Mary "Aunty Malia" Blanchard Solomon (November 24, 1915 – May 8, 2005) was an American textile artist and expert on Hawaiian customs, crafts, and culture. Solomon researched and traveled across the
South Pacific
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...
to regain lost knowledge about
kapa
Kapa is a fabric made by native Hawaiians from the bast fibres of certain species of trees and shrubs in the orders Rosales and Malvales. The bark is beaten and felted to achieve a soft texture and dye stamped in geometric patterns.
Description ...
, the traditional Hawaiian craft of making cloth from the fibers of trees. The ''Chicago Tribune'' called Solomon one of Hawaii's "foremost amateur anthropologist/historians."
Biography
Mary Blanchard Solomon was born in
Honolulu, Hawaii
Honolulu ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the Consolidated city-county, consolidated City and County of Honol ...
on November 24, 1915. Solomon grew up in a poor section of Honolulu. She spent the early part of her life working at various jobs with her husband to support their five children.
She and her husband Herman left Hawaii after a dock strike left them struggling to make ends meet. They established a catering business in California, where they lived for ten years, but returned the family to Hawaii after growing homesick for the islands.
Efforts to preserve Hawaiian culture
Along with her husband, Solomon opened Ulu Mau Village in 1960, a site featuring recreations of daily life in ancient Hawaii. The site featured demonstrations of quilt making, poi pounding, kukui nut candle making, and other crafts. The "villagers" were people who possessed good speaking skills and were knowledgeable about ancient Hawaiian culture. Ulu Mau Village was established in
Ala Moana Beach Park
Ala Moana Beach Park is a free public park on the island of Oahu in the U.S. state of Hawaii, located between Waikiki and downtown Honolulu. This park has a wide gold-sand beach that is over a half-mile (800 m) long.
Protected by a shallow ree ...
, later moving to Heʻeia Kea, where it eventually closed. Solomon ran Ulu Mau for ten years, while traveling and studying to learn more about the pre-Western cultural traditions of Hawaii.
In the 1960s, Solomon worked closely with anthropologist
Kenneth Emory
Kenneth Pike Emory (November 23, 1897 – January 2, 1992) was an American anthropologist who played a key role in shaping modern anthropology in Oceania. In the tradition of A. L. Kroeber and other pioneering anthropologists who trained him, ...
to study the extensive collection of Hawaiian kapa at the
Bishop Museum
The Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, designated the Hawaii State Museum of Natural and Cultural History, is a museum of history and science in the historic Kalihi district of Honolulu, Hawaii, Honolulu on the Hawaiian island of Oʻahu. Founded in 1 ...
. She traveled to locations were
tapa cloth
Tapa cloth (or simply ''tapa'') is a barkcloth made in the islands of the Pacific Ocean, primarily in Tonga, Samoa and Fiji, but as far afield as Niue, Cook Islands, Futuna, Solomon Islands, Java, New Zealand, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea and Ha ...
(bark cloth) was being made, including
Samoa
Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...
,
Tonga
Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in the southern Pacific Ocean. accordin ...
,
Tahiti
Tahiti (; Tahitian language, Tahitian , ; ) is the largest island of the Windward Islands (Society Islands), Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France. It is located in the central part of t ...
,
Fiji
Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...
and the
Marquesas
The Marquesas Islands ( ; or ' or ' ; Marquesan: ' ( North Marquesan) and ' ( South Marquesan), both meaning "the land of men") are a group of volcanic islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France in the southern Pacific ...
and
Cook Islands
The Cook Islands is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of 15 islands whose total land area is approximately . The Cook Islands' Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) covers of ocean. Avarua is its ...
, exploring dyes and techniques that would have been used by ancient Hawaiians. Solomon was unable to find wauke (
paper mulberry
The paper mulberry (''Broussonetia papyrifera'', syn. ''Morus papyrifera'' L.) is a species of flowering plant in the family Moraceae. It is native to Asia, Solomon was known as "Aunty Malia" throughout Hawaii.
Death and legacy
Solomon died May 8, 2005.
Solomon is credited with helping revive the art of kapa in Hawaii. In the 1960s
Laurance Rockefeller
Laurance Spelman Rockefeller (May 26, 1910 – July 11, 2004) was an American businessman, financier, philanthropist, and conservationist. Rockefeller was the third son and fourth child of John D. Rockefeller Jr. and Abby Aldrich Rockefeller. ...
commissioned Solomon to create fourteen large wall hangings for the
Mauna Kea Beach Hotel
The Mauna Kea Beach Hotel is a hotel property on the Kohala Coast of the island of Hawaii. It sits at Kaunaoa Bay. The American Institute of Architects (AIA) awarded the hotel an Honor Award in 1967 citing its "restrained detailing and fine spatial ...
; her work is still displayed there, after extensive restoration by the Bishop Museum. Ulu Mau Village has been called an effort in preserving Hawaiian culture before the Second Hawaiian Renaissance of the 1970s.
Solomon was profiled on the
PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
series ''American Perspective'', in a segment called "Aunty Malia: Tapa Maker."
In 1988 the
Hawaii State Legislature
The Hawaii State Legislature ( Hawaiian: Ka ‘Aha‘ōlelo kau kānāwai o ka Moku‘āina o Hawai‘i) is the bicameral state legislature of the U.S. state of Hawaii, consisting of the Hawaii State Senate (upper house with 25 senators) and t ...
passed a resolution declaring Solomon a "ambassadress of good will."