LIHU‘E — Chuna Luttman, a professor at California State University, Sonoma, and Rick McIntyre held a one-day show of their Ni‘ihau shell lei collection on Wednesday at the Kaua‘i Museum. “We’ve been coming here for a couple of weeks, a
LIHU‘E — Chuna Luttman, a professor at California State University, Sonoma, and Rick McIntyre held a one-day show of their Ni‘ihau shell lei collection on Wednesday at the Kaua‘i Museum.
“We’ve been coming here for a couple of weeks, a couple times a year for about 30 years,” McIntyre said. “This collection has been building for about 25 years until just a few weeks ago. Many of the lei makers of these lei are not here anymore and we just wanted to show, share and keep the art form alive.”
Liah Drake, the Kaua‘i Museum education outreach officer, said the pair are also in discussion with the Bishop Museum on O‘ahu about having some of their collection displayed at its facility.
As a steady stream of admirers went through the collection, McIntyre noted one of the people was one of the lei makers from whom they purchased lei.
“The first time we saw them, it really bowled us over,” Luttman said. “Ever since then, we’ve been learning about the different shells and how much effort goes into making the lei.”
McIntyre pointed out one lei, a multi-strand white lei, which took three years to create as the lei maker sought to find only the whitest shells for that particular creation.
Another features a segment of the lei using a fossilized shell, its unique gray coloration complimenting the adjoining red shells.
“One of our lei is even featured in a book on Ni‘ihau shell lei by Linda Moriarity,” McIntyre said. “We just want to be able to share this exquisite art form with the people.”
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@ thegardenisland.com.
