Canoe club honors master carver
By Tanya Bricking
Advertiser Staff Writer
He's 95 years old and has just given up driving his car.
But Wright Bowman Sr. is still in his Nu'uanu wood shop every day, turning out his signature canoes and paddles and pieces of Hawaiian history.
Today, Bowman has another award to add to his collection. Duke's Canoe Club gave him a surprise honor yesterday, naming him the 2002 winner of the fourth annual Duke's Ho'okahiko Award, for exemplifying "the finest traditions of Hawai'i."
"He is a living treasure," said Ka'ili Chun, who has been studying under Bowman for seven years as his apprentice. "He comes from a time past, born in 1907. Today, you can't get away from the cars and traffic. He was born in a time where there were no cars in Hawai'i."
Bowman developed a passion for wood-carving when he watched canoe builders while growing up on the Big Island. He later honed his own skills in a General Electric apprentice program for machinery pattern makers.
When he returned to Hawai'i during the Great Depression, he practiced on cultural icons such as canoes, paddles, digging sticks and calabashes. He earned a reputation as a master woodworker while at Kamehameha Schools, where he taught for 23 years before becoming an independent craftsman.
When the Hokule'a and the Hawai'i Loa voyaging canoes were under development, the builders turned to Bowman for his expertise. His work include the koa pulpit in the church at Kalaupapa, and his pieces can be seen in the Hawaii Maritime Museum and the Bishop Museum.
Bowman passed his skills to a son, Wright "Wrighto" Bowman Jr., who carved voyaging canoes himself but died of a heart attack in 1997.
"Wrighto" was his father's true legacy, Chun said. But Chun now drives her mentor to doctor's appointments and to the grocery store. From him, she says, she's learned humility and many skills beyond woodworking.
Chun feels a responsibility to carry on the skills Bowman taught her by teaching others, she said.
"One motto of his is if a friend asks you for help, you help, no matter what," she said, "and don't expect anything in return."
Yesterday, Duke's Canoe Club had something to give back: thanks.
Bowman has shared his skills with a new generation of canoe voyagers and woodworkers, said Jeff Apaka, director of community relations at the Waikiki Community Center, which honored Bowman in January as part of the Ala Wai Challenge canoe race.
"He has been an inspiration," Apaka said. "He is one man, a genius wood carver."
Bowman's tools are on display at All Star Hawaii, 2080 Kalakaua Ave., for another month. Apaka is looking for another place to showcase the tools next, as a kind of moving museum to the living legend.
Reach Tanya Bricking at tbricking@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8026.
