Artist Talk | Lehuauakea Thursday, May 15, 2025 6:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m.

Lehuauakea
Toshiko Takaezu, Double-Spouted Vase, American, c. 1957, Stoneware, Pier S. Voulkos and Daniel R. Peters Trust. Photo: Nicholas Knight, courtesy the Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum.
May 15, 2025
Artist Lehuauakea discusses their multidisciplinary practice rooted in their Kanaka Maoli identity and use of natural pigments. A Native Hawaiian kapa maker from Pāpaʻikou, Hawaiʻi, they focus on the labor-intensive processes of creating kapa (bark cloth), carving ʻohe kāpala (bamboo printing tools), and using natural pigments. Through these traditional crafts, Lehuauakea revitalizes generational patterns and practices while exploring themes of environmental relationships, cultural resilience, and contemporary Kanaka Maoli identity. They also share their connection to Toshiko Takaezu: Worlds Within.
Plan Your Visit
- Included with Museum admission.
- This lecture takes place in Lynn Wyatt Theater in the Kinder Building. Seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis.
- The exhibition is located in the Millennium Galleries in the Beck Building.
- Parking Information | Museum Hours | MFAH Campus Map
About the Speaker
Lehuauakea, part of the Native Hawaiian diaspora in North America, works to build upon this artistic tradition and share it with future generations, ensuring the longevity of this mode of Indigenous storytelling. Their work has been featured in exhibitions both nationally and internationally and is included in prominent collections worldwide, such as the Portland Art Museum, the National Gallery of Victoria, the Queensland Art Gallery of Modern Art, Forge Project, and the Museum of International Folk Art, among others. Based between the continent and Pāpaʻikou, Lehuauakea earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting with a minor in Art + Ecology from the Pacific Northwest College of Art.
"Toshiko Takaezu: Worlds Within" is organized by The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum, with assistance from the Toshiko Takaezu Foundation and the Takaezu family.
The exhibition and its national tour have been made possible through lead support from the Henry Luce Foundation and the Terra Foundation for American Art.
Major support is provided by:
Sara and Bill Morgan
Generous support is provided by:
Lenore G. Tawney Foundation
Michael W. Dale Exhibitions Endowment for Decorative Arts, Craft, and Design
John R. Eckel, Jr. Foundation
James Cohan Gallery
Anne Lamkin Kinder
Nana Booker
Bettie Cartwright
Leatrice and Melvin Eagle
Kerry F. Inman and Denby Auble
Scott & Judy Nyquist
Ted L. Rowland
Jeffrey Spahn
Friends of Toshiko Takaezu
The exhibition is co-curated by Noguchi Museum curator Kate Wiener, independent curator Glenn Adamson, and sound artist and composer Leilehua Lanzilotti. The exhibition was conceived and developed with former Noguchi Museum Senior Curator Dakin Hart.
All Learning and Interpretation programs at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, receive generous support from H-E-B; Institute of Museum and Library Services; Sempra Foundation; the Brown Foundation, Inc.; the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo; the Joe Barnhart Foundation; the Cockrell Family Fund; the CFP Foundation; Macey and Harry Reasoner; the Texas Commission on the Arts; and the Junior League of Houston, Inc.
Endowment funds are provided by the Louise Jarrett Moran Bequest; Caroline Wiess Law; Windgate Foundation; the William Randolph Hearst Foundation; Cyvia and Melvyn Wolff; the National Endowment for the Humanities; the Fondren Foundation; BMC Software, Inc.; the Wallace Foundation; the Neal Myers and Ken Black Children’s Art Fund; the Eleanor and Frank Freed Foundation; Medha and Shashank Karve; Virginia and Ira Jackson; Jesse H. Jones II; the CFP Foundation; the Favrot Fund; gifts in memory of John Wynne; Neiman Marcus Youth Arts Education; gifts in memory of Peter Lotz; and gifts in honor of Beth Schneider.