From a corner of Cooke and Auahi streets in Kakaako, Pius "Mau" Piailug appears solemn and determined as he gazes over the intersection.

The portrait of the revered Micronesian navigator is in the foreground of a roughly 20-foot-tall mural completed by Honolulu artist Kamea Hadar and students from 808 Urban just before the double-hulled sailing canoes Hokule’a and Hikianalia set off on their three-year "Malama Honua" ("To Care for Our Earth") voyage around the world.

"He was such an inspirational figure to me,"said Hadar, 30, who never met Piailug. "I wanted to honor him."

Hadar is co-lead director of the Pow!Wow! Hawai’i group behind the urban art festival. While researching the mural, he was flipping through photos of the Hokule’a’s first voyage in the Polynesian Voyaging Society’s archives and came upon one of Piailug, known to many as "Papa Mau," staring intently toward the horizon. It was an unposed photo that seemed to capture his essence. Hadar showed it to original Hokule’a crew member Uncle Billy Richards, who said, "That’s the one. That’s the look of someone that would get you home."

Piailug, from the island of Satawal, died in 2010 at age 78. He is credited as the grand master of noninstrument way-finding that relies on ocean currents, the sun and night sky, seabirds and other clues from nature. He mentored generations of seafaring navigators, proving the reliability of traditional techniques in Hokule’a’s 3,000-mile maiden voyage to Tahiti in 1976.

The Kakaako mural, painted on a wall in the parking area for the Boca Hawaii triathlon store, features Piailug’s portrait in the foreground. Hokule’a — "Star of Gladness" — is depicted in the background, sailing on the ocean beneath star constellations and a great whorl of blue clouds.

In the upper right-hand corner, "Papa Mau Piailug" is painted in cursive, along with words shared by Richards: "In order to be a Navigator you have to be fierce."

Hadar, a Kalani High School graduate who grew up paddling in Hawaii Kai, remembers seeing the Hokule’a at Maunalua Bay. Hokule’a master navigator Bruce Blankenfeld is a family friend.

"Hokule’a has always been an inspiration for me, growing up," the artist said. "It’s such an amazing, sacred icon of keeping culture alive. … Hokule’a doesn’t sit in a museum, but it is just like one of those masterpieces you see in Europe."

It was rewarding, he added, to pass on that cultural and historical knowledge to the youths who worked on the mural with him. Some already knew about Papa Mau and the Hokule’a, and some did not, but all were interested by the time the mural was completed.

The vessel and the escort canoe, Hikianalia, left Hilo on May 31 for Tahiti on the first leg of an epic odyssey that will take them more than 50,000 miles across three oceans.

As with all his portraits, Hadar started with the eyes and then worked his way down to the nose and mouth and rest of the face.

"If I don’t nail the eyes, I don’t bother with the rest," he said. "I’ll start over if I don’t like the eyes."

The mural is actually the last segment of a three-part project that started with painting the cabin of the Hikianalia. Artist Keola Rapozo painted a water pattern along the side of the cabin, and Hadar painted the "iwi kuamoo," the sister stars known as Hokule’a and Hikianalia, onto the cabin’s rooftop. The stars, also called Arcturus and Spica, respectively, break the horizon together in Hawaii skies.

As the second part of the project, Hadar, fellow street artists Prime and Estria, and students from the 808 Urban art program painted the undersides of Hokule’a’s 14 hatch covers that protect the holds where supplies are kept. Students also helped paint the backdrop for the mural.

The finishing touches to the mural were the water patterns on Piailug’s shoulder, which are identical to the ones that encircle Hikianalia’s cabin.

"Those two elements tie the portrait of him with the background of the mural and back to the canoes," Hadar said, "and also the natural elements, the water, stars, navigation. That’s when the piece came together."

Unlike museum art, street art is meant to be part of the urban landscape and temporary. This particular mural will stay up for at least a year.

"It was a relief. It felt great," Hadar said of the day in April when the artists finished the mural shortly after the sun had set. "We had some beautiful sunsets that whole week, so it was just a great experience."

Afterward they got to set sail on the real Hokule’a along the south side of Oahu, an experience they will never forget.

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