Art Professor is a Bee-liever

An innovative glass art technique by Manoa Emeritus Professor of Art Ronald Kowalke is highlighted in the August issue of Hivelights, the magazine of the Canadian Honey Council.

Kowalke uses actual wax honeycomb in combination with traditional polycrystellene casting wax to create casts. The assemblage is invested in a cylindrical steel sheet container with plaster. When hardened it is placed in a kiln to melt and drain the wax. The negative space is then filled with molten glass and cooled for three days.

The extraordinary aspect of this process, Kowalke says, is the fidelity of the honeycomb cell structure translated to glass, producing beautiful shapes, optical illusions, a sensuous tactile texture and wondrous light reflections.

Kowalke, whose work includes paint, charcoal and other media, is represented in hundreds of permanent collections, including the Museum of Modern Art, Metropolitan Museum in New York, library of Congress, boston Library and Hawai‘i State Foundation on Culture and the Arts. Honeycomb is not his only foray into natural products—Kailua Sandscape is a series of mixed media paintings using sand along with acrylic and enamel spray on aluminum. Explore the artist's website.

Achievements and Activities

Manoa's Frederick Burkle, a professor of public health sciences and epidemiology, received the University of Vermont Medical Alumni Association's Award for Service to Medicine and Community for his disaster management and humanitarian work throughout the world. The pediatrician and emergency physician served as interim minister of health in Iraq.

Appointments

Carl Evensen assumes responsibility as chair of the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources' Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Management. A water and environmental quality specialist, Evensen replaces Samir El-Swaify, who is retiring after 40 years as a UH soil conservation expert. El-Swaify will remain active several college projects, including the Iraq Agricultural Higher Education and Development grant.

Kelli Barclay, a graduate of the Travel Industry Management's master's program, has joined the Manoa program as a research associate to help developed an Internet-based information resource on tourism and the hospitality industry in Hawai‘i and a course on Hawai‘i tourism for the University of Ryuykus.

August Anniversaries Posted

The list of eEmployment milestones reached in August is posted. Use the link at right to view the list.

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SCOOPS

Manoa outfielder, College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources alumna and future veterinarian Tracie Uchima received the Stan Bates Award as the Western Athletic Conference's top female scholar athlete of 2004-05. Read the Honolulu Advertiser article.

2003 engineering alumnus Aaron Ohta is coauthor on a July 21 Nature article about "optoelectronic tweezers" he helped create at UC Berkeley, where he is pursuing a PhD. Read news release.

August 2005
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