Wright E. Bowman, master carver, loved helping students

By Beverly Creamer
Advertiser Staff Writer

Master wood carver and canoe-builder Wright Elemakule Bowman, whose unerring eye could see a canoe waiting to emerge from inside a log, died Dec. 30 at the age of 96.

Wright E. Bowman

For almost 70 years, Bowman's talents helped guide a resurgence of woodcraft in the Islands that inspired a renewal in voyaging canoe building, the restoration of early churches and a rebirth of appreciation for handmade furniture and cultural implements.

It was Bowman who created a new koa pulpit for one of the early churches at Kalaupapa on Moloka'i, and who provided guidance for his late son, Wright "Wrighto" Bowman Jr., when he set out to carve the Polynesian Voyaging Society canoe Hawai'iloa from two giant 65-foot Alaskan spruce logs in 1991.

But it was the senior Bowman who carved the first 'iako's — crossbars that hold the hulls together — so the society's first voyaging canoe, Hokule'a could be built in the early 1970s.

From the open-air workshop under his Nu'uanu home and his famous "woodpile," Bowman created a legacy of fine craftsmanship that included koa rockers, calabashes, traditional o'o digging sticks, canoe paddles and dining room sets. Some of the equipment was older than he was, and many of his tools had been jury-rigged from things such as old sanding belts and vacuum-cleaner parts.

"Over the years, his working with wood brought him most of his recognition," said his daughter, Claire Bowman Graham, "but he taught woodworking at Kamehameha for 23 years, and had so many, many students and was most proud of that. They'd call him up and say, 'Hey, Mr. Bowman, I've got this project, could you help me out?' and he'd say, "Yeah, come on up.'

"For years he helped out people, and he loved doing that."

Early ambition

Bowman was born in Hilo on Nov. 5, 1907. Growing up on the Big Island, his imagination was fired by the early canoe-builders at Honaunau, and he determined to become one. But it was a General Electric apprenticeship program for machinery pattern-makers on the Mainland that gave him the precision and skills to put his dreams into practice.

Learning that craft allowed him to create templates for the working parts of airplane and automobile engines, oil well rigs and other heavy machinery. Later, his Native Hawaiian roots inspired him to turn to the icons of his own culture and become one of the visionaries behind the Hawaiian Renaissance.

"He was especially good at figuring things out," his daughter said. "If you had some kind of problem — anything — my father would just look at it and figure it out, no problem. He had this gift."

Bowman returned to Hawai'i after the Great Depression to teach at Kamehameha Schools, where he served for 23 years before becoming an independent craftsman.

In recent years, he worked with apprentice Ka'ili Chun, daughter of Kamehameha Schools President Michael Chun, who will carry on his work, said Bowman's daughter. Chun has purchased and is renovating Bowman's Nu'uanu home, and will continue his work from the downstairs workshop.

Big Island family

Bowman was born to Donald Scott and Mary Mele Elemakule Pa Bowman of the Big Island, and graduated from Kamehameha School for Boys in 1928 before heading to the Mainland.

Aside from daughter Lee Claire "Maggie" Bowman Graham, he is survived by son William Kent Bowman; sister Lani Holmes; brothers Waldo, Kent "K.K. Kau'manua" and Jan Bowman; a granddaughter; four grandsons; three great-granddaughters; and four great-grandsons.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Elizabeth Kaleilulu'u Whittington Bowman; son Wright "Wrighto" Elemakule Bowman Jr.; sisters Maile O'Donnell, Nina Reed and Donna Olds; and brothers Clifford Ha'alipo, Donald Scott Jr., James Pierre and Francis Moffett Bowman.

Services are pending. Arrangements by Williams Funeral Services.

Reach Beverly Creamer at bcreamer@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8013.