 This is Think Tech Hawaii, Community Matters here. Aloha and good morning ladies and gentlemen. I'm Pauline Schachmach, your host for We Like the One Percent. We Like the One Percent is a show that focuses on individuals and entrepreneurs and what better example of an individual than a truly talented artist? My guest today is one such artist. He is Marcus Hanalei Marzan. And Marcus is a fiber artist and a cultural advisor at the Bishop Museum. Not the British Museum, the Bishop Museum here in Honolulu. Good morning Marcus. Good morning Aloha. Aloha, thank you for being here this morning. My pleasure, thank you for having me. Yes, and now a fiber artist is quite specialized isn't it? It can be definitely. And it's quite a unique specialism in the world of fine and decorative arts. And what we mean by a fiber artist isn't like Chris O'Feeley, who is an artist known for putting glitter and elephant dung and splattering it all over canvas, isn't it? No. Something totally different. So what do we mean by fiber artist and fiber arts Marcus? So the fiber arts are all of the art forms that incorporate natural materials as the base material and then through different processes. So basket making, plating, loom weaving, knot work are all considered fiber arts because of the material that they're all made from. Brilliant. And have you always engaged with fiber arts and fiber art work or did you start off more traditionally? For example, I'm not a professional artist like you but I had a painting scholarship in fine art when I was at university. So we would do watercolor, oil, things like that that form the fundamental basis for your practice later on. So did you start off in that traditional education or did you always just go straight to fiber art? I think in my formal education I was pretty much committed to the fiber arts from the beginning but in the beginning when I was a young boy I loved to draw, I loved to make things out of mud and clay and different kinds of things like that. And then I got more specialized classes and experience as I grew up and became a teenager and went to college and that's where I actually committed to the fiber arts. And all of your training is Hawaiian based? So when I first started taking classes when I was a teenager it was Hawaiian material based. So the low hollow weaving and some different basketry and net making and different things like that. And when I went to university and started taking the courses there I was introduced to the world the world fiber arts loom weaving and all the other textile arts as well. So I think all of those plus the background that I gained through my formative years as a teenager I think I really was drawn to the Pacific arts. And I first learned about you at the first ever Lulubainio last year and it was a pleasure to meet you and what happened was there were artworks scattered about everywhere in that general hub area and I went through the main gallery and there were some very clever things on display all the artists had talent obviously and we started with the boats that had all the different elements every boat was different everybody was on a different voyage and when I came upon your section in the gallery I noticed there was a very peaceful and tranquil atmosphere around your work and I really liked the ambience that you had created with your work and I think the studio is going to show some of the work from the Honolulu biennial that I'm referring to as we discussed these kind of kimono like pieces that you had on display. So what was your influence to create these kimono like pieces, these exhibits? So when I was first invited to participate in the biennial I was asked what kind of thing I would create for what kind of installation piece I would create for the space and I really wanted to make something Hawaii based so with all of my experience and background in Hawaiian culture and the material culture of Hawaii I really wanted to focus in on the traditional deities of Hawaii and so in Hawaiian culture and history the deities lived in all aspects of life in the land, in the sea, in the sky, within people, within everything so to really manifest them in the four pieces that I presented in the biennial was my way to really connect the place and showcase Hawaii in a very abstract contextual way incorporating the colors and the plant materials and the different techniques associated with the different God forms of Hawaii. And the number four is significant, you didn't just pick that randomly because I've been to the Bishop Museum and there is a section on the Hawaiian cosmology which states that four, the four original gods are very important to the Hawaiians and it's interesting here in Hawaii because I do a lot with Japan and in Japan and China four is the unluckiest number because it's associated with the same sound as death but in Hawaii it's the luckiest number and four times four is the luckiest because it's four times four gods. Correct. So in the famous creation chat, the Kumulipo there's 16 wa or 16 time periods where all of life is created throughout these 16 phases of creation and the gods of course are enumerated in multiples of four so 440, 444,000, 400,000 gods and so there's the varying degrees in which the gods appear and manifest in our world. And the one that caught my eye was the blue, the very blue indigo-like kimono and I'm referring to them as kimono maybe you have a different word for them but it struck me as very Japanese. Yes, for that particular one I would say it did have a very Japanese feel to it because I'm also part of Japanese ancestry I really wanted to incorporate my own personal aesthetic into these pieces, not just focusing in on Hawaiian materials per se and how they're presented but really incorporating myself into it and my understanding of the world of Hawaii and the people and the culture. So that particular akua, the god represented there was kanaloa, kanaloa is the god of the sea the god of the sea, the god of purification and blue is of