Recent Work by Robert M. Hamada

At the age of 83, Robert M. Hamada stands in his outdoor studio surrounded by milo trees, his two horses and his hounds roaming the land as his lathe spins over 400 rpms, curling off wood shavings and creating a wonderful scent in the air. This is the daily scene that greets master wood turner Robert Hamada's visitors. Hamada is a Kaua'i native and a self-taught wood craftsman who has been turning wood vessels for over sixty years.

At an early age Robert Hamada learned from his immigrant father, who was trained as a mason and blacksmith in Japan, that excellence in craftsmanship would lead to many great things. As a young boy Hamada was raised in the mountainous areas of central Kaua'i where there was no electricity and all wood working was done by hand. His first lathe was self-invented, a foot-pedaled device powered by a rope attached to a limb of an avocado tree. It wasn't until after the war that he set up a Navy surplus lathe, converted from a brakedrum lathe, which he continues to use to this day. He adds handles to his imported European tools, as he likes to rest them on his hip while using his whole body to cut and form the bowls.

Hamada can identify the type and age of the majority of the trees in the residential areas of Kaua'i and is often contacted to buy a tree when it needs to be removed. Only working in Hawaiian woods such as kou, kauila, hau and his favorite wood, milo, he continues to create works of elegant simplicity, recognizable for their wood grain texture and smooth polished surfaces. Another trademark of Hamada's work is seen in his freeform pieces which highlight the defects in the wood - rotten or termite eaten areas are often left within the piece and add a contrasting nature to the work, from functional to sculptural.

Once a tree is harvested it is generally rough-cut, then dated in chalk and put aside to dry, warp and crack. Several years may pass before Hamada begins carving on a particular piece. He tends to work on several bowls at a time, and he dialogues with each piece. Hamada states, "The wood talks to me, and tells me what it wants to be." After removing the pieces from the lathe, he sands them by hand, using sandpaper ranging from 50 to 2,000 grit. This process can take hundreds of hours. Once the works are evenly formed, he creates their beautiful lusters by burnishing the surfaces with a piece of leather, tissue paper, paper towel, or the paper-like leaf coverings from the breadfruit tree.

This exhibition spans twenty years of Hamada's work and includes a variety of turned wood forms, from his symmetrical calabashes to his freeform sculptural pieces. Hamada continues his tradition of excellence in creating art that evokes the innate beauty of the Hawaiian wood, the grain, the color, the texture and sometimes the smell - a unique treasure for the senses. Although the physical tree may be gone, the life that Hamada breathes into his work remains - E Ola Mau Ka La'au - The Wood Lives On.