Originally from California, Bob studied art at San Diego State University. He found inspiration in working with wood, seeking to understand characteristics inherent in this organic material as he worked in building furniture, homes, and creating sculptures.
Bob moved to Hana in 1967, immersing into the world of traditional Hawaiian outrigger canoes. His fine woodworking moved deeper into cultural motifs using exotic woods to create his one-of-a-kind paddles. Koa, Mango, and Kamani are hewn, shaped, and varnished into objects of beauty. Using techniques such as matchbook, sunburst, and intarsia, Getzen honors tradition with the hand and eye of a devotee.
Bob Getzen is a paddler of outrigger canoes in the tradition of the ancient Hawaiians, and in turn, has moved his artwork toward the creation of paddles that are representative of paddles that were in use until about thirty years ago.
