Kids share their images of peace

By Jennifer Hiller
Advertiser Education Writer

Along a 100-foot wall, student artwork celebrates peace in 391 different images: the hula, a rainbow, plumeria, the American flag, the shaka, hands clasped and surfers sharing waves with each other.

Keala Patterson, 10, hangs art done by Hawai'i fourth-graders for the "Peace with Aloha" Children's Art Gallery. The exhibit will be on display at the New Makaha Marketplace through Aug. 29. Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser

The gallery, an exhibit now in its 10th year, is an educational and cultural display done with a United Nations campaign, "Decade for a Culture of Peace and Nonviolence for the Children of the World," in mind.

Selected student works from the "Peace with Aloha" exhibit will be turned into a 2004 calendar, but for now the entire collection of student work resides at the New Makaha Marketplace, where the public can see it between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. daily until Aug. 29.

From Sept. 8 to 30, it will be on display at the entrance of the Dole Cannery Signature Theater.

"It's the first time we've brought it out in the community like this," said Ha'aheo Guanson, executive director of the Pacific Justice and Reconciliation Center, an organizer of the art exhibit. "We wanted to stimulate the schools to get involved with programs that promote peace and nonviolence."

Traditionally, the "Peace with Aloha" display has made appearances in airports around the state before the annual wall calendar is published. Organizers say they still hope to display the artwork at airports later this year.

But while the display is in Makaha, organizers also hope it will contribute to the area's economic redevelopment.

The New Makaha Marketplace is the old Cornet building, which had been mostly vacant since the variety store/mini-mart closed in the mid-1990s.

Schuyler "Lucky" Cole, who bought and renovated the building, offered space for the artwork because he said it draws children and families to the Marketplace, which had been boarded up for years. Now, the low rents have drawn offices, retail businesses and a charter school to the location.

Kaleo Patterson, president of Pacific Justice and Reconciliation Center, said he hopes people will visit the Makaha area and stop in to see the artwork, which was drawn by fourth-graders from schools around the state.

This year's display is dedicated to the artist Louis Pohl, who taught at Kamehameha Schools, the University of Hawai'i-Hilo, the Honolulu Academy of Arts and in his own studio.

Along with the student work, some original oils by Pohl (1915-1999) are displayed in the exhibit, including "Peace," an image of young children on a playground.

The "Peace with Aloha" Children's Art Gallery is coordinated by the Pacific Justice and Reconciliation Center and the Makaha Economic Development Office in partnership with the University of Hawai'i Matsunaga Peace Institute, Matsunaga Foundation, Louis Pohl Foundation and the state attorney general's office.

Reach Jennifer Hiller at jhiller@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8084.