Halau honoring matriarch of the feather arts

By Vicki Viotti
Advertiser Staff Writer

At her feather shop in Kapahulu, Mary Lou Kekuewa displays her father's hat. Her father was a Kamehameha Schools grad of 1917. Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser 'Ho'olauna Hou 2004: He Pulama 'Ia, A Treasure' A tribute to Auntie Mary Louise Kekuewa Featuring Halau Mele, Nalani Olds, Melveen Leed, Na Hanona Kulike 'O Pi'ilani 6 p.m. Sunday Hawai'i Theatre Center $20-$25, plus $2 theater restoration fee 528-0506

While her father was stationed at the Presidio of San Francisco, the family moved with him, but the homesick Mary Lou lost little time in finding her local-born husband-to-be in the chilly bay city and winging her way back to Hawai'i with him.

"When I lived on the Mainland, that's when I realized my heritage and culture," she said, settling into a chair at her Kapahulu Avenue shop, truly the nest she has feathered over the years. The walls are hung with treasured plumage from the 'o'u and 'apapane birds as well as the more readily available dyed goose feathers.

Many more people have realized one of the lovelier elements in Hawaiian culture because of Kekuewa, more fondly known as Auntie Mary Lou, a master in featherwork. At 78 and looking regal with blue feathers adorning her queenly coif, the matriarch of four generations of featherworkers seems to have years left for passing on her knowledge.

However, some of her friends in the hula community have decided that there's no time like the present for paying tribute. Halau Mele, the hula school of kumu John Keola Lake, has turned its fund-raiser into an event honoring Auntie Mary Lou, who has taught her art to a long line of hula students. Sheri Gon will wager that her alumni class is larger still.

"She has probably taught everyone who has made a feather lei," said Gon, one of the students performing in Sunday's show.

For 14 years, Kekuewa and her daughter, Paulette Kahalepuna, have taught primarily at Na Lima Mili Hulu No'eau, the shop more easily spotted from the street by the neon "Feathers" sign in the window. But for decade before that, and a few years since, Kekuewa was the feather master giving classes at the Bishop Museum.

It's a show she and her daughter have taken on the road with more than a few Mainland teaching trips. Kekuewa has even found her way back to San Francisco, where kumu hula Patrick Makuakane (whose halau is named for the feather lei) has enlisted Auntie Mary Lou's help.

But finding her niche in the Hawaiian cultural environment did not happen automatically. Feather lei are the legacy of the ancient chiefly class — commoners did not wear them — and when Kekuewa was raising her family, the art was passed down along traditional lines.

"Many indigenous cultures in the world have feathers in their art, so it is recognized," she said. "These were the fine jewelry, only used by the ali'i."

Kahalepuna, being the typical teenage daughter, showed no interest in her mother's passion until she needed to learn lei-making for a school project in 1962. Later, when she grew into the typical young adult, she embraced it fully. Kahalepuna said she knew she would yield to her mother eventually; everyone does.

"There's no question!" she said with a laugh. "But fortunately, I love it."

Kekuewa and her daughter literally have written the book on the subject ("Feather Lei as an Art," first published in 1976), and the dedication page of the revised edition credits Leilani Fernandez as Kekuewa's teacher. The two met in the course of Kekuewa's odyssey toward becoming Lei Queen, a journey that seemed bedeviled by Kekuewa's fair skin and the prejudices of others. She's gotten over the hurt since then.

"They'd say, 'Haole, get off the stage,' " Kekuewa said with a grin. She seems proud of her family's mixed stock.

"We're Hawaiian, English, Scottish, German, French, Irish, Chinese and Japanese," she added. "We belong to everyone."

Eventually, Kekuewa (the 1970 queen) and Kahalepuna (1975) became the first mother and daughter to win the annual Aloha Week honor. Meanwhile, Auntie Mary Lou was introduced to featherwork after serving as costume mistress for the Aloha Week court.

She studied under Fernandez and then, when fellow members of the Queen Emma Hawaiian Civic Club asked her, she began teaching.

It was in the club that Kekuewa and kumu Lake began their lifelong friendship. For Sunday's concert, Lake's students will perform a mele he wrote for Auntie Mary Lou, once in a contemporary ('auana) style and once in a more traditional seated hula, accompanied by the knee drums (puniu).

Another Lake composition, a chant that honors Kekuewa, her parents and her late husband ("Uncle Paul") is planned, as well as one written for her by Kamehameha Schools kumu Holoua Stender.

All will feature feather lei the students made by the Kekuewa method, Lake said, adding that many halau owe her such a debt.

"Auntie Mary Lou and Auntie Paulette, besides being good friends, they have never said no to any group," he said. And so when the opportunity arose for giving back to the source, Halau Mele gratefully said yes.

Reach Vicki Viotti at vviotti@ honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8053.