“Show them beauty. Show them what was, what can be, and what must be again”

Kupuna Earl Regidor

The mural's design elements come spontaneously in quiet moments of reflection and surrender. Once I can see what is meant to be, my research and studies begin. Here, I am seeking to bring extinct Hawaiian bird species back to life through art to encourage us to protect the precious few native birds that remain. 

I was shaken awake in high school biology when I learned about human-caused extinctions, an understanding that irrevocably altered my art, catapulting me toward endangered species. I became aware that I had not grown up within a culture I could trust to care for the natural world, or for my future. I stopped drawing people, except Indigenous people. My work evolved into an ongoing visual prayer for the living Earth. My mother eventually came to believe that I could only draw animals.

When I moved to Oʻahu in 1980, I discovered a culture I deeply love. My mother was stunned to see such monumental Hawaiian human presence in my UHM Campus Center murals. The Hawaiian articulation of values is extraordinary, filled with love, respect, harmony, responsibility, and mālama i ka ʻāina ~ caring for the land. Living in that healthy, reciprocal relationship with nature gave me a foundation and a way to offer my hands-of-skill in service to the culture. Through study and public art, I honor and elevate these values, striving to live them every day.



ʻO ke aloha ke ola o Hawaiʻi

No koʻu ola mai Hawaiʻi a laila

ʻO au ke aloha!

Aloha is the spirit of Hawaiʻi,

and the spirit of Hawaiʻi is who I am;

therefore, I am ALOHA.



Understand ALOHA

to share ALOHA with everyone.

Kumu Keala Ching

This year's Christmas installation was epic. Our all-Hawaiian professional team of installers are highly skilled and led us in a massive installation of 50 segments, four Ahu and two lava baseboards. We hope you enjoy the photos of this rare process.

The mural opens with an oli chanted by Kona’s beloved Kumu Keala Ching, honoring the water, land, and people. His voice carries the ancient, timeless spirit of aloha. Keala explains that today, one meaning of aloha is ‘in the presence of breath’. Ha is breath ~ our life force, our climate, a gentle spirit we all share. At the mural’s center is an ‘Ulu (breadfruit) mandala, symbolizing abundance, harmony, and beauty.

Aloha persists. On the right, Uncle Earl Regidor plays his ukulele, handcrafted with local wood. It is inscribed with the Hawaiʻi State Motto:  Ua mau ke ea o ka ʻāina i ka pono (King Kamehameha III, 1843). The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness. That ring is made from both Hilo and Kona sand, the sands of his birth and upbringing. 

Aloha has no beginning and no end. Despite the immense changes that have taken place in Hawaiʻi, Aloha endures. Aloha is spirit, the basis of all values, all protocols. Each one of us hold this gentle spirit of life, breath, and Oneness. Aloha is love. The kūpuna ask that we know aloha so we are able to share with everyone and the land. Take care of the land in a good way.

Share compassion and compassion is received.

Share knowledge and knowledge is received.

Care for and caring is received..

Kumu Keala Ching

Photos below are arranged from the most recent to the oldest.

NATIVE TREE and BIRD ARCHES: The Wall 1 Native Tree Arches feature ‘Iliahi (sandalwood) and Mamane, with native honeycreepers: the scarlet ʻApapane at the top, the critically endangered golden Palila, and the resilient ʻAmakihi... On Kumu's tunic, you can see the Iʻiwi Pōlena.

A mural to evoke hope (manaʻolana, literally floating thoughts)

THE ʻULU MANDALA: Above Kona, there once was a vast and beautiful ʻUlu grove, a meticulously tended field system known as Kalu ‘ulu, stretching ten square miles. It provided an abundance of: ʻulu (breadfruit), kalo (taro), ‘uala (sweet potato), maiʻa (banana), kō (sugar cane), and wauke (mulberry for kapa cloth), sustainably feeding and clothing the people long before Western contact.

Cast from real ʻulu in recycled, fired wine bottle glass, the ʻUlu mandala seeks to capture the beauty and harmony of Hawaiian culture and the sacred Oneness of life. The background metallic gold glass was designed by Calley and produced by Bullseye Glass in Portland, Oregon.

