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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Monday, November 25, 2002

Hawaiian collectibles showcased in 'Paradise'

By Wanda A. Adams
Advertiser Books Editor

Nearly a decade ago, collector and antiques dealer Don R. Severson began thinking about doing a book on Hawaiian collectibles.

He wanted to include the entire range of Hawaiian collectibles, not just a single category.

No one had ever completed such a comprehensive work, and Severson now knows why: The cost and the scope of the project almost scuttled his dream.

But he was able to interest the Honolulu Academy of Arts in the project. And now "Finding Paradise: Island Art in Private Collections" — all six pounds, 396 pages, 500 color photographs and $79.95 worth of it — is finally in Hawai'i. It was selling briskly by pre-order even before the 2,000 copies allotted to the state were actually delivered, said Academy spokeswoman Charlie Aldinger.

The book had been meant to accompany an Academy art exhibit of the same name back in April — a once-in-a-lifetime gathering of loaned pieces that have long been packed up and returned to the owners. But neither Severson nor anyone else involved in the effort lamented the book's lateness, because they are so pleased with the result of their long labors.

'Finding Paradise'

Book signing: 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. Dec. 8, Honolulu Academy of Arts (authors mingle with crowd 1:30-2:30, signing 2:30-4:30)

Available now at Honolulu Academy Shop, Native Books, general bookstores, Amazon.com

"It is what I envisioned," said a satisfied Severson.

His vision almost didn't come to be. Even after he and photographer Michael Horikawa had put in several years of research, visiting collectors and photographing pieces as far afield as Seattle and San Diego, Severson had begun to quail at the cost. Then, in 1996, he heard that the Honolulu Academy of Arts was planning to mount an exhibit on Hawaiian collectibles — and he got the idea of partnering with them, making the book effectively the catalog for the event.

Severson laughs when he recalls how he confidently promised Academy director George Ellis that the book would be ready to go long before the "Finding Paradise" exhibit. "Uh, wrooooong!"

But the book he edited with Academy curator of Western art Jennifer Saville was worth the wait, according to those who worked on it.

"There won't be another book like this anytime soon," said archaeologist and consultant Roger R. Rose of Honolulu, who wrote an intriguing opening essay, "On Collectors and Collecting: An Appreciation." Rose also contributed to four of the 17 essays that open each segment. "I think it's going to be very useful in years to come because it brings together information from different aspects of Hawaiian history in a format that is accessible for a wide spectrum of people."

Topics range from wood and stone artifacts to 'ukulele and collectible spoons, each with its own chapter.

Rose's essay on collectors was designed to express the theme of the book — art in private collections. "It's probably the first time I've written anything like that ... and it was a rather difficult thing to do," said Rose. Finally, he hit on the idea of discussing the reasons that people collect art, and tracing the way different collectors have affected Hawaiian society. He paints a charming picture of Academy founder Anna Rice Cooke, for example, living in an aging home so full of treasures that her family feared it would crumble around her. This, in part, gave rise to the idea of pulling the house down and endowing what became the Honolulu Academy of Arts.

Rose's piece, which was something Severson very much wanted for the book, recognizes a group not often given their due in the scholarly world. Said Rose: "I realized how much we are really indebted to private collectors for saving things from the past that might otherwise have been lost."

Many intelligent collectors go further, making a record of the information about the provenance and creation of the pieces, Rose said. And many, as Mrs. Cooke did, end by surrendering their collections to public institutions when the accumulation reaches critical mass.

Severson, 68, a Portland, Ore., native and founder of Tahiti Imports, had his interest in Hawaiiana piqued 40 years ago by pieces scattered around the home of his wife's family, the Prigge/Ka'ai clan of Kaua'i.

"They were literally using poi pounders for door stops," he said. Bemused at first, and then intrigued, he began researching Hawaiian antiquities and collecting pieces, and developed a second business as a dealer and appraiser. He was able to do all the research for the three essays he co-authored in his own library of more than 2,000 volumes.

Severson hopes sales of the book will benefit the Academy, without which the volume would never have seen the light of day, and that it will pay tribute to the collectors who have given these objects homes, and care, and aloha.