Yikes! They froze the kids at Kawananakoa Intermediate and stuck them on the wall! School’s wall features
the casts of tensThe figures are on the Diamond Head side of the school, facing the Pali Highway. The kids represented appear to be sprawled on the sand after a hard day at the beach -- there's a kind of lip around the figure that suggests a beach towel. Or they're like the plaster casts of victims at Pompeii.
The castings were supervised by Kawananakoa art specialist Natalie Mew, who also trail-bossed a fresco at the school a couple of years ago that depicted the history of Nuuanu Valley. The artist who created the sculptures was Jackie Mild Lau.
The castings, made of Portland cement, went up last spring, but were only recently completed in vibrant colors by airbrush artists Robert Benedict and Dennis Mathewson. "We were thinking of aloha-shirt-like colors," said Mew. They had been a kind of drab blue through the summer -- this was just primer added by a school worker.
"The pieces symbolize students coming together and reaching out for friends," said Mew, who is also a fine cartoon artist. Mew is known as a fabulous teacher who incorporates art into other aspects of the school's curriculum.
Mew is currently taking a sabbatical, involved with another big creative project: She just had a baby.
By Burl Burlingame, Star-Bulletin
