The Banyan Bowl
After I brought the first kukui bowl home, I placed it with close friends and ordered two other kukui bowls carved from the same tree. Then I began to wonder about the banyan tree which had killed it.
When the second and third kukui bowls arrived, I asked about what had happened to the banyan tree. The reply was that most of it had been pushed into a gully on the Bond Estate. The artist received permission to hike in and I received the following message: "Kelly went to the Bond Estate yesterday and was able to retrieve some of the remaining banyan wood. It is usable-which is somewhat surprising due to how long it has been down and that it was sitting on the ground. He will let it spalt for a month or so to gain color and then turn a bowl for you. At this point you can ask for a specific shape and he can turn it for you..."
I wanted the banyan bowl to be carved in a shape that would contrast with the kukui bowls, which were shaped as salad bowls. So I asked for it to be carved with a small pedestal, like a Japanese rice bowl or a Chinese noodle bowl. It seemed fitting.
After all, the success of North Kohala sugar was built upon water transported by the Kohala Ditch, an engineering marvel completed in 1905, which claimed 17 lives in 18 months of construction. Most of the construction laborers were Japanese immigrants who worked for about a dollar a day.
The banyan bowl arrived in the winter of '03. It sits in my home next to the second kukui bowl. They look quite the pair of old friends now. It is fitting.
Banyan bowl:
Banyan and Kukui:
The artist: J. Kelly Dunn