He Lei Aloha no Kau 💚 Behind the lei…

After Hurricane Lala I was browsing my IG feed when I stopped scrolling to admire a beautiful lei made by @kamailelauliiliico. It was so visually stunning that I was caught by that alone but then I read the caption and knew I had to have one.

Kim of @kamailelauliiliico was making 10 lei to raise $1500 to donate to families affected by Hurricane Lala in Kau, Hawaii. I dm'd her and asked if I could purchase one of those lei. Luckily she still had a few left and I got to be one of the ten. Then I got an idea, because what she was doing was really inspiring to me as an artist.

I loved how she thought about her skills and what she could reasonably do to contribute to relief aid and just did it. I wanted to be like her so I asked if she would let me paint the lei I purchased to extend the fundraiser. She agreed and here is the behind the scenes of the painting.

We decided it would be a limited edition run of the print. 50 prints size 4x12” numbered and signed. Each print will be $40 with $30 of each print donated to @lahuifoundation making the fundraising goal $1500.

So this print, if you have a desire to get one (on Thursday), is really the most special of all the lei prints I have made over the years. It’s a print made by 2 Native Hawaiian wahine for love of community and in their small way trying to help because no act is too small if a whole community acts together.

Prints dropping Thursday online at 5pm Hawaii time. DM @kamailelauliiliico if you want to preorder.

To our communities recovering from all the crazy weather this year we send our aloha to you.