Tuesday, September 27, 2016

THE TAHITIAN PAREU

The Tahitian pāreu are among the most colourful and bright of the Pacific. Originally flower patterns, the hibiscus flowers in particular, or traditional tapa patterns, were printed in bright colours on a cotton sheet of about 90 or 120 cm wide and 180 cm long. Nowadays they are also made in Tahiti itself and dye painting with varying colours is popular as well.
A pāreu can be worn in many ways. Women will usually wrap it around their upper body, covering it from breasts to above the knees. Either they rely on their breasts for it not to slide down, or they may wrap a corner around their shoulder or their neck. In more traditional surroundings the covering of the upper body is less important, but the covering of the thighs is. Then it is worn as a longer skirt. Men wear it as a short skirt, or may even make shorts out of it, especially when fishing or working in the bush where freedom of movement of the legs is needed. But during quiet, cooler nights at home, they may wear it as a long skirt too.
The ends of the pāreu are normally just tucked in, kept in place by friction only. No pins or other means are used. Only when as dress worn around the neck or shoulders, ends are knotted together. When it comes loose a few times per day, the wearer will just pull it tight again or rewrap him/herself. Nevertheless, when a lot of movement occurs, at heavy work or dancing for example, wearing a belt over it around the waist is common too. The ease of undoing it is not a burden, but rather a blessing. A woman (or man) may start her daily work on a colder morning wearing her pāreu as a long skirt and with a shirt. When it comes loose, the day may have warmed up enough for her to redo it as a shorter skirt. Again, some time later, she may discard her warm shirt and rewrap her pāreu as a dress.
 photos: Wilson except # 3, 4 and 5
Bora Bora Lagoon







The Tahitian crew I flew back to Honolulu with. 1975

Excluding the guy in the brown pants...Left to right: Ike, Gail, BC and Bear. The crew of Tatoosh at the Hotel Bora Bora











Sunday, September 25, 2016

Bruce Reynolds / @surfinista
Puntas, Puerto Rico
Bruce Reynolds has been a professional artist for the last 20 years.  He is self-taught, working mostly in mixed media and collage, with a recent shift to painting.  Before devoting himself full time to artwork, Bruce spent many years designing and building custom contemporary furniture.  Those skills helped him to incorporate symmetry, structure, and composition into his work.  Being an avid surfer for the last 43 years and world traveler since his teens, Bruce’s work has taken on a worldview that crosses over many cultural barriers. Throughout the years, he found himself being influenced by the DaDa movement, pop culture, and today’s graffiti artists.  These influences have helped maintain a work that is both current and provocative.

With no industry to speak of, a lot of our surfing forefathers had to smuggle things to finance their lifestyle. Nowadays, with few forefathers to speak of, the surfing industry has to smuggle the lifestyle to finance their things.

Sunday, September 18, 2016

JAKE SHIMABUKURO

One of the best uke players alive today, Jake's talent's as a musician and his showmanship is something that you have to hear and see for yourself.



Friday, September 2, 2016

SOUTH PACIFIC WATER-COLOR




Samoan outrigger crew. Free hand watercolor rendition of a hand carved wooden block textile created by Avi Kiriaty. water color: Wilson 

DOGS EYE VIEW