Join us on Saturday, June 7th, 11am-1pm for the art opening for ALOHA MAU, a collection of mixed-media artwork by Kailua-based artist, Dawn Ustach. Refreshments will be provided.
About the collection, in Dawn's words:
ALOHA MAU: A FOREVER KIND OF LOVE
How do you say goodbye to someone who is part of you — someone who gave you your DNA, your values, your sense of self? Someone you glimpse everywhere: in your son’s smile, in the ‘iwa bird gliding over Kailua Beach, even in the canned tomatoes at the grocery store?
You don’t. You can’t. They stay with you always, and the love you share never fades.
This series, Aloha Mau, began as a way of gathering the pieces — mentally, emotionally, and physically — after my father’s passing, and processing my grief the only way I know how: through creating. Sitting with, touching, and eventually making that first cut into his beloved aloha shirts brought new life and permanence to them. Through this act, I found a way to move forward without ever truly saying goodbye.
As the series developed, each piece became a scene of a larger story — a patchwork of memory and place. Using fabric from his shirts as both material and inspiration, I began to weave in imagery from my childhood building a personal tapestry of growing up in Hawai‘i.
Recently, I have started incorporating fabrics from my own life and my children’s lives, stitching together stories where we remain connected to him — where my father's presence continues to be celebrated in everything we do.
Aloha Mau is a love that does not end. It is a tapestry of belonging, memory, and the endless ways lives interweave to form the very fabric of family that carries on throughout generations.
