Bernice Ann Keolamauloaonalani Akamine (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Bernice Ann Keolamauloaonalani Miyamoto; born December 1, 1949 – June 14, 2024) was an American Native Hawaiian traditional artist and Hawaiian rights activist. Her visual art has taken multiple forms, including glass and

featherwork Featherwork is the working of feathers into a work of art or cultural artifact. This was especially elaborate among the peoples of Oceania and the Americas, such as the Incas and Aztecs. Feathered cloaks and headdresses include the '' ʻahuʻul ...

, and she teaches traditional Hawaiian art techniques such as the creation of

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 ...

cloth and natural dyeing using Hawaiian plants. Akamine was an advocate for Indigenous land rights, using her artwork to bring attention to the colonial invasion of Hawaii and its continued effects on the native Hawaiian population.

Early life and education

Bernice Ann Keolamauloaonalani (Miyamoto) Akamine was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, on December 1, 1949. Her heritage is kānaka maoli (Native Hawaiian) and Japanese American. Akamine's grandmother was a

kahuna Kahuna (; ) is a Hawaiian word that refers to an expert in any field. Historically, it has been used to refer to doctors, surgeons and dentists, as well as priests, ministers, and sorcerers. Background A may be versed in agriculture,Archiv ...

lāʻau lapaʻau Lāʻau lapaʻau is a Traditional medicine, traditional medical practice of Native Hawaiians. The Hawaiian language, Hawaiian words ''lāʻau'' and ''lapaʻau'' mean ''plants'' or ''vegetation'' and ''treat'', ''heal'', or ''cure'' respectively in ...

, a traditional Hawaiian healer, and her mother, Audrey Elliott, was a

lauhala ''Lauhala'', ''lau'' meaning "leaf" in the Hawaiian language, refers to the leaves of the hala tree ''(Pandanus tectorius)''. Uses The hala tree is of great cultural, health and economic importance in many Pacific Islands. The fruit of the tree i ...

weaver. Akamine earned two degrees from the University of Hawaii at Manoa: a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in glass in 1994 and a

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admi ...

degree in sculpture and glass in 1999. She studied multiple traditional Hawaiian art forms at the university, such as lei hulu (feather leis) and

weaving. She also completed graduate work at Central Washington University in natural resource management. Bernice died on June 14, 2024 in Kailua, Hawaii at the age of 74.

Artwork

Akamine's artwork focused on environmental and cultural issues, especially the 1893

overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom The Hawaiian Kingdom was overthrown in a ''coup d'état'' against Queen Liliʻuokalani that took place on January 17, 1893, on the island of Oahu. The coup was led by the Committee of Safety, composed of seven foreign residents (five Americ ...

and the ongoing

Hawaiian sovereignty movement The Hawaiian sovereignty movement () is a grassroots political and cultural campaign to reestablish an autonomous or independent nation or kingdom of Hawaii out of a desire for sovereignty, self-determination, and self-governance. Some group ...

. She was a kumu (expert teacher) of the methods of creating and using waiho‘olu‘u (natural plant dyes). During a 2005 internship at the Amy B. H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden, she documented the colors created with these dyes, pairing 20 samples of dye with plant photos. Akamine created

, cloth created by beating bark. She was featured in a 2015 documentary, ''Ka Hana Kapa'', along with other kapa makers and has served as a consultant to the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

, helping them identify the plants that made the kapa colors on items in their collections. She has also created contemporary baskets inspired by traditional symbols of Hawaiian nobility, using the feathers of small birds. Akamine said her art "is meant to make a statement and preserve cultural knowledge."

Selected projects

* ''Kalo'' (2015): large-scale traveling installation featuring 87 individual kalo plants made from pōhaku (stone) and newsprint * ''Hinalua’iko’a'' (2017): suspended and freestanding beaded sculptures inspired by traditional Hawaiian fish traps, oceanic forms, and

Kumulipo In Hawaiian religion, the Kumulipo is the creation chant, first recorded in the 18th century. It also includes a genealogy of the members of Hawaiian royalty and was created in honor of Kalaninuiamamao and passed down orally to his daughter Alapa ...

, the Hawaiian creation chant * ''Papahanaumoku'' (2018): mixed media pieces of glass and used bullet casing created in response to the

2018 Hawaii false missile alert On the morning of January 13, 2018, an alert was accidentally issued via the Emergency Alert System and Wireless Emergency Alerts, Wireless Emergency Alert System over television, radio, and cellular networks in the U.S. state of Hawaii, instruc ...

* ''Ku‘u One Hānau'' (2019): five tents made with the Hawaiian flag drawing attention to homelessness within the kānaka maoli (Native Hawaiian) population

Awards and fellowships

* Pilchuck Partners Scholarship to

Pilchuck Glass School Pilchuck Glass School is an international center for glass art education. The school was founded in 1971 by Dale Chihuly, Ruth Tamura, Anne Gould Hauberg (1917-2016), and John H. Hauberg (1916-2002). The campus is located on a former tree farm in ...

, 1995 * Native Arts Research Fellowship,

Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian The National Museum of the American Indian is a museum in the United States devoted to the culture of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas. It is part of the Smithsonian Institution group of museums and research centers. The museum has three ...

, 1999 * Community Scholar Award,

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History The National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. With ...

, 2012 * Native Hawaiian Artist Fellowship,

Native Arts and Cultures Foundation The Native Arts and Cultures Foundation (NACF) is a 501(c)(3) organization, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that supports Native American artists, culture bearers, and Native Americans in the United States, Native-led arts organizations, providi ...

, 2015

References

14. https://www.nmplimited.com/obituaries/Bernice-Ann-Keolamauloaonalani-Akamine?obId=32190263 Nuuanu Memorial Park and Mortuary,Retrieved July 21,2024

External links

"HB19 Artist Bernice Akamine"
4-minute video of Akamine describing her large-scale exhibit "Kalo" exhibited during the 2019 Honolulu Biennial
"How Kapa Is Made"
3-minute audio of Akamine discussing the origins of bark cloth {{DEFAULTSORT:Akamine, Bernice Living people 1949 births 2024 deaths People from Honolulu University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa alumni Artists from Hawaii 21st-century American women artists American people of Native Hawaiian descent American artists of Japanese descent Native Hawaiian activists Textile artists from Hawaii Hawaii people of Japanese descent