Column by University of Hawaiʻi Maui College Chancellor Lui Hokoana was published by The Maui News on February 27, 2025.
This month we’re going to give the Humanities—specifically the visual arts—a little love.
“Our campus has a number of significant and meaningful public art works, created by a variety of visual artists,” explains Humanities Department Chair and Visual Arts Program Coordinator Michael Takemoto. “I encourage our students, staff, and visitors to experience them in person.” And so do I. Art is as good for the soul as it is for the senses.
Our campus centerpiece is surely the mural “Makahiki” that stretches across the Great Lawn-facing wall of the Kaʻaʻike Building. Completed 10 years ago, the work was conceived by art student Sammy “Kammy” Kaiwi, and painted by him together with many fellow art students and supervised by Michael Takemoto.
It depicts the makahiki season, the four months of the year when, in ancient Hawaiʻi, work gave way to leisure and the land was allowed to rest. Other tales of old Hawaiʻi are also depicted. So, while the impact of the whole is undeniable, it’s worth spending some time exploring the details.
Head towards Kaʻahumanu Avenue to “A Path through the Trees,” a stunning bronze sculpture by the internationally renowned artist Saturo Abe who, sadly, passed away earlier this month at the age of 98. Installed on our campus in 2009, the work was commissioned by the Art in Public Places Program of the Hawaiʻi State Foundation on Culture and the Arts (SFCA). It was Abe’s last commissioned work and the largest sculpture he ever made.
According to an article in First Friday Hawaiʻi in November 2009, “this work represents a group of five trees surrounding an abstract geographical representation of Maui, with a pair of abstract ‘islands’ that represent Haleakalā and the West Maui Mountains. As one passes through, one is reminded of the metaphor that Maui Community College plays in both the Maui community and in the students’ journey.”
At the edge of the Great Lawn outside the Pilina Building, “Dolphin” has been leaping skyward since 1987. It was crafted by Welding Instructor John Ringen and three of his students.
Celebrated Maui sculptor Bruce Turnbull is represented by two pieces. The sleek bronze “Wind and Sea” was commissioned by the SFCA in 1992. Installed in a patch of ferns between the Welding Shop and the Pilina Building, it is an abstract interpretation of a wave and sails.
“Kūlapa Kai—To Frolic in the Ocean” is the enchanting mother monk seal and her pup that rest between the Ka Lama and Noiʻi Buildings. It was sculpted by Turnbull and collaborator Kim Mosley from a single piece of New Zealand marble. The work was a gift in 2014 from Jim and Mary Hirshfield. The couple had honeymooned on Maui decades earlier and wanted to “return some of the joy” they had received.
Outside the ʻIke Leʻa Building, another sculpture commissioned by the SFCA pays tribute to Maui Nui. Sean K. L. Browne’s abstract “Na Moku ʻEkolu (Three Islands)” is cast and welded silicon bronze and was installed in 1985.
If you have circumnavigated our campus, you will have undoubtedly encountered ceramic cylinders stacked on poles. There are eight of them, most around the Heona and Ka Lama Buildings. They are the work of former students under the tutelage of one of Maui’s premier ceramicists, Jennifer Owen, who taught at our college for many years.
“The students knew that the poles would be on display for the indefinite future so they really poured themselves into the effort, devoting serious thought to the theme for their particular component, and also to the execution in terms of relief sculpture, drawing, color scheme, piercing, and/or glazing,” she remembers. “I was thrilled to see what each student came up with. I also enjoyed designing each pole, deciding on the placement of each to show it off to its best advantage. I imagine the students coming back to visit campus and taking pride in their contributions to our beautiful campus.”
So, the next time you find yourself in Kahului with even just a few minutes of spare time, please come and take a stroll and feast your eyes on the beautiful art on display on our campus. Your heart and your soul will thank you.
For complete information about UH Maui College, please visit maui.hawaii.edu/.
Dr. Lui K. Hokoana is Chancellor of the University of Hawaiʻi Maui College. Ka’ana Mana’o, which means “sharing thoughts,” is scheduled to appear on the fourth Thursday of each month. It is prepared with assistance from UH Maui College staff and is intended to provide the community of Maui County information about opportunities available through the college at its Kahului campus and its education centers.