WATER IS LIFE: While working on this wall, I kept feeling and hearing Hannah say “First, find peace” and “Now we all must become water conservers and protectors.”

This wall features two beloved and highly respected Kupuna, Hannah Kihalani Springer and her son, Kekaulike Tomich, standing for the protection and conservation of Ka Wai Ola, the water of life. Freshwater is precious and rare. While water covers most of our planet only about 2.5 % is freshwater and nearly all of that is locked in ice caps or deep underground. 

Less than 1% of all freshwater is available in rivers, lakes, and shallow groundwater to sustain ALL LIFE on Earth. 1 %.

Here, Kendyll and Calley are creating the templates to add more koali (native Hawaiian morning glories) 
The original beautiful koali portrait was taken by Kekaulike Tomich.

Journey with us from installation refinements to the Christmas installation marathon to see

mosaic construction in the studio, all the way back to Calley's meticulous freehand drawings.

WAIWAI (water water) =WEALTH: 

The Hawaiians have always understood that true wealth is based upon fresh clean water. All life depends on water. That 1%. The Kūpuna ask “Where does your water come from and how is your water source doing?” Hannah pours water into her son’s bowl, symbolizing wai (water), waiwai (true wealth), naʻauao (generational wisdom), and kuleana (responsibility as a privilege) offered as a pule (prayer). 

NATIVE TREE and BIRD ARCHES: We gratefully acknowledge The Kasser Ohana for their generous support of the tree arches and birds in the mural as well as the ʻUlu Mandala.

Once the home of very high endemic bird diversity with over 110 species, Hawaiʻi is known as the endangered species and extinction capital of the world. Tragically, Hawaiʻi has lost more bird species than anywhere on Earth. In what is referred to as a 700-year bird catastrophe, Hawaiʻi lost nearly 80 species of its spectacularly unique birds, with some islands losing 80% of their native bird life.  

The birds portrayed here are extinct. Disheartened by the photos of specimens of these birds, Callley resolved to show them as vitally alive. With the guidance of ornithology advisor Bret Mossman, and her own research, Calley brought the birds back to life in a reverent restoration. At the top is the Koa Finch, below, the Kona Grosbeak, and at the base, the Greater Koa Finch.

The Wall 2 Native Tree Arches feature Mamane, the quintessential forest tree for the Palila bird, and our state tree, Kukui, a canoe plant brought by the Hawaiians, symbolizing spiritual light, knowledge, clarity, and peace. Kukui provides food and shelter for many forest birds.

These images trace the evolution of the Mālama ʻĀina mural, moving back in time from on-site installation and a month of full-time installation refinements, to studio construction, drawing, and research. What follows is a visual record of careful, labor-intensive work unfolding over time, best experienced visually without narration.

Currently under construction in the studio is a 9' by 11' intricate Hydrological Cycle Mandala mosaic, as requested by Hannah Kihalani Springer.  Take a close look at this element. It is a complex drawing with the story written out that stained glass artist Naghme Najafi is cutting into glass. Cutting the words into glass is a feat that only a master can do.

The central mosaic mandala presents a comprehensive view of the hydrological cycle in West Hawaiʻi, tracing water as a living system that moves from sun and sky, through atmosphere and forest, into the land, deep underground in the lava, and back to the ocean. Through more than two dozen interrelated processes, it reveals the essential role of native forests and geology in capturing, storing, and sustaining freshwater across the landscape.  Understanding where water is captured, stored, and depleted across this system is essential to making informed choices about land use, development, and long-term water stewardship in West Hawaiʻi and throughout the islands.

The ingeniously sustainable traditional Hawaiian mahiʻai (farmers) demonstrated that conserving and caring for the living water, soil fertility, land, and the people over generations is not only possible, it is essential. This is our kuleana (responsibility).



I am deeply honored that The Hydrological Cycle was reviewed by five highly respected hydrological and/or cultural experts. I want this work to be a teaching tool, so that we can uplift our knowledge of water use, storage systems deep below our feet, and everyday water conservation, as well as standing for water conservation and wise use in our communities.

Mahalo nui loa!

