DEAN SENSUI / DSENSUI@STARBULLETIN.COM
Wright Bowman shows a hand-crafted paddle that's made from an exquisite curly grained koa wood. Bowman's paddles will be presented to the winners of the state paddling championships.
Bowman’s Where does the inspiration come from, not just to build but to create, beautiful things?
contributions
etched in koa
By Cindy Luis
cluis@starbulletin.com
Is it in the whispers of the mists that float down through Nuuanu Valley and into his home workshop? Or is it in the babbling of nearby Nuuanu Stream as it finds its way down to Kapena Pool?
When: Tomorrow: Opening ceremonies, 9:45 a.m. Preliminaries, 10 a.m. Finals, 3 p.m. State Paddling
Championships
Where: Keehi Lagoon
Who: 62 high schools competing for varsity boys, girls and mixed titles
Perhaps for Wright Elemakule Bowman, the inspiration was always inside, nurtured by the gentle waves of his boyhood home on Kealakekua Bay. That's where, Bowman remembers, his fascination with outrigger canoes began, within reach of the shadows of Pu'uhonua O Honaunau.
The love affair began there, with the art of building a canoe and the art of racing it. Nearly 40 years after he and Sam Mokuahi pushed to have paddling as part of Hawaii high school athletics, Bowman will be part of tomorrow's awards ceremony for the second annual First Hawaiian Bank/HHSAA State Paddling Championships at Keehi Lagoon.
Part of Bowman will also be on display. The 95-year-old artisan has created three koa paddles, mounted on stands, to serve as perpetual trophies. The idea, as always, was to perpetuate the Hawaiian culture. Bowman used the prized native koa to honor the state sport and a longtime friend, Teddi Anderson, president of the Na Opio Canoe Racing Association.
"Teddi has helped so much with the sport," said Bowman. "It was time someone helped her."
But Bowman didn't know until Tuesday morning that the trophies were to be named for him. He was speechless when HHSAA Executive Secretary Keith Amemiya brought one of the newly engraved paddles back to Bowman's Nuuanu home.
It's not often Bowman is without words, despite a tumor in his throat that has him speaking in raspy whispers. He loves to share his stories, just like he loves to share his woodcraft.
"One day, he just told me he wanted to give trophies for the kids," said Anderson. "This is our opportunity to get his name linked forever with the state race. It gives an element of history to the kids and a way to share him with them."
Bowman taught woodworking for 22 years at his alma mater, Kamehameha Schools, where he first boarded as a 7-year-old. He has been sharing his knowledge for the past five years with Ka'ili Chun, an artist and art professor at the University of Hawaii.
Their working relationship began when she was working on her master's degree project: replicating Hawaiian spears.
"He showed me how and we ended up with eight spears," said Chun, the 40-year-old daughter of Kamehameha Schools President Michael Chun. "We began with that.
"What he has given me is patience. That is an ongoing lesson. I didn't know I had it in me. I'm trying to learn as much as possible from him so I can teach and pass on the knowledge.
"He's going to take most of the knowledge with him when he passes, but he's given me the patience and confidence that I'll be able to continue and develop on my own. I know I'm doing this for a meaningful purpose."
Bowman has seen Hawaii change so much in his lifetime. He remembers when there were very few automobiles. He attended Queen Liliuokalani's funeral in 1917. He was working at the shipyard the morning Pearl Harbor was bombed in 1941. He helped with the building of the voyaging canoe Hokule'a, completed in 1975.
Bowman's work is seen every day, from the chapel at Kamehameha Schools to the ceremonial o'o (digging sticks) used at special groundbreakings. It was into one of his urns the ashes of kupuna Gladys Brandt were placed upon her death last month, a kou urn requested of Bowman years ago by Brandt, a year ahead of him at Kamehameha Schools.
Bowman's home is a museum of the past and the present, with photos, award certificates and calabashes testifying to his "Living Treasure" status. There are unfinished rocking chairs, his favorite things to build, waiting for his expert touch to make them come alive.
A model of the Hokule'a is in pieces, waiting for a rainy afternoon when he's tired of sanding. Eight beautiful curly koa paddles have found a soft temporary home on a downstairs bed, likely to be handed out to award winners and not to steersmen.
Bowman's workshop is full of various woods. Milo, ohia, koa and his personal favorite, kou, a strong wood with an excellent grain.
"I like it because it's so rare," Bowman said of kou.
It's the same description that could be used for Bowman, a rare man with an even rarer talent. But he's not ready to quit yet, feeling that if he stops working, he will stop living.
His immediate goal is to celebrate his 100th birthday, which would be Nov. 5, 2007.
"I have only one stipulation on the party," he said. "I will provide the beer."
Hawaii School Web Sites
