Pa'u Rider - Ka Ho’oilina Mö’ï - 50 x 40 , 40 x 32 , 30 x 24

“ I was given the name Kaleohoneakekahuli some 30 years ago-because of my music and not my artwork but I chose to legally take the "Leohone" (sweet voice) part of it as my new middle name and later to use it to sign my Hawaiian cultural series of paintings. I accepted that I had somehow been "chosen" to pass on a message and I have endeavored to gently "speak" through my work of the teaching and the passing on of the Hawaiian culture and of the more paramount legacies of some of the Hawaiian Ali'i.  Many of my paintings or portions of my paintings have come to me in dreams or visions. I always tell people that I do not paint "ghosts" but rather the influence of the past on the present. We are but the mere conduits for a culture; the culture is passed on through the teaching and influence of those who were here before we were. Oli was and continues to be an amazing conduit for the Hawaiian culture.“  Leohone Leohone began this Hawaiian cultural series, ‘Ike Ho‘omaopopo, in 1999. The entire series consist of 25 artworks. The last one “ The Silence “ was completed in 2022. The series depicts a present-day Hawaiian being together with the spirit of ancestor or mentor in the background. The spirit image in the paintings illustrate the influence and importance of the ancestor. The Hawaiian series, ‘Ike Ho’omaopopo, is being used for teaching purposes in various Hawaiian Immersion Schools across the State, among them: Samuel Kamakau on Windward O’ahu and Kealakehe Intermediate School in Kailua-Kona. A 9-1/2' x 12' wall-hanging of her painting Ke Ea o ka ‘Aina hangs in the reception area of the Department of Hawaiian Homelands headquarters in Kapolei. While painting was her first love, music became equally important. Two years after the Alberta government aired a documentary on her work as an artist, she laid aside her career in painting to pursue musical studies. Artist and musician, Leohone holds a Master of Arts degree from Norwich University in Vermont and a Fellowship degree in Organ Performance from Trinity College of Music, London, England. From 1982 onwards, she performed organ recitals extensively across Canada and the Western United States until she retired from the concert scene to Hawaii in 1989. Once settled, she inevitably found her way back to her first love and has answered her call to paint. She stayed active as a church organist and choir director throughout the last three decades until her recent retirement (June 2021) as the Organist/Choirmaster at The Cathedral of St. Andrew in Honolulu – to paint full time.