MICHELLE SORENSEN, PE, MBA

Passionate about water in all its forms, Michelle Sorensen has worked with water for over two decades. Her focus is wastewater and planning projects in remote locations, from the tar sands of northern Canada, to the lava fields in Hawaiʻi, and the tropical jungles of Guam. She has led utility-wide master planning efforts, developed capital improvement programs, and managed design, construction, operations, and maintenance projects in both the private and public sectors. A professional engineer in Canada and the U.S., her experience extends beyond the technical to encompass the full water cycle. She navigates water policy, financing, and community relations, always with an eye toward preserving cultural and environmental resources while guiding water use projects toward the right use of water.

"Being invited to review and contribute to the hydrological mandala was an unexpected privilege. I never imagined that my technical expertise could enrich public art so grounded in culture and place. Seeing Calley bring Hawaiʻi Island’s water cycle to life in a powerful and educational mural at the airport has been extraordinary! I am honored to have participated."

KAMUELA PLUNKETT

Raised in Waimea on Hawaiʻi Island, Kamuela Plunkett is an exceptional researcher and inspiring community educator integrating land-based science, GIS mapping, and ʻIke Kūpuna (ancestral knowledge). He specializes in teaching about the WAO ~ the distinct biocultural and climatic zones that change with the altitude across the land. His work weaves cultural landscape mapping and understanding, riparian systems, and climate adaptation into practical tools that are increasingly sought after for community education and stewardship. Through research, teaching, and policy collaboration, he helps communities care for land in ways that are both deeply traditional and scientifically rigorous.

DONALD THOMAS, PhD

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa / University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo

Professor, Geochemist, and Director of the Center for the Study of Active Volcanoes, UH Hilo. Don Thomas is a researcher specializing in geothermal energy, hydrology of geothermal systems, structural controls on the hydrology of ocean islands, water resources, and volcanic gas emissions.

BOBBY CAMARA (shown lei making)

One of Calley’s wise behind-the-scenes cultural and scientific advisors for the KOA mural, Bobby Camara is a lifelong resident of Hawaiʻi Island, born and raised in Honokaʻa. He became involved in the restoration of inoa ʻāina (traditional place names) during his career with Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park, where he worked for many years. Bobby has lived in Volcano for over 40 years. Now retired, his passion is learning and sharing the natural and cultural resources of his ʻāina aloha, with particular emphasis on botany, ethnobotany, geography and place names, geology, archaeology, and ethnography. He has studied with many Kumu and remains insatiably curious about his island home.

JEFF ZIMPFER, PhD (pictured with Calley)

National Park Service, Environmental Protection Specialist

Kaloko-Honokōhau National Historical Park

Jeff Zimpfer, a hydrology specialist, earned his PhD in Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences and his MS in Forestry. He helped Calley with this design from the beginning, including research, design, and drawing, a year-long, complex process. Jeff formerly worked as a botanist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and as a Sea Grant Extension Specialist.

We are honored to portray the late Papa Ling Nakachi, beloved patriarch of the Moana Ohana, in stained glass mosaic standing 12’ tall. 

The Ocean Wall is a visual prayer for ocean health. Three generations of this Kanaka Maoli family continue to live, breathe, and work in a deep relationship with the ocean and its inhabitants. Papa Ling wanted to be portrayed as he stood each evening quietly at sunset, communing with his wife: at one with the ocean and the family he so deeply loved.

Ling's son, Mike Nakachi, is a USCG captain, and Mike’s twins, Alohi and Kaikea, are known all together as The Moana ʻOhana. They are highly respected and effective ocean and reef protectors, divers, and marine science educators. As kanaka and scientists, they practice and perpetuate ʻIke Kūpuna (ancestral knowledge) and western science, studying and upholding the health of ocean species, particularly sharks.

The Moana 'Ohana integrates traditional indigenous knowledge and science to respectfully research ocean species, particularly sharks, through kilo (non-invasive deep observation) and study. The family’s mission is to perpetuate the culture of mālama i ka ʻāina and mālama I ke kai as one inseparable path of stewardship and aloha for our healthy future.

As kahu manō, keepers of the sharks off the Kona coast, their work is guided by ancestral responsibility, kilo (deep observation), and a reverent relationship with the ocean. Their presence on the wall is intentionally haʻahaʻa (humble), small in relation to Ling and the vastness of the ocean. This reminds us that we are embedded within and dependent on nature.

