Dalani is a native of San Diego California with family roots in Maui and O’ahu.
Dalani made her first i’e kumu and honor beaters with the help of Kawai Aona-Ueoka and is now teaching kapa making in many venues on the Hawaiian Islands. She found the perfect marriage of art and education through creating and sharing the art of kapa.
“As a life long artist, I am attracted to the many disciplines involved with kapa such as: tool making, horticulture, graphic design, natural dye production, education.
Through crafting my own tools, I was able to work with precious and wonderful natural elements such as smooth warm woods, hand-picked basalt pohaku, and opihi shells. I became a scientist in the kitchen laboratory, boiling up bark, petals, leaves, and roots that would become the brilliant blues, greens, yellows, and an unbelievable rainbow of colors that our kupuna loved to place on their kapa… Kapa making has given me opportunities to work alone quietly as well as encounter places and people throughout the world. I am very pleased to be able to share some of what I have learned in the hopes of giving people a small appreciation for the seemingly yet complex work of my Hawaiian ancestors.”
