{"id":18014,"date":"2026-01-26T16:36:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T02:36:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/?p=18014"},"modified":"2026-02-04T10:26:45","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T20:26:45","slug":"mural-mo%ca%bbolelo-waiakeawaena-elementary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/ceb\/mural-mo%ca%bbolelo-waiakeawaena-elementary\/","title":{"rendered":"Mural Mo\u02bbolelo: Wai\u0101keawaena Elementary"},"content":{"rendered":"

Three years ago, when Principal Suzanne Ochi embarked on creating murals at Wai\u0101keawaena Elementary School to represent annual school themes, she knew who to call on, artist Kellie Miyazu<\/a>. Miyazu is not only a product of Wai\u0101keawaena Elementary, but it\u2019s also the place where her love for art sparked. She has since pursued a career path in art outreach to inspire others in her community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Miyazu was a fifth grader at Wai\u0101keawaena Elementary, Principal Ochi was her teacher and immediately recognized Miyazu\u2019s artistic talent. Ochi submitted one of Miyazu\u2019s artworks for the Young at Art Art exhibition where Miyazu\u2019s piece won an award of recognition. From there, Miyazu\u2019s talent flourished. She has earned various art awards since, leading her to graduate with an art degree from the University of Hawai\u02bbi at Hilo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

K\u016blia i ka nu\u02bbu, \u201cStrive for the highest,\u201d was the first themed mural that brought Miyazu back to her alma mater. Mauna Kea is the highest peak on Hawai\u02bbi Island, located in the Wai\u0101kea ahupua\u02bba and was a fitting piece of the mural. In a unique concept, Miyazu brought an uninspired shipping container to life with a 360-degree design that takes the viewer on a hike from mauka to makai as they walk around the mural. Reflective of Wai\u0101keawaena\u2019s \u02bbahupua\u02bba, the school\u2019s menehune mascots, swim and dive in the ocean and swing on lush rainforest vines as the summit of Mauna Kea peeks through. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year the mural centered around the school\u2019s May Day theme: Kau ka pe\u02bba \u2014 \u201cSet your sail, raise your sail, and navigate the journey.\u201d The large building mural depicts a menehune on a wa\u02bba representing the school voyaging in unison for a shared purpose guided by the constellations. In this visual metaphor, students are schools of fish swimming and learning together in the vast ocean of knowledge. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Miyazu describes her design style as \u201corganic\u201d which is mirrored in the flowing shapes in the ocean and rounded foliage and seaweed. In both murals, she also incorporated the element of the koru (M\u0101ori for loop or coil), the spiral design that is the school\u2019s logo and represents continuous growth, renewal, and lifelong learning. The koru are found in the curling fronds of the h\u0101pu\u02bbu fern, which populates the Hilo landscape, and in the celestial night sky above the wa\u02bba. For the cheerful color scheme, Miyazu utilized the school colors of yellow and green and added harmonious hues to create an upbeat, cohesive look. Miyazu ensured the school community \u2014 composed of students and staff \u2014 added their collective mana\u02bbo to the murals with painting sessions for all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Miyazu\u2019s journey came full circle in 2024 when she was honored with the Hawai\u02bbi Island Chamber of Commerce Young Professionals Community Service Award, which also included her dedicated service on the murals. She was recognized for a commitment to art education that \u201cis transforming Hawai\u02bbi\u2019s cultural landscape, empowering keiki with creative opportunities, enriching local schools\u2019 curricula, and inspiring the next generation of local artists.\u201d She is an exemplar of the vision of a public school graduate: Globally Competitive, Locally Committed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"Wai\u0101keawaena
Kau ka pe\u02bba \u2014 Set your sail, raise your sail, and navigate the journey<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Wai\u0101keawaena
360-degree container design<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Wai\u0101keawaena
Wai\u0101keawaena’s ‘ahupua’a extends from ocean to the sea <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Wai\u0101keawaena
K\u016blia i ka nu\u02bbu \u2014 Strive for the highest<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Wai\u0101keawaena
A menehune swims under the sea<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Wai\u0101keawaena
The spiraled koru of the school logo is represented in each mural<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Three years ago, when Principal Suzanne Ochi embarked on creating murals at Wai\u0101keawaena Elementary School to represent annual school themes, she knew who to call on, artist Kellie Miyazu. Miyazu is not only a product of Wai\u0101keawaena Elementary, but it\u2019s also the place where her love for art sparked. She has since pursued a career […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":18207,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"856,888,893,1022,1619,1622","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","wp_popup_display_lightbox":0,"wp_popup_suppress":"","wp_popup_trigger":"","wp_popup_trigger_amount":0,"wp_popup_disable_on_mobile":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":21,"label":"News"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026-new-cover-waiakea-1024x683.jpg",1024,683,true],"author_info":{"display_name":"Kimi Takazawa","author_link":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/ceb\/author\/kimi-takazawak12-hi-us\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":21,"name":"News","slug":"news","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":21,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":305,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":21,"category_count":305,"category_description":"","cat_name":"News","category_nicename":"news","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":false,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-12 22:31:24","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"post_status","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/ceb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/ceb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/ceb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/ceb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/ceb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/ceb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18014\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/ceb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/ceb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/ceb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/ceb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}