Hula Workshop

I am very excited to announce that Jennifer Maile Kaku, hula teacher at Hãlau Hula O Mãnoa, a hula school based in Paris and Honolulu is coming to Brighton. Jennifer will lead a hula workshop on March 3rd, 2013, 1.30 till 4.30 at Brighton Unitarian Church in New Rd, Brighton.

This is a fund raising event for my film project and a rare opportunity to learn traditional and authentic hula from an expert in her field.

 

The workshop will be £15. Book by contacting me though this blog or phone 07810 828819.

Also email Janecouldrey@hotmail.com

If there is enough interest we will also do a workshop the evening of Tuesday the 5th. Venue to be confirmed.

I would be grateful if friends of the project would spread the word.

The princess slept here.

And this is a quilt made by Ka’iulani. (Thanks Jennifer, for this link)  http://lacma.wordpress.com/2011/02/15/princess-kaiulani-slept-here/

I’ve been thinking about the animation style for the section in Hove. I’m planning to spend a day (hopefully with my photographer friend Rosie) walking the routes that the princess would have taken from Cambridge Rd along the seafront to the pier and also to St Ann’s Well gardens. Feeling the streets with our feet, drawing and photographing.
I like the way the artist Rachel Eardley combines line drawings and polaroids. I would like to experiment with combining archive photos, modern photos, drawings and maps. And I still want to create a kind of Victorian Google Map combining street views and maps. I might need to talk to someone at college about this as it would be a technical job.

I went to a very good exhibition called Ghosts of lost Birds in a lovely little gallery on the not very lovely London Rd in Brighton. http://onca.org.uk/

Lots of interesting work and the theme of conservation of birds including some Hawaiian ones.  Some of the artists are quite well known and it includes a knitted piece by the writer Margaret Atwood and a fantastic paper sculpture in the window by the Makerie Studio.

I have been drawing little extinct Hawaiian birds recently. One can’t help but be moved by how much of Hawaiian flora and fauna have been lost since Captain Cook’s arrival in 1779. And continue to be lost of course.

I had thought it would be really good if the narrator for the Hawaiian section could be a bird, a peacock probably as peacocks are said to have been Ka’iulani’s favourite bird. I’m not sure if this is doable.

Anyway, lots to think about….

Snow days…

http://io9.com/5861647/what-hugo-taught-us-about-the-grandfather-of-science-fiction-film-georges-melies

After a fun morning sledging and snowballing with the boys we spent the afternoon watching the Martin Scorsese film Hugo on DVD again. An enjoyable and interesting film in lots of ways. Its about an early film maker, Georges Méliès and the wonder of early cinema, and its origins in the world of clockwork craftsmanship, toys, games and illusions. Méliès was a contemporary of Georges Albert Smith. Smith made some of the ever first films in Hove and had a film studio in St Ann’s Well Gardens. He is one of the Hove pioneers commemorated in Hove museum.

I’m hoping to bring Smith’s story into my film of the princess.

I wonder if Smith and Ka’iulani ever crossed paths on the streets of Hove….. Or if she went to see one of his hypnotist or “psychic” shows at the aquarium.

Quilts

I bought myself to a book about Hawaiian quilts. Quilting is a craft introduced by the early missionaries (to a country where there was no need of their warmth), Hawaiians quickly developed their own approach to design and were very much influenced by the world around them. It’s a craft that continues today.I love this red and white design which is very typical.

Love this one too, again its based on local flora, maybe dahlia or champak blossom. I’d like to incorporate these designs into animation but I’m not sure how. They seem very Hawaiian to me. Also remind me of the cut paper artist Rob Ryan whose work I love.

Incidentally, some people think the style of folding and cutting the applique patterns may be influenced by German decorative paper cutting, brought to Hawaii by the missionaries.

(Apologies, though, that’s probably not very interesting to anyone but me.)There is a tradition of flag quilts, which memorialise (not sure that’s a word) the Hawaiian royal kingdom. This one is called Ke Kahi O Ka’iulani and was made in early 20th Century. The pattern represents the princess’ haircombs. The eight larger stars represent the eight major islands of Hawaii.

This one is called Queen Lili’uokalani’s crazy quilt and was made in about 1895 and bears the embroidered text “Imprisoned at “Iolani Palace. We began this quilt here.”  This was after the monarchy had been overthrown. After a failed coup against the provisional government the queen (she was Ka’iulani’s aunt) had been tried and found guilty of knowledge of treasonous acts and been imprisoned within her own palace. This quilt was made by the queen and her supporters from scraps of dresses, ribbons and other available fabrics. It also has tiny pairs of Hawaiian flags decorating it.

Hawai’i

Aloha,

My friend Jennifer, who is my adviser on Hawaiian dance, culture and history for the project has been in Hawai’i. She has been visiting family and friends and also putting time and energy into contacting people who might be interested and able to help with the project. This is a great step forward, and much more effective than me sending emails from here.

We had though it might be possible for the dance to be “gifted” from the kumu (senior hula teacher) to Jennifer on this trip and we even hoped to be able to film this. However, it seems this process cannot be rushed. Sandra, the kumu will be in Paris in August. It might be more realistic to film then.

Jennifer has made some other good contacts and so, I think a dance will make its way to us in its own good time!

The next step is to start the hula workshops here. I think we have a date for the first public one, the Sunday March the 3rd. This will be fundraising for the project. I hope to see friends and family there.

And we are doing one with the dance students at City College and I’m hoping to set one up with another school or the university. All good fun.

I’m also meeting up with Suzie at Hove museum soon to try and set a date for the mini show.

So, little steps forward.

J

x

Ps. Here’s a picture of Princess Ruth, Ka’iulani’s godmother and a marvelous looking woman.

A very important person in her life and a connection to old Hawai’i. While the kingdom became Christianized, Anglicized, and urbanized, she preferred to live as a noble woman of antiquity. While her royal estates were filled with elegant palaces and mansions built for her family, she chose to live in a large traditional stone-raised grass house. While she understood English and spoke it well, she used the Hawaiian language exclusively, requiring English-speakers to use a translator. She honored practices considered pagan, such as patronage of chanters and hula dancers.

Birds

Well, a happy new year. I wonder what 2013 will bring.

I have done done much project related over the festive season except some idle drawing of Hawaiian birds and of course the daily self portrait.

This is an Iwi. The type of bird they used for headdresses and cloaks. It can hover like a hummingbird and its song apparently (Wikipedia) consists of a couple of whistles, the sound of balls dropping in water, the rubbing of balloons together, and the squeaking of a rusty hinge.

Gracious me.

And this is an O’u. Sadly now most probably extinct, it used to be a very common bird. In behavior it is apparently a rather lethargic bird, sitting for long periods in the forest canopy and being scarcely noticeable except for their loud calls (plaintive upslurred whistles).

Not sure what an upslurred whistle might sound like.