Hawaii 2022 Day 3

The previous post was a combo of day 1 and 2. 

On Day 3 we went swimming in the morning. Then we headed out to do some sculpture hunting. One of my ideas for this trip was to go in search of some of the sculpture listed in a book called Sculpture in the Sun: Hawaii's Art in Public Places. This book, which I'd bought about ten years ago, documents some of Hawaii's artists and artwork funded by the state's public art program. And my thought for the trip was that we could go find some of the art in person, which would lead us to go places we hadn't been before.

So we headed up to Leeward Community College, in Kaneohe. But before we could get to the freeway our path took us past Haili's Hawaiian Food, which is a favorite spot to pick up poi and other taste treats. We stopped and had a sit. They chopped up some dried aku for us, and packed up poi and served us chilled water while we chatted about how they'd fared during the hardest parts of the pandemic. They were a little surprised that out of towners made plans to visit them, but we're kinda used to surprising people.

On the way to Kaneohe we got the idea that all is no well when it comes to man and automobile:

Shiro's Saimin Haven

It doesn't take long to get to Kaneohe from town, and we were hungry so we stopped at a very old strip mall that we'd passed many times before. 

Our bellies full, we went across the freeway to Goodwill. I was still recovering from Covid and seemed to have an allergic reaction to something in the store that drove me out into the parking lot with a need for 800 kleenex and some cough drops. I recovered pretty quickly but WOW that was intense.

And then on to Leeward CC! Not sure why, but the campus was empty. The day was gorgeous. 

The brutalist design of the buildings was so lovely. We wandered around in search of architecture but there was none to be found. But when you turned around you realized that you were right there on the water with big big ships in the harbor.

Still on the hunt for sculpture we went back to the art department. Front doors weren't open, but I walked  around the back of the building and found some people sculpting outdoors. "Excuse me -- I'm looking for some public sculpture..." One person spoke up "I think it's outside the library. And inside the library."

Sure enough, the Satoru Abe sculpture we were looking for was outside the library. Thanks, sculptors! It was kinda awkwardly placed, and oddly monumental but tiny. But you could see how it was very cool at one time. None of my photos did it any justice. And I now see that we missed an exhibition by Tadashi Sato that was on at the time. Argh.

Outside the library was a lovely oculus, lined with mosaic, showing off the brilliant sky and a lone cloud:

Inside the library was some cool artwork by Kahi Ching.

A nice sunset awaited at the hotel.

We wrapped up our day at Stand Up Honolulu, a fairly new club on Cooke St. We met up with our old forklift friend, Ms T. One of the fun things about coming to Honolulu is that Ms T. lives here but she and we have none of the same points of reference. So we can take her to places she's never been. And she's up for everything and it's always a blast. So she met us at the club. She texted that she was scared to get out of her car, which was adorable. Anyhoo, we met in the parking lot and went up to the club. 

I like their bathroom keys!

We saw Andy Bumatai, who was fabulous. And it was a local crowd, but he didn't single us out like he did when we saw him back home. There was, however, a bit of a thing with a wiry guy in fatigues who came in late. He seemed to be altered, wiggly, and Andy couldn't resist dragging him into the act a bit since everyone had seen this guy enter the small club in the middle of his set. He was definitely walking the knife's edge a bit with this guy, and at more than one point I thought "This guy probably has a gun and we're going to die." But that didn't happen and we all had a good time. Except maybe for that one guy. 

I hope he's ok.