course being one of his primary colors associated with him and I think because of my training from the university and all of the other experiences that I've had in my travels around and experiencing different cultural practices and traditional techniques indigo was something that I really gravitated to and I really wanted to incorporate that into that particular area of Japanese in you because that is a very popular color in Japan to use for textiles It's a specific training they have to go through for the indigo dyeing and so the blue one is kanaloa and how about the other ones? Can you identify them by color? Yes, so in the installation I had banners that also corresponded to the four ahu the garment pedestal pieces so there was red banners corresponding to the red piece yellow, white and black and then the blue so white and black are actually the colors most associated with the god lono the god lono is the god of the harvests the god of peace and prosperity and captain cook they thought he was captain cook I think because he came during the time of lono they had those associations already on their mind and they saw his white sails the big white billowing banners on his ship and they made those connections the floating island of course and the other two the red piece associated with the god ku the god of masculinity, warfare, governance and then the yellow is the god of kane the god of life and creation all together they create the whole world and all the manifestations in between Lovely, and I just want to you're one of the few artists I've actually spoken to who participated in the Honolulu Biennial last year so are you going to participate in the next one, next year? I haven't been formally asked but I have been asked to be a part of their advisory council to assist them in trying to find different approaches in melding together the contemporary artists of Hawaii with the international artists and what were your impressions of the Biennial? it's interesting to see an artist's perspective of the works of the other artists there did you have a favorite artist? you wouldn't say yourself no, I think because the installation process at the hub really opened my eyes to seeing how different pieces were installed how different people worked on creating their pieces I saw some people work up to the last minute creating certain aspects of their piece some people built their installations very quickly and got their finish very on time so I think with all of the artists present I think it really created a nice community of conversation and I think that's what I really took out of this the greatest enjoyment that I had was that interaction with all the artists artists are wonderful fun, aren't they? yes they are, they're a lot of fun I think people don't realize the interactions that happen behind the scenes and all of those things that was really enjoyable to spend time with them and if my recollection is correct you were the only fiber artist there, weren't you? there was nobody else making these kind of displays that were related to fashion in some way I would say in that regard I was the only one that's brilliant, so you are unique in that respect so the dates for the next biennial have been selected as well as the title so it's called an open boat and it will take place next year because it is a biennial and it's going to be the 8th of March to the 5th of May, 2019 so you're going to be on the advisory board which is very exciting and do you have any other plans between now and then or perhaps in the future for any other exhibitions of your own work here in Hawaii or elsewhere? well I have been asked because of my exposure from the biennial and other exhibitions that I've had since to do a couple of commissions here and there throughout Hawaii I'm working on a couple of small commissions here locally for a hotel St. Andrews Cathedral so a couple of really exciting projects for me I'm interested in is most of your artwork related to Hawaiian cosmology or do you touch upon other subjects in your fiber art work? I think because of the material and the techniques, the materials and the techniques that I use are primarily Hawaii based they already have that inherent connection to Hawaii but I really do think that my works actually talk more broad concepts of connections relationships with nature and the world so it's not necessarily just of Hawaii but you have quite an extensive experience with other areas in the Asia Pacific region you've done collaboration with other artists in other locations can you list some of those? So I have traveled extensively across the Pacific to Aotearoa New Zealand to Fiji, Tahiti, Samoa Solomon Islands, Palau and interacted with a lot of the cultural groups and communities there so it's always an amazing opportunity to connect with the indigenous peoples of different places and really have a conversation with them because I think when I first started to travel around the Pacific I realized that the stories and the issues that they were dealing with in those different places were the same issues that were being dealt with here in Hawaii and it really focused it back on me and it's like wow these people are facing the exact same issues as I am back home and it really made me think wow, they're teaching me how to really connect to Hawaii even though I'm not actually part of them in Hawaii at the time when that inspiration came And in terms of your own inspiration do you have favorite artists either dead or alive that you can mention? Do you have influences? Actually the most inspiring artists are the ancestral pieces that exist in museums and family collections they to me are those ancestral kupuna or the elders that don't physically have a voice to teach and pass that knowledge on but if you're able to observe them in a very conscious way they will speak to you and they do speak to me quite often so I think those are the most inspiring teachers those pieces that exist that have such a rich story that don't get expressed just from