A who’s who of kapa and lei makers gathered in the Honolulu Academy of Arts’ Banyan Court last night to honor master kapa artist Marie McDonald. Mary Sakamoto danced hula to Pua Case’s beautiful oli “Maika‘i ke anui Waimea”—both of them wearing garments made of McDonald’s kapa. Lei maker Vivian “Happy” Tamanaha, who volunteers at the Academy, was the seed of this extraordinary project. She introduced Academy Textile Collection Manager Sara Oka to McDonald. And now Gallery 22 is filled with these amazing works, presented artfully by Installation Designer Larry Maruya. In one corner a mosaic of large kapa is backlit so that you can see the painstakingly made intricate “memory of her beaters,” as Oka poetically describes McDonald’s highly textured watermarks. At 82, she is a master at this rigorous art. McDonald was buried in the most fragrant and beautiful lei, made by her skilled lei-making friends. Here she is giving opening remarks at the event.
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