Exhibit by paralyzed artist features North Shore scenes

Learning to paint brought purpose and inspiration to Matthew Kaopio after a spinal injury left him paralyzed from the shoulders down. Holding the brush in his mouth, he paints for five to six hours a day, mostly landscapes.

“North Shore Living,” an exhibit of Kaopio’s works in acrylic on canvas, is on display through Friday in the lobby of the Kahuku Medical Center, where he is a long-term-care resident.

“It’s going to feature scenes of the North Shore, the Windward side, just all of the area that the hospital covers,” he said.

Kaopio, 45, was a senior at the University of Hawaii at Hilo when he was injured in a diving accident at Waipahee Falls on Kauai in 1994. While at the Rehabilitation Hospital of the Pacific, he learned to paint from artist Gordon Sasaki, who encouraged him to keep trying and not give up.

His first assignment was to paint the “nine pounds of poi” for a holiday calendar celebrating the Hawaiian version of “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” It was a difficult task, Kaopio recalled, requiring the use of his neck muscles. His strained efforts resulted in eight purple splotches and a poi pounder with a ribbon on top.

“I was discouraged at first,” he said. “Like anything, if you keep working at it and practicing, you get stronger. Eventually I got to the point where I was able to enjoy my time painting.

“It’s not so much the final product, but the journey. I learn so much from each one.”

Kaopio returned to school in 1997 to finish his undergraduate degree in Hawaiian studies at UH-Manoa and earn a master’s degree in Pacific island studies.

Besides painting, the Kamehameha Schools graduate is the author of several books, including “Hawaiian Family Legends,” “Written in the Sky,” “Hawaiian Family Album” and “Up Among the Stars,” which he wrote using voice-recognition technology.

This is Kaopio’s first exhibit in about a decade. He is looking for venues in town to exhibit his works and can be reached via email or on Facebook.