Kupuna Marie McDonald recognized for her artistry in lei and kapa

HONOLULU—The Hawaii Arts Alliance announced the 2010 Alfred Preis Honoree as Marie McDonald, one of Hawaii’s most respected kupuna in the arts of lei and kapa-making. The Alliance will recognize her contributions to the arts of Hawaii at a celebration in December.

McDonald has spent 50 years producing the exquisite lei of Hawaii. For this long-standing commitment to Hawaiian arts, McDonald was recognized as a National Heritage Fellow by the National Endowment for the Arts. She is one of Hawaii’s best known authorities on the subject and author of the definitive Ka Lei—The Leis of Hawaii and Na Lei Makamae, co-authored with Paul Weissich.  In the process of researching these books she has brought to light the particular beauty of pre-contact lei. 

Through her love of the art, McDonald has also become an advocate for the preservation of the Hawaiian lands that provide the rare materials for leis and other Hawaiian arts, such as kapa-making.

Through her research on native kapa-making, McDonald developed ancient plant dyes for her own pieces, which was recently on exhibit at the Honolulu Academy of Arts.

McDonald has also devoted many years to educating Hawaii’s youth as a resource specialist for the Department of Parks and Recreation and as an art teacher in North Kohala on Hawaii Island. Her 10-acre farm, Honopua, on Hawaiian Home Lands in Waimea, is a model program and resource for community members. The land also provides the materials for her lei and kapa.

Most recently, McDonald has supported the creation of HOEA: Hawaiian Ohana for Education in the Arts, “established to increase the number, visibility, and accessibility to Native Hawaiian Arts and Artists,” and was kumu kapa during its first session in 2009. The long term vision for HOEA includes building a Community Art Center in one of the Hawaiian Home Land communities in Waimea, and its development into an accredited post secondary School of Hawaiian Fine Arts.