Thursday Night at the Center with Douglas Herman
This presentation explores the art and engineering involved in building a large canoe in traditional times, from the making of the stone tools to the weaving of the sails and the lashing and gluing of the parts. It demonstrates the ingenuity of Pacific Islanders, living on volcanic islands with no usable metals, in determining the best materials and methods for using only what they had at hand to make these amazing vessels. A thousand years ago or more, peoples living on small islands in the Pacific Ocean were able to build large voyaging canoes that could travel over 2000 miles and back between remote islands. The presentation will include hands-on materials.
Douglas Herman is the Executive Director of the Pacific Worlds Institute, an educational non-profit providing culturally grounded educational services that intersect traditional culture and contemporary science. He is a cultural geographer specializing in Indigenous culture and knowledge, with a PhD in Geography from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa and a BA in Comparative Religion from Dartmouth College. In 2000 he created Pacific Worlds as a web-based indigenous-geography education and cultural documentation program for Hawai‘i and the Pacific Islands. From 2007-2019 he served as Senior Geographer at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI). A Hawaiian-language speaker, Doug began participating in the Ho‘okū‘ikahi ceremony at Pu‘u Koholā heiau in 2000. He crewed on Hōkūleʻa during the Chesapeake Bay leg of the World Wide Voyage, and has written several popular articles and academic publications on the values of the voyaging canoe and what they teach us about how to live on planet earth. In 2013 he built his own outrigger sailing canoe from plans by James Wharram and blogged about the process of traditional canoe building, based on research and interviews. Over the course of his career Doug has had direct knowledge transmission from over 150 elders and culture-keepers in Hawai‘i, Micronesia and Indian Country. He has dedicated his professional and personal life to the perpetuation of traditional culture and the values it teaches us.
Thursday night at the Volcano Art Center, focusing on art, Hawaiian culture, and our environment. The series is intended to inspire, and enhance your appreciation of art and life experience, while fostering community connections. This presentation is free, although a donation is greatly appreciated.