ʻAlalā Renaissance (November 2020)
Michael Takemoto
Temporary Installation at the Main Street Promenade, Wailuku. PHOTOS: Sean Hower
Inspired by ʻōlelo noʻeau: Hoʻolaukanaka i ka leo o nā manu (the voices of birds give the place a feeling of being inhabited)
Initially planned for March 2020, Takemoto’s pre-COVID-19 “A Murder of ʻAlalā" installation was to be an open invitation to the community to create black charcoal silhouettes throughout the town from a collection of ʻalalā stencils created by the artist. As the artwork naturally faded with the elements, his aim was to bring awareness to the plight of the ʻalalā, or endangered Hawaiian crow, as their numbers have been decimated through the loss of their natural habitation and the incursion of non-native species. Reimagined for a post-COVID community, the artist’s ʻAlalā Renaissance brought pre-registered, socially-distanced artists together to insert hundreds of brightly colored chalk ʻalalā silhouettes throughout town in an expression of hope, rebirth and healing. Photos: Sean Hower
Michael Takemoto
Temporary Installation at the Main Street Promenade, Wailuku. PHOTOS: Sean Hower
Inspired by ʻōlelo noʻeau: Hoʻolaukanaka i ka leo o nā manu (the voices of birds give the place a feeling of being inhabited)
Initially planned for March 2020, Takemoto’s pre-COVID-19 “A Murder of ʻAlalā" installation was to be an open invitation to the community to create black charcoal silhouettes throughout the town from a collection of ʻalalā stencils created by the artist. As the artwork naturally faded with the elements, his aim was to bring awareness to the plight of the ʻalalā, or endangered Hawaiian crow, as their numbers have been decimated through the loss of their natural habitation and the incursion of non-native species. Reimagined for a post-COVID community, the artist’s ʻAlalā Renaissance brought pre-registered, socially-distanced artists together to insert hundreds of brightly colored chalk ʻalalā silhouettes throughout town in an expression of hope, rebirth and healing. Photos: Sean Hower
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Bio: Michael Takemoto is a visual artist and Associate Professor of Art at the University of Hawai’i Maui College. Takemoto received a BFA in Drawing, Painting and Printmaking from the University of Hawai’i at Manoa. He earned an MA and an MFA in Studio Art from Northern Illinois University.
Takemoto has exhibited his paintings, prints, murals, sculpture, and installations nationally and at various locations in Hawai’i, including the Honolulu Museum of Art, the East Hawai’i Cultural Center, the Maui Arts and Cultural Center, and the Hui No’eau Visual Arts Center. In 2003, his work was featured in the 6th Biennial of Hawai’i Artists at the Contemporary Museum in Honolulu. At UHMC, Takemoto is the program coordinator of the Art Department and teaches courses in art appreciation, drawing, painting, and printmaking. He has also worked as a teaching artist with the Maui Arts and Cultural Center education program; the Hawai’i State Foundation on Culture and the Art’s Artists-in-the-Schools Program, the Kaunoa Senior Center, and the Art Exploratory. Learn More: ST*BA Presents Michael Takemoto (3/13/20) | Michael Takemoto’s ʻAlalā Renaissance (11/20/20) |
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