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Charlton Kupa‘a Hee may be an accidental artist, but his art is about to get significant play at the inaugural Honolulu Biennial, which opens Wednesday.
His “Pohue: Storied Gourds” ceramic sculptures will be on exhibit at Foster Botanical Garden alongside noted Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama’s “Footprints of Life.” A few will also be on display at Bishop Museum.
The sculptures, shaped like gourds of various shapes and sizes, are etched with stories about what’s happening to nature in Hawaii here and now.
“They’re modern moolelo, modern stories,” said Hee. “They’re stories about the environment and how we’re interacting with our island, both positive and negative.”
The worlds of art and conservation intersect for Hee, 27, a full-time field technician for the state Department of Land and Natural Resources’ snail extinction prevention program.
On days he is working, he hikes or helicopters up to remote ridges of the Koolau and Waianae ranges to help with habitat restoration and protection of the endangered native tree snail, Achatinella, celebrated for its color variations.
“A lot of the imagery I have is the scenery and the environment I work in,” he said.
He works on his sculptures in his grandfather’s garage in Kaneohe, which doubles as his art studio. The snails appear in his art, sometimes hiding behind foliage — clinging to an ohia branch, for example — in an etching.
Hee, a Kamehameha Schools graduate, incorporates Hawaiian folklore in his gourds, continuing the narrative to modern times and concerns. “We’re still creating stories,” he said. “It’s just that stories nowadays involve invasive species.”
Hee did not initially set out to be an artist. He took a sculpture class as part of required coursework while studying environmental science at Santa Clara University, which landed him an art scholarship and several commissions before returning home to Hawaii five years ago.
He’s been part of several group shows with fellow Native Hawaiian artists, and some of his work is on display at the Hawai‘i State Art Museum. The Honolulu Biennial’s curatorial director, Fumio Nanjo, selected Hee after viewing an earlier series of sculptures for the “Maka” series, a collaboration with his mentor, artist Carl Pao.
One piece to be exhibited is a 2-foot-tall ceramic gourd crowded with rose-ringed parakeets. The green birds, introduced to Kauai in the 1960s, have become a threat to the isle’s agriculture and native plants. Hee named the piece “It Didn’t Have to Be This Way.”
“Egg Snatchers” depicts the invasive mongoose, responsible for eating the eggs of native birds, with pau o Hiiaka (skirt of Hiiaka) vines, which protected Pele’s younger sister with its shade.
“My whole message is that Hawaii’s a beautiful place and, yes, there’s a lot to admire,” he said, “but it takes a lot of work to not leave such a big footprint on our environment, on Hawaii.”
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