Center honoring late archeologist William Kikuchi opens at Kauaʻi CC

Kaloko Fishpond before 1995

Kaloko Fishpond after 2005: the wall is restored (largest fish pond in the state

Lokoea Fishpond estuary:1981 Carol Wyban catching fingerlings

Kikuchi Center at Kauaʻi CC

Kikuchi Center in the Kauaʻi CC Learning Resource Center

Link to video and sound (details below): https://spaces.hightail.com/receive/xj7ou03vkI

Kauaʻi Community College’s Kikuchi Center, which honors the late archaeologist and Emeritus Professor William “Pila” Kikuchi, is inviting the public to the center’s first artist showcase. Carol Araki Wyban, will present her book and artwork Tide and Current: Fishponds of Hawaiʻi at 4 p.m. on September 19 in the Learning Resource Center.

The Kikuchi Center’s opening event will showcase efforts to preserve the legacy of Kikuchi’s work with fishponds. The art inspired by Kikuchi’s research has been exhibited at the Bishop Museum and the Volcano Art Center and will now find a permanent home at the Kikuchi Center.

The Kikuchi Collection

Kikuchi’s career in archaeology and anthropology spanned five decades. Kauaʻi CC Archivist Jason Ford has been leading the efforts to archive and digitize the Kikuchi Collection since 2022. The collection is now partially available online at kikuchi.omeka.net. These include copies of Kikuchi’s Archeology on Kaua'i newsletter and fishpond notes. Ford said his team has been prioritizing materials that are most beneficial to local and Pacific Region researchers, and materials with digital display quality.

“With the Kikuchi Collection containing a variety of multimedia materials, there remains a lot of items to be digitized for inclusion in the online repository,” Ford said. “We have made great progress in getting some of Kikuchi’s famous and lesser known research online, thus, making  the online repository available to the public sooner rather than later. I know the community has been waiting on the repository, in some cases for decades, and so we are excited to be able to offer this now at this time.”

Inspired by Kikuchi

Wyban’s art highlights the importance of Hawaiian fishponds, which she describes as a vital link to ancient Hawaiian practices of sustainable land and water use. She has worked at maintaining and reviving ancient fishponds across the state, using Kikuchi’s research as a guidebook. 

“Fishponds are a window into ancient Hawaiʻi and how the Hawaiians developed the land and water in a conscious, sustainable manner,” Wyban said. “They are a resource for the future because they can still be revived and used for food production, education and to teach people the importance of working with nature.”

The opening of the Kikuchi Center marks a significant step in making Kikuchi's work accessible to the public and promoting ongoing education and research on Hawaiian fishponds.

VIDEO: 

BROLL: (1 minute, 10 seconds)

0:00-0:24 - Shots of Kikuchi archive 

0:24-0:46 - Shots of Carol Wyban art

0:46-1:10 - Kauaʻi Community College campus shots

SOUND:

Margaret Sanchez, Kauaʻi CC Chancellor (11 seconds)

“So it’s extremely exciting to our community, to our campus, and to those who knew Pila Kikuchi to have this become a reality.”

Sanchez (20 seconds)

“Dr. Pila Kikuchi was a beloved long-term instructor at our college.  Many many people on this island remember him fondly as an instructor at our college and also as an extremely well-known world-renowned archaeologist and anthropologist.”

Sanchez (17 seconds)

“Weʻre super, super grateful to Carol Wyban, a very talented artist who knew Pila Kikuchi.  It’s very fitting that her art is with us and weʻre super grateful that she thought of us to donate her art.”

For more information, visit: http://kikuchi.omeka.net

• thumbnails of the art