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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Tuesday, May 17, 2005

Royal School sculpture honors passing of knowledge

Advertiser Staff

At 9 a.m. tomorrow, a dedication of a new sculpture will be held at Royal School, 1519 Queen Emma Street.

Kim Duffett's "Mai ka Hina Kua a ka Hina Alo" will be dedicated at Royal School, which was founded in 1839 by King Kamehameha III.

Photo by Kim Duffett

The Ali'i Day dedication will introduce "Mai ka Hina Kua a ka Hina Alo" (Across the Generations), a sculpture created from stone, clear cast acrylic and bronze by Hawai'i artist Kim Duffett. Related events festivities include a Hawaiian blessing of the work and performances by the student body.

Royal School is O'ahu's oldest school, founded in 1839 by King Kamehameha III for the great grandchildren of Kamehameha. David Kalakaua, Queen Emma, Lili'uokalani, Princess Bernice Pauahi, Kamehameha IV, and Kamehameha V all attended this school, and the new sculpture honors that generation and the generations of students that have followed, leading up to the present.

Artist Duffett describes "Mai ka Hina Kua a ka Hina Alo" as representing "the past and present of Royal School.

"It shows the passion for learning passed from one generation to the next, from the young Princess Bernice Pauahi to the student of today," Duffett said. "Rising out of the lava rock is an old-style encyclopedia that stands between them, representing the means by which knowledge is passed from one generation to the next. It is clear because knowledge brings clarity, and learning illuminates the mind. Spilling from the back of the book is a cornucopia of world experience, a pathway to inspiration for the curious mind."

The installation was supported by the state's Department of Education and Foundation for Culture and the Arts, with grants and donations from the Atherton Family Foundation, the Cooke Foundation, Dwight Damon and the Movie Museum, Henry Clark, Tim Bostock and Melanie Holt, Michael Haig, Hawaiian Crane and Rigging, and others.