Official Introductions Thread. New Members, Post your introduction here... - General Tiki

K KokoKele Member Joined: Feb 08, 2012 Posts: 93	K KokoKele Posted posted on Mon, Feb 13, 2012 9:27 PM Aloha! My TC name is KokoKele. I live in Portland, OR but plan to move to Maui in about 18 months. I already own the home, I just need to break away from the mainland roots. Fortunately I'm spouseless and childless, so it shouldn't be too hard. The only thing stopping me is my job, which pays me handsomely enough to prevent my departure. It's my love of the islands that interested me in Tiki Central. I have a pseudo artistic proclivity, so I wanted to make something that reminded me of Hawaii. You know where this is going. Yep, I decided to make a tiki. In fact, I decided to make a ceramic tiki fountain. I wanted to put it in my "prosperity corner" (a feng shui thing) so I could think of Hawaii and encourage the flow of money into my life. Corny, yes, but it gave me something to do while waiting for retirement. I started researching tiki, which eventually led me to Tiki Central. Naturally I spent a lot of time in the "Other Crafts" section of "Creating Tiki." I'm constantly amazed at the talent of the artists who display their wares, and looking at their works gives me thoughts as to how to create my own original piece. It's going to be impossible for me to accurately reproduce an actual Hawaiian tiki, and it would be culturally insensitive for me to do, so I'm going to go for something that no one would ever mistake for an original Hawaiian tiki but could see the influence. If I can make something that is generally accepted as "neat" by TC members it will really be exciting! I browsed "Creating Tiki" for years before finally joining the forum and commenting. Boy, did I screw up! The reason I joined is that some guy named BigBroTiki questioned the "tikiness" of a piece I really liked. I began arguing with him, and when he mentioned that I pretty much didn't know what I was talking about I got testy with him. Next thing I know someone mentions to me that BigBroTiki is none other than Sven Kirsten, the author of the Book of Tiki! He's pretty much the authority on tiki, and I was digging in my heels on questions of style! OH MY GAWWWWWWWWD! My first post and I lay a big, giant stupid egg! I quickly shifted gears, apologized profusely, and went right back to the About Tiki Central link to review the guiding principles, then thumbed through the Book of Tiki to see why I was wrong. It didn't take long to see the light. Sven is all about mid-century tiki style, which is heavily influenced by Polynesian styles but took on its own form when it came to America. From the mid-thirties to sometime in the late sixties or early seventies tiki style flourished and took on a very distinct form. Sven is a scholar of that era, but he also enjoys tiki art of subsequent decades as long as it stays true to the form. The piece we were arguing about was definitely outside the form though exquisitely executed. I also had a most un-scholarly, unstudied opinion about the piece, which made me look REALLY DUMB. At the time Sven noted that I was "culturally ignorant." It pissed me off before I realized an authority was making the statement. Now that I've seen the error of my ways I'm more than willing to admit that I was practicing cultural ignorance to a pretty high degree, and Sven called me on it. Here's the good part, though. Once I re-grouped and got my act together Sven forgave me and pretty much told me that I'm OK. I will never have his knowledge and innate sense of "tiki" as enjoyed on TC, but I think now he knows I'm going to look at things from a much more considered perspective. One of these days I hope to even come up with something that challenges Sven in a positive fashion. Then I'll feel I've arrived. Sven certainly challenged me, and I'm a better member for it, I hope. That's my intro to Tiki Central membership! I hope all the other newbies practice more sense and discretion than I did. But I hope they also have an immense amount of fun, learn a few things, and celebrate all things that are really, truly Tiki. Mahalo nui loa for reading my tale. I hope to post some artwork before too long.

Aloha!
My TC name is KokoKele. I live in Portland, OR but plan to move to Maui in about 18 months. I already own the home, I just need to break away from the mainland roots. Fortunately I'm spouseless and childless, so it shouldn't be too hard. The only thing stopping me is my job, which pays me handsomely enough to prevent my departure.

It's my love of the islands that interested me in Tiki Central. I have a pseudo artistic proclivity, so I wanted to make something that reminded me of Hawaii. You know where this is going. Yep, I decided to make a tiki. In fact, I decided to make a ceramic tiki fountain. I wanted to put it in my "prosperity corner" (a feng shui thing) so I could think of Hawaii and encourage the flow of money into my life. Corny, yes, but it gave me something to do while waiting for retirement.

I started researching tiki, which eventually led me to Tiki Central. Naturally I spent a lot of time in the "Other Crafts" section of "Creating Tiki." I'm constantly amazed at the talent of the artists who display their wares, and looking at their works gives me thoughts as to how to create my own original piece. It's going to be impossible for me to accurately reproduce an actual Hawaiian tiki, and it would be culturally insensitive for me to do, so I'm going to go for something that no one would ever mistake for an original Hawaiian tiki but could see the influence. If I can make something that is generally accepted as "neat" by TC members it will really be exciting!

I browsed "Creating Tiki" for years before finally joining the forum and commenting. Boy, did I screw up! The reason I joined is that some guy named BigBroTiki questioned the "tikiness" of a piece I really liked. I began arguing with him, and when he mentioned that I pretty much didn't know what I was talking about I got testy with him. Next thing I know someone mentions to me that BigBroTiki is none other than Sven Kirsten, the author of the Book of Tiki! He's pretty much the authority on tiki, and I was digging in my heels on questions of style! OH MY GAWWWWWWWWD! My first post and I lay a big, giant stupid egg! I quickly shifted gears, apologized profusely, and went right back to the About Tiki Central link to review the guiding principles, then thumbed through the Book of Tiki to see why I was wrong. It didn't take long to see the light. Sven is all about mid-century tiki style, which is heavily influenced by Polynesian styles but took on its own form when it came to America. From the mid-thirties to sometime in the late sixties or early seventies tiki style flourished and took on a very distinct form. Sven is a scholar of that era, but he also enjoys tiki art of subsequent decades as long as it stays true to the form. The piece we were arguing about was definitely outside the form though exquisitely executed. I also had a most un-scholarly, unstudied opinion about the piece, which made me look REALLY DUMB. At the time Sven noted that I was "culturally ignorant." It pissed me off before I realized an authority was making the statement. Now that I've seen the error of my ways I'm more than willing to admit that I was practicing cultural ignorance to a pretty high degree, and Sven called me on it.

Here's the good part, though. Once I re-grouped and got my act together Sven forgave me and pretty much told me that I'm OK. I will never have his knowledge and innate sense of "tiki" as enjoyed on TC, but I think now he knows I'm going to look at things from a much more considered perspective. One of these days I hope to even come up with something that challenges Sven in a positive fashion. Then I'll feel I've arrived. Sven certainly challenged me, and I'm a better member for it, I hope.

That's my intro to Tiki Central membership! I hope all the other newbies practice more sense and discretion than I did. But I hope they also have an immense amount of fun, learn a few things, and celebrate all things that are really, truly Tiki.

Mahalo nui loa for reading my tale. I hope to post some artwork before too long.

Post #624940 by KokoKele on Mon, Feb 13, 2012 9:27 PM