The inspiration behind this print is my grandmother, Theresa Kuilei Kamahele Marzo. My Grandma Marzo, lived at the base of those majestic Maku’u cliffs in Puna with my Papa Marzo. It was heaven there, a place where all of their 8 children and all of us grandkids would gather every weekend, weekend after weekend... down at the ocean all day, from day break till sun down, losing track of time, our parents yelling at us to come back up from that kai when the ocean started to turn dark. When we did, we would all settle in to that old yellow house, all spread out on the punee on the balcony and eat, laugh, talk story....
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Right beyond that balcony and just past the laughter of us cousins, there was a grove of Pua Melia (Plumeria), always blooming in all of the colors of a warm Hawaiian afternoon: yellows of the sun, reds of the sunset, and pinks just beyond that tinge of the sun setting, and just when our sun and sea salt drunkenness was wearing off, we would make our way to that grove of trees and pick our pua Melia of the day and string those beauties up into lei. How spoiled were we to have an endless supply of beauty to keep our hands busy....
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My heart smiles when I think back to my childhood, to those weekends at Maku’u...salted air and pua Melia scented breezes whispering through the rails of that balcony...
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And so, Lovingly, the inspirations for a large part of this year will be guided by the memories of my grandmother and the land she lived, loved, and raised a big Hawaiian family on....
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.....We all have them. People who you will never hear about in history books, not celebrated in song or script.....But to our own history their impact is immeasurable. If i do nothing but celebrate those that have touched mine in my own small way, then I will find joy and success in that work. Inspiration and stories from my grandma’s life are endless, and I hope to touch upon a few this year. I hope that I will tell them well.
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Kuilei’s Pua Melia, for her grove of Pua Melia in Maku’u, Puna, Hawai’i