A Brief History Of Native Hawaiian Art
As you might imagine art produced by native islanders in Hawaii goes back way before the visit of the first outsiders to the Hawaiian Islands. Therefore you could say that the only true hawaiian art is that which existed before the arrival of Captain Cook and his men, because after they arrived then outside influences on the culture of the native hawaiians have had it’s effect.
Native Hawaiian art before the time of Cook and co was unsurprizing very simliar to that produced by many other Pacific Islanders at the time.Much of the art at this time consisted of many different wood carvings, Hawaiian petroglyphs, feather art and kapa bark cloth as well as tattoos.
Before Cook’s arrival, and afterwards, the native Hawaiian islanders did not have metal or even woven cloth to produce their art. Therefore the production of the traditional art forms actually continued well after Cook left Hawaii.
So What’s Happening Today?
Even today there are still some specialist craftsmen around on the different islands of Hawaii who are still practicing the production of the traditional Hawaiian arts, but now this is mainly to make money by selling their products to tourists or sometimes, though less often to be honest, as an valiant attempt to try and preserve the old native Hawaiian traditions and culture. And they should be praised for this as preserving a culture like this is worthwhile.
Also today there are whole new art forms that have been invented, though some such as tiki men, are based on aspects of older hawaiian culture, but these are mainly for newer local artists who now live on the islands and do it for or more likely, money.
The Tourism Effect!
Some of the islands like Maui and Oahu now boast a very large and busy tourist industry so there is ample scope for artisit of all styles and products to make a good living if what they produce is popular.
Typical of this new art on Maui are the many shops in Lahaina Town on Maui where art is a very big part of what is now promoted and sold in the shopping malls. Art is a good thing as it helps many people in a tourist find work and allows a community of artists to thrive.
Hawaiian Art For Visitors
Anyone talking about art in Hawaii is probably referring in the main to art that is being produced today to meet the demand for visitors to the Hawaiian Islands and vacation tourists for momentos and gifts to take back with them.
In addition there is a lot of great art being produced in Hawaii that buyers will pay a high price for. Some of these buyers who purchase this art may well be visitors, but many many also be local individuals who are fortunate enought to live of one of the islands in Hawaii.
Some of the work from the top artists in Hawaii are sought after by collectors and this of course pushes prices up but this is great for those Hawaiian artists who do become popular in this way.
Which Hawaiian Art Is Popular?
Tourists and visitors to the island will all be individuals who have their own personal choice and preference as to what they like or don’t like in the art that they see and then buy. So this means that if you are an artist just starting your own art business in Hawaii then you’ll want to be able to determine where the demand is and produce art to match this demand so that the art that you do will make you money.
Predicting what a visitor might like is hard so it is probably best to visit the many art shops in the popular tourist towns to see what is being displayed as this will indicate what is selling too!
Hawaiian Art That You Like!
Finding art that you like is not so easy as taking time out to visit all the shopping malls and shops where the art is being sold could take you a lot of time and effort. It’s great if you just happen to be close by such as after an evening meal or a drink in the local bar, because then it’s easy to visit.
Most of the popular art in Hawaii today derives from cultural icons, such as the tiki men (and women!) above and other recognizable Hawaiian icons, such as the pineapple, turtles, whales, dolphins etc and quite a large number of popular artists depict Hawaii oceans scenes and landscapes.
The ocean is central to life and everything that goes on in Hawaii as anyone who live’s here will tell you! As you travel around any of the Hawaiian islands you get constant views of the beautiful blue ocean and these are the types of memoires that visitors want to take home with them. so that is what makes this subject matter so popular with Hawaii’s artists.
Whatever you are personally looking for you should be able to find what you want in our store, so just browse until you find what you need or use the search box to get quickly to specific items.
ENJOY THE HAWAIIAN ART CENTER
Mahalo for visiting.
Aloha!
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