Their shared mission is to uphold mālama i ka ʻāina and mālama i ke kai (care of the land and the sea) as one inseparable path of stewardship, protecting the ocean for generations to come.



Here I am working with my son, Noa Eads, who has helped me with every mural installation I've ever done for the Hawai'i State Foundation on Culture and the Arts: on Oahu, Maui, and the Big Island.

Few will ever see the highly skilled, strong manpower it takes to install these permanent stained glass mosaics. We invite you to witness the work we have done during 2025 leading up to the seven week Christmas 2025 installation marathon. The installation by Chris Springer's team took 5 very long days into nights. What followed was six weeks of full-time refinements by Calley, and Kendyll Howard joined for a week by volunteer Joy Davis..

The photos move from most current and go back in time.

Now come inside our new Bay 5 mural studio at the Parker School warehouse. We are refining the 50 segments and their anchor points and plugs (glass covers each anchor point) in the 'invisible' museum quality installation required by the State. All segments get 'back buttered' with the most durable thinset to ensure excellent adhesion to the WEDI concrete panels.

Above left to right:

Ford Fujigami, Deputy Director HDOT

Kendyll Howard, KOA Mural Team

Daniel Edwards, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Aviation

and International Affairs, HDOT,

Calley O’Neill, KOA HSFCA Muralist

Edwin Sniffen, Director HDOT

Present but not pictured, we acknowledge 

Chauncey Wong Yuen, Hawai'i District Manager, KOA Airport Superintendent

Cy Duvauchelle, Assistant Airport Supervisor, KOA Airport, HDOT 

Marvin Moniz, Airports District Manager, Maui District, HDOT

Yumiko Uyetake, Visitor Information Program Assistant III, Supervisor, HDOT

Dabney Hegg – HDOT

Photo on right: With Aaron Ackerman, my Hawai’i State Foundation on Culture and the Arts Project Manager

Marking an important first meeting, the Hawaiʻi Department of Transportation leadership visited the mural in January.  They genuinely felt the mural's impact and loved it!  It was an honor to spend time with them and see them witness the mural’s effect, stirring passersby to heartfelt emotion and curiosity.

Below, Director Sniffen and Deputy Assistant Secretary Edwards discuss Water Wall 2.

Calley has had the honor of working with Chris Springer for 11 years and wouldn’t want to install a mural without him and his team.  Together with Chad and Johnny, they are our top-flight all-Hawaiian installation team.  We are proud to work with them. They are impressively precise, mindful, calm, and hard-working, achieving grace and precision as they install these hand-crafted pieces.  They are my teachers guiding me toward ever greater refinement and excellence in my work. 

Noa Eads, Installation Assistant

I have relied on my son Noa Eads for every installation and major project I have done. He is versatile, capable, meeting every challenge with clarity, intelligence, and steadiness.

Noa brings years of hands-on experience in construction and complex problem-solving. He serves on The Rama Tree’s Board of Directors and is a key advisor. A man of few words, his insights are thoughtful, wise, grounded, and reliable.

Noa is a music producer (Lingering Tones on diverse platforms), drummer, and former mushroom farmer. He is currently pursuing graduate studies in literature and philosophy in Ukiah, California. 

Damon Delaney, Mural Assistant

Damon and his daughter Devon (our youngest KOA team member) who suddenly passed away in 2025 were working with us toward designing our pedestrian buffer floor treatment. We miss Devon's bright smiling beautiful energy and we send all compassion to Damon. They were best friends.

Damon pitches in with his variety of painting, construction, and flooring skills whenever we need him, even though he lives in South Point.

Damon proved to be a fine assistant to the team in many diverse tasks and was invaluable in the 2025 Christmas marathon.

WANTED:  Bring your mana to the wall.!

We’re inviting a few new enthusiastic volunteers, artists and non-artists who are seeking purpose, meaning, and the chance to be part of an important community/global conservation and cultural art project. 

Help is needed with fundraising, social media, administrative tasks to support the team, and mural construction. Skilled help will enable Calley to focus on the art. You are invited to join us! 

Enjoy Joy Davis, Travelling Artist/Marine Biologist Volunteer as she shares a bit about her experience on the wall.