the visual presentation but they have so many things if you actually are aware of how they really can teach Okay brilliant Marcus we're just going to take a very quick break and we'll be right back after this quick break Thank you So far up in the confusion Nothing is making sense for me So we'll do it Aloha My name is Mark Shklav I am the host of Think Tech Hawaii's Law Across the Sea Law Across the Sea comes on every other Monday at 11 a.m. Please join us I like to bring in guests that talk about all types of things that come across the sea to Hawaii not just law love people ideas history Please join us for Law Across the Sea Aloha Aloha I'm Winston Welch and every other Monday at 3 p.m. you can join me at Out and About a show where we explore a variety of topics, organizations, events and the people who fuel them in our city, state, country and world So please join us every other Monday at 3 and we'll see you then Aloha Aloha ladies and gentlemen Welcome back to We Like the 1% We're speaking with Marcus Hanaleh Marzan and Marcus What about your role at the Bishop Museum? You're as cultural advisor there Explain what that means So Well I've been at the Bishop Museum for 15 years now and I've served in different capacities currently as cultural advisor but I actually provide cultural advice and guidance to all levels of management and the organization itself and assist in cultural protocols and any kind of community engagement issues that require that cultural lens to be So people need advice if they're anthropological research regarding cultural matters you know actual ceremonial protocols that occur in communities like for instance the Princess Pahwahi on her birthday or Charles Rebishop on his birthday, different kinds of things like that where we want to honor different things and commemorate different events I'm asked to assist in providing my expertise in those areas as well as in cultural content in building of exhibitions and cultural programming And you must be quite busy this year because there are a lot of things related to various anniversaries related to the overthrow of the Hawaiian kingdom things like nature Opening day is going to be very interesting in the legislature next week probably So we're just showing the viewers who can see your beautiful artwork at the Honolulu Biennial the examples of what you're talking about in reference to the color and the Hawaiian gods So everybody can identify which god with which kimono or fiber art piece that you can see there And while these are being shown let's talk about what's happening at the Bishop Museum at the moment So currently we have on exhibition an exhibit on Navigation, Hulamwana is the title and it does have a strong focus on the Hokulea's journey around the world, the Malamahonua voyage Because Hokulea is back now It's Hokulea is back in Hawaii and traveling around the islands and connecting with the community again But yeah, I think that's our current exhibition at the moment of course alongside our permanent galleries of Hawaiian and Pacific halls And we do encourage even though you're a local and you've been to the Bishop Museum before maybe as a child on a school visit I'm only here two or three months every year and I go to the Bishop Museum every year and we were talking about this earlier where you did recently have in the past couple of years or so an exhibition on wearable arts This is a New Zealand concept It's a Kiwi invention originally from Nelson in the South Island which the Wellingtonians took and brought it to the capital and the Nelsonians weren't too happy about that but it's called WOW the world of wearable art and that was on display in the Bishop Museum I believe a couple of years ago but there were quite distinctive Hawaiian inspired pieces that I didn't see in New Zealand when I first saw the show there I was on a lecture tour in 2014 that was the first time I encountered WOW and you had this magnificent piece in the Bishop Museum exhibition that was made entirely out of Coalwood Coalwood, yes Were you involved in that exhibition? No, so WOW actually had a traveling exhibition and offered it to the Bishop Museum and we jumped on it and we felt that it would make a beautiful compliment to our permanent galleries and it really did do a successful run during its time in Hawaii You mentioned the exhibition on the Hokulea What other things are going on because there's one on animation at the moment and one on dinosaurs that are coming up One on dinosaurs coming up later on this year we also have in the works an exhibition focusing on Rapa Nui so we're going to be presenting the majority of our collections connected to Rapa Nui in this particular exhibition Have you been to Easter Island? I have not, that's where Maximum two days It's a funny place but it's worth it to see the moai there and I just wanted to ask you in the moments that we have left in the show It's an interesting subject because I'm interested in futurism and I went to a presentation that was technologically inclined they were talking about all sorts of futuristic technology, this is the concept like universal basic income what are we going to do when automation, AI machine learning and robotics take over most jobs some people don't believe robots are going to take over all jobs, I think certain professions are quite safe such as health related medical professions and probably also the creative industries artists, things that because a robot can't be creative unless you believe in that idea that may might attain consciousness and all this sort of thing and replicate human thought but still there's this creative spark that I think is unique to the humans so in the presentations I attended the gentleman said we're going to have all this free time everybody's going to have free time to do arts I listen to people who are up and coming fashion designers sometimes because they're in their 20s they're still making a name for themselves they supplement their income by teaching at fashion colleges or