‘ELE‘ELE — The Kamalani Pavilion will be blessed and dedicated to the public benefit soon. ‘Ele‘ele Elementary School fourth-graders, working under the guidance of Carol Yotsuda and other Garden Island Arts Council members, put finishing touches on the final panel
‘ELE‘ELE — The Kamalani Pavilion will be blessed and dedicated to the public benefit soon.
‘Ele‘ele Elementary School fourth-graders, working under the guidance of Carol Yotsuda and other Garden Island Arts Council members, put finishing touches on the final panel of ceramic student art Tuesday.
“This is the last of the 15 panels, each representing one of the schools on the island,” Yotsuda said.
Working under the GIAC Van Go program, the students worked to place their ceramic fish, marine life and filler tiles into place while other students worked to cut tile into pieces as additional filler.
Yotsuda estimated the final project would take about two hours. The students will use a wooden template to lay out the design before transferring it to the panel after applying adhesive. GIAC member Jodi Ascuena described the adhesive as “peanut butter” due to its consistency.
“We won’t be putting the panel up today,” Yotsuda said. “It’ll be done with the student phase. Contractors will come over and prepare it for final placement, later.”
The student tile work is part of the rebuilding process for Kamalani Pavilion, situated in the vicinity of Kamalani Kai Bridge and campgrounds.
Built in 2004 by community volunteers, the structure was destroyed in 2007 by fire which also consumed many of the students’ ceramic mosaics, wooden carvings of legends and other student imprints on the walls of the structure.
The project to build a replacement pavilion is nearing its end.
Proposed rules regarding activities at Kamalani Pavilion were recently drafted and the county is in the process of scheduling a public hearing to receive feedback on those rules, a county press release states.
The county anticipates the opening of the Kamalani Pavilion will take place early next year.
The Kamalani Pavilion is part of the Kamalani complex in and around Lydgate Park in Wailua, which includes the Kamalani Playground, the Kamalani Kai Bridge, the multi-use path and the adjacent soccer fields at the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Sports Park.
Visit www.kauai.gov or kamalani.org for more information.
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@ thegardenisland.com.