Right: Joy, Calley, and Kendyll

JOY DAVIS, TRAVELING ARTIST/MARINE BIOLOGIST



Working with Joy on the wall was extraordinary. I rarely meet a serious artist who is a kindred creative spirit working in public art on behalf of nature. Humble, hard working, reliable, smart, super talented, conscientious, and dedicated to the preservation of nature, we loved working with Joy. Here from Ohio, Joy camped out nearby in her sister's van to help us for a week.

Inspired by Joy, we invited Robin Sala, a student from my alma mater Pratt Institute, to work with us for a month in the summer of 2026. We met Robin and family at the wall.

STACY COUNCILMAN, PAINTER/DESIGNER/RN

Stacy Councilman is an artist and maker of wearable art with over 20 years of painting experience. She trained at Pratt Institute in New York and the Gage Academy in Seattle and completed an atelier with modern colorist Kimberly Trowbridge. Stacy studied abroad in Venice and Madrid. Alongside her art, Stacy has dedicated 22 years as a labor and delivery nurse, bringing loving care, steadiness, and compassion into everything she does. A devoted dog lover, she embodies creativity in service to art, animals, families, and nature.

At the prompting of Christina Culligan, one of Parker School’s extraordinary art teachers, faculty member Dr. Sheri Schmidt came to visit me in my old studio to ask if I might work with students during their interim. I should have replied with a firm no—after all, we were in the midst of organizing and packing up 35 years of our lives and moving out of our home and studios. Somehow, my love of young people prevailed, and before I knew it, I found myself saying, “Yes."

After hearing my story about relocating and searching for a new studio in Waimea, Sheri invited Parker’s art faculty and Mr. Stephen Dunn, Head of School, to visit. The school later asked if I would consider setting up a studio in the Parker School warehouse. Parker had long considered hosting an Artist in Residence and building a deeper connection to traditional ecological knowledge of Hawaiʻi. In a most welcome turn of events, Parker School restored Storage Bay 5 with new electrical and plumbing systems, repaired the exterior walls and ceiling, and painted the long-abandoned space. My team and I worked hard to complete the build-out and it is now an amazing professional studio that we love.

We are thrilled to welcome our first apprentice, Kawika, a Parker senior and Alakaʻi (lead student) of the Pacific Islander Club.

In February, 2026, we hosted all Lower School art classes, with Christina Culligan, who is teaching them stained glass design.  

Parker School’s reputation in the arts is unsurpassed in Hawaiʻi.  To serve as Artist in Residence here is a joy and honor.  I am deeply grateful to Dr. Sheri, Mr. Dunn, the Board of Directors, the art department, Gerry Delgado, Director of Operations, Eric Sills, Director of Maintenance (rightfully known as Mr. Aloha) and the Parker School community for their trust and support.  

MAHALO NUI LOA!

Mahalo nui loa Parker School

At the top: Mr Stephen Dunn, Head of School, interviewing Calley onstage for the middle and high school student body

Above: Dr. Sheri  Schmidt and Candy Dugan, Parker School Art Department Chair, visiting the old studio

Parker Senior student Kawika first day of his apprenticeship sanding the Puao's edging..

Moving back in time, here's some glimpses of our work building out Bay 5 as the KOA mural studio.

Before and After Shots

It is both heartwarming and at times overwhelming to answer questions and greet the hundreds of visitors who stop by. Many frequent travelers have watched the mural’s progress and are amazed and delighted by the recent addition of 50 segments. The mural is having a profound impact ~ people pause and exclaim their enthusiasm, many photograph the walls or themselves in front of a wall, and some even shed tears as they feel the truth and presence of these wisdom carriers.

With Hawaiian Airlines Captain Troy Kanuha in front of his father, the late Junior Kanuha, master fisherman and so much more

Calley and Noa stand with Kalaukahiokalanihaʻahaʻa (Ha'a) Lee, pictured on Wall 8 with his grandfather, Reggie Lee. on the wall dedicated to Aloha for Future Generations. Kumu Keala Ching directed that the walls must begin and end with Aloha,

With Alohi Nakachi PhD in front of her late grandfather 'Papa' Ling Nakachi. Alohi appears as a diver on Ocean Wall 3.