universities with fine arts, decorative arts programs and they tell me in private dinner parties that it's amazing to them how untalented people really are and you have to be realistic and assume that these universities or colleges, a lot of them, they're businesses so they have to have an intake of students to keep going and whether the person has talent or not it doesn't really matter because they need the students to survive so in your opinion in the future, maybe in 10 years time when all these advances come to fruition will people be doing more arts and if so, are they going to be bad arts? Are they going to be bad art in production? I would hope people would take up being creative with their free time with my experience anyway working with school age children even college and adult students a lot of them that do not have any kind of connection to the outdoors really have a hard time making things so I've noticed a lot of people that go fishing or farm or garden or things like that that actually use their hands and do something with their hands actually have a lot easier time coming up and being more creative with the different pieces that I was able to demonstrate and teach them versus the people that were divorced from the land very urban living very few connections to the natural environment really had a hard time I'm really connecting It's interesting you mention that Marcus because one of my neighbors mentioned that I don't know how accurate this is but apparently because a lot of children are on the screen all the time when they go outdoors because they're spending more time indoors and having things like screen sickness they're on the computer constantly or on the smartphone that their eyes actually don't focus properly so it's not necessarily a lack of creativity it's that they're being harmed by this screen usage so is it better that they spend the parents try to put them outside more? I think so because I've worked with a lot of Hawaiian charter schools which have a very different way of approaching their teaching of their students and really engaging them into land based community based projects so the students that have actually gone and weeded a taro patch or cleaned a fish pond and things really have the dexterity their fingers are actually more nimble to do some of those really intricate fine techniques like weaving and making of nets and things like that because when a master artist such as yourself creates something it looks very simple to do you have to have a lot of manual coordination and dexterity and that's what a lot of people don't realize that it looks very easy to create because it doesn't have a lot of complicated parts to it or something but once people start trying the technique and putting the materials together they really realize that it's a lot more work than they thought it was and what is your opinion of the level of quality of art education in Hawaii is it something that kind of gets left behind like in other jurisdiction I think at the moment yes it's kind of put on the bottom of the list of everything and I always keep telling people arts and culture is what makes us human it's the core of humanity and it's kind of the least important thing and everybody focuses on STEM which is equally important but like you said the humanity is based in cultural practices beliefs and family actions like that so to have that you know pushed off the plate of education program and teaching is I think a detriment to the children and how do you think that can be improved upon improved upon here in Hawaii because you do on occasion there are competitions such as the Hawaii State Art Museum they do do things that are open to the public to participate in but do you think we could do more besides the Honolulu Biennial which I think is a fantastic idea and congratulations to the co-founders for doing that because it is a lot of work to put on an event like that It is definitely I think for me personally the incorporation of more land based teaching and learning throughout the you know the DOE system is actually more likely to assist in the education of the students because again like I mentioned for all of the charter schools and the immersion school students that have been raised with this kind of approach of learning they really do think differently and see the world differently and I think if we were able to even introduce that kind of engage engagement with the outdoors or even just understanding for the broader community of students it would make a big difference And is the focus primarily on Hawaiian art itself or are there foreign elements like do they teach European art as well or is it about 50-50? I think it's a combination, yeah definitely a combination of course the Hawaiian arts definitely come in quite easily because of the particular programs that are offered you know if you're going out to a fish pond you want to learn how to make a fish trap or fish hook or something like that but I think definitely the incorporation of drawing and painting is incorporated into their work into their curriculum as well And do you have a foreign artist come and visit here and spend time to learn about Hawaiian art are there programs like that people can look up? I don't think there are any formal programs like that there have been a lot because of the networks that I've created over the years I've already built relationships with other organizations and community groups and they have come to Hawaii and we created our own cultural experiences and engagements like that Really at Marcus and is there a website people can go on to learn more about your artwork or anything like that? I have a website marcusmarzan.com and it has a little bit of my own background history as well as some pictures and information on how to contact me Wonderful, thank you so much for being my guest this morning Marcus Thank you so much Pauline Thank you everybody for tuning in and I'll see you next week where we like the 1% at Thursdays at 11am Thank you, bye