Elroy Juan
sartoris@turquoise.net
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Elroy Juan was born in the Hamakua district of the Island of Hawaii and has lived there since. His Hawaiian mother is a talented lei-maker. Elroy grows the native Hawaiian gourd on his farm in Paauilo and dyes them with patterns that are original but make reference to the traditional patterns of Hawaiian art objects. The tradition of decorating the Hue Wai is ancient: the pattern is carved into the skin and the ipu is dyed with other plant materials. When all of the skin is removed the pattern remains in the shell of the ipu.

Elroy makes the Hue Wai in collaboration with Georgia Sartoris. They share the labor and concept of each unique piece. The Juan/Sartoris traditional Hue Wai Pawehe (decorated water gourds) have been shown at the Bishop Museum in Honolulu along with the ancient HueWai. Elroy was the featured speaker in the Kupuna Lecture Series at the Bishop Museum in January, 2004. The Hue Wai have also been shown at the 8th Festival of Pacific Arts in New Caledonia, at the Academy of Art in Honolulu, and at Volcano Art Center. These art works are in many corporate and private collections including Quantas Airlines, The Honu Group, and Kukio Beach Club.