With beloved Mauna Lani kahu, musician, story teller, Kaniela Akaka Jr. and Ana Akaka. "We need to come together as one 'ohana."

KOA AIRPORT MURAL OHANA

Many hands have added their mana to this mural in ways big and small,

MAHALO A NUI LOA to each and every one of you! We couldn’t do this work without you.

OUR TEAM:

CALLEY O’NEILL, KONA MURAL ARTIST and CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Lamar Yoakum, Master Stained Glass Artisan

Naghme Najafi, Master Stained Glass Artist, cutting specialist

Sadhana Dutta, Stained glass artist/studio assistant

Kendyll Howard, Stained Glass artist/assistant, cutting specialist

Chris Springer, Installation Lead, Master Tile Setter

Chad DeCosta, Installer

Johnny Jumalong, Installer

Noa Eads, Installation Assistant

Damon Delaney, Installation support

Sandi Playsted

Julie Anne Chia 

Kathleen Thoene

Julia Fairchild (on leave)

We gratefully acknowledge:

HAWAIʻI STATE FOUNDATION on CULTURE and the ARTS

Jonathan Johnson, Karen Ewald, Director, Calley’s Art Advisory Committee, Aaron Ackerman, Project Manager

ELLISON ONIZUKA KONA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT AT KEAHOLE: 

Superintendent, Chauncey Wong Yuen

Assistant Superintendent, Cy Duvauchelle and their remarkable staff 

Director of Security, Paul Knoll 

HAWAI'I DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION LEADERSHIP

All of our funders thus far, MAHALO NUI LOA!

OUR BELOVED MURAL KŪPUNA, guiding the mural and inspiring us to live in harmony with nature and each other.

And, MAHALO NUI to our COMMUNITY VOLUNTEERS 74 thus far:

ALAN OHARA, ʻĀKŌLEA VISUAL

ALEX ECKHART

ALEXIS RUSSELL

AMY O’MEARA

ATTICUS HIGGINS 

BETH McCORMICK

BRET MOSSMAN, Ornithologist

BRYAN GAZAUI

BOBBY CAMARA, Cultural Advisor 

BUCKMAN COE

ELI O’MEARA

ANNABELLE URIBE

(the late) BEVERLY ARNTZEN

BULLSEYE GLASS

CASEY GRANT

(the late) DAVID BELL

DINA ALOHA

DEB THOMSPON 

DOMIINIC HILMAN

DR. DON THOMAS, UHH Professor, Hydrologist

ELIZABETH ROSE

HAWAI’I FOREST AND TRAILS

‘IWALANI MC CALLA

JAMIE GOMER

JAZMIN HICKS

JEFF and JAKE CLOSS

JEFF QUINN

JEFF ZIMPHER, PhD, Honokōhau Environmental Specialist, Hydrologist

JEREMIAH HOLQUIJN 

JOE AND ERIN CAVALETTO

JOY DAVIS, Travelling Artist/Volunteer

JIMMY CHIA

KAMUELA PLUNKET, Hawaiian Cultural Advisor, Na Wao

KASEY GRANT 

KEN CANNATA

LEE GLENNAN MOTTER

LEIANNA EADS

LILY CAVALETTO

LORETTA LINDEN

MARC BOTTICELLI

MICHELLE SORENSEN, Hydrologist/Water Engineer

MICHAEL HESS

MIKE BURNETT, TNC

MOA KITCHEN

THE amazing NAN TEAM

NORTHWEST ART GLASS, Richard Mesmer, Matt and Missy Laitala, Joe and crew

OLIVER ZEICHNER

PEACH GODDARD

RACHEL WALKER

REDWING KEYSAR

ROBERT STANDARD, flooring

ROSA GUZMAN

SHELLEY REAGAN

STACY COUNCILMAN

THOMAS HOLQUIN

TOM NOONE

VEENA HOPSON

VERONIKA BAJWA

VIRGIL MACY, LINCOLN KALAMA, WEST HAWAI’I CONCRETE

ROCHELLE PITOY, XPRESS REPRO-GRAPHICS 

MATTHEW PIERCE, WAIMEA INSTANT PRINTING 

YASI ZEICHNER