Malia Solomon facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Malia Solomon
|
|
|---|---|
| Born | November 24, 1915  Honolulu |
| Died | May 8, 2005 (aged 89) |
Mary "Aunty Malia" Blanchard Solomon (born November 24, 1915 – died May 8, 2005) was an amazing American artist. She was also an expert in Hawaiian traditions, crafts, and culture. Malia Solomon traveled all over the South Pacific to learn about kapa. Kapa is a special Hawaiian way of making cloth from tree fibers. The Chicago Tribune newspaper called her one of Hawaii's best "amateur anthropologist/historians." This means she was like a self-taught expert on human cultures and history.
About Malia Solomon
Mary Blanchard Solomon was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, on November 24, 1915. She grew up in a part of Honolulu where many families struggled. Early in her life, she worked hard at different jobs with her husband. They did this to support their five children.
Malia and her husband, Herman, moved away from Hawaii for a while. A dock strike made it very hard for them to earn money. They started a catering business in California and lived there for ten years. But they missed the islands very much. So, they brought their family back home to Hawaii.
Helping Hawaiian Culture
In 1960, Malia Solomon and her husband opened Ulu Mau Village. This was a special place that showed what daily life was like in ancient Hawaii. Visitors could see demonstrations of old crafts. These included making quilts, pounding poi (a traditional food), and creating kukui nut candles.
The "villagers" at Ulu Mau were people who knew a lot about ancient Hawaiian culture. They were also good at talking to visitors. Ulu Mau Village first opened at Ala Moana Beach Park. Later, it moved to Heʻeia Kea, where it eventually closed. Malia ran Ulu Mau for ten years. During this time, she also traveled and studied to learn more about Hawaii's culture before Western influences arrived.
Bringing Back Kapa
In the 1960s, Malia Solomon worked closely with a scientist named Kenneth Emory. They studied a huge collection of Hawaiian kapa at the Bishop Museum. Kapa is a type of bark cloth. Malia traveled to places where tapa cloth was still being made. These places included Samoa, Tonga, Tahiti, Fiji, the Marquesas, and the Cook Islands. She explored the dyes and methods that ancient Hawaiians would have used.
Malia could not find wauke (paper mulberry) plants in Hawaii. This plant was used to make high-quality kapa. So, she brought small pieces of wauke plants from Samoa. She planted them at Ulu Mau Village. After about 18 months, the wauke plants grew big enough. Malia then experimented with them. She scraped, soaked, and beat the plant fibers. Finally, she made a cloth that looked like the kapa she had seen at the Bishop Museum. She kept doing her research for many years. She visited modern artists and experts to learn different ways to create and use dyes.
After Ulu Mau Village closed, Malia Solomon continued to share her knowledge. She led tours and taught people about Hawaii's history and culture. She also ran a small museum of Hawaiian items at the Hyatt Regency Waikiki hotel. Malia was known as "Aunty Malia" all across Hawaii.
Her Legacy
Malia Solomon passed away on May 8, 2005.
Many people say that Malia Solomon helped bring back the art of kapa in Hawaii. In the 1960s, a famous businessman named Laurance Rockefeller asked Malia to make fourteen large wall hangings. These were for the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel. Her beautiful work is still displayed there today. The Bishop Museum carefully restored it. Ulu Mau Village is seen as an important step in saving Hawaiian culture. It opened before the Second Hawaiian Renaissance of the 1970s.
Malia Solomon was featured on the PBS TV show American Perspective. Her segment was called "Aunty Malia: Tapa Maker." In 1988, the Hawaii State Legislature passed a special resolution. It called Malia Solomon an "ambassadress of good will." This means she was like a special representative for Hawaii.
