish. “But it was a national competition, and I am super proud of the heart and soul my students put into our school-wide mural.”
McLeish said the entire mural took about two months to complete and involved all of the students at the school that is the western most school in the country.
“I get different students each day the class meets,” the art teacher said. “Nearly all of the students had a part in this mural that I looked for to inspire the students.”
“We looked at a wide array of art styles from world-renown marine life artist Wyland, muralists all over the world and art collectives on a mission to use their artistry as a platform for activism,” McLeish said.
The art teacher said each student researched conservation issues and conceptualized their own design with the intention to celebrate how conservation shapes our lives and our world.
“As part of our entry, we had to submit five individual drawings, and a big shout out to Blake Vidinha, No‘eau Ragragola, Vaylen Efhan, Kakaimalie Malama-Gomes and Maddox Witmer,” McLeish said. “Working collectively, we settled on the theme of ‘Malama i ke kai, a malama ke kai ia ‘o‘ based on the Hawaiian proverb meaning ‘Care for the ocean, and the ocean will care for you.’”
“Students learned painting techniques and tools specific to working large-scale,” she said. “We had many wonderful conversations on ways we can protect our ocean and all the creatures of the sea. The mural evolved, as art always does, with each student adding their brushstroke. I was quite surprised when I turned around to see all the sea animals magically sprouting eyeballs.”
