HO’OMANA MAI NA KAPUNA (POWER THAT COMES FROM THE ANCESTORS)
 
The artist, Tomas Braverman, has said that he sought to capture the sadness of the Hawaiians at the loss of their past culture and traditions. The title implores us to consider the ancestors and all they embodied.
 
Mr. Braverman spent countless hours sculpting this masterpiece. His model was Louie Ho’omanawanui, Junior, a pure Hawaiian native, whose name includes the word “ho’omana – power). The process is clay bronze casting. This is #5 of 6 and has a patina finish.
 
Sculpture dimensions – 21”w x 19”h x12”d.
Pedestal dimensions – 16” diameter x 29.5” h
 
HO’OMANA MAI NA KUPUNA­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ by Tomas Braverman
“During the 70’s and 80’s I studied wood carving and sculpture with Antonio Rodriquez in Seville, Spain, and in Los Angeles under Marion Young. I found that sculpting the human form was exciting and technically challenging. I also became aware that it is the artist’s duty to imbue life into their forms, not simply make a representation of reality. Marion said often “When you look at a piece and it talks to you, there is somebody home.”
The Polynesians migrated to the Hawaiian Islands by celestial navigation only, around 1200 A.D., and developed a culture and a language unique to themselves. The arrival of Captain Cook in 1778 changed their culture forever thereafter. 
During the building of our home in Anahola, I became closely acquainted with my neighbor, and when I found out later that he was full-blooded Hawaiian, I asked him if he’d be up to sitting for me, so that I could model him in clay. He agreed. and there began one of the most personal experiences that I have ever had. The process took about 150 hours and during this time we got to know each other intimately. The relationship that developed had a profound affect on my work and my understanding of Hawaiian people. While I began to understand the depth of his melancholia, I perceived his great strength of character, his kindness, gentleness, and humility.
I spent two weeks making a rubber mold of the sculpture and personally hand-carried it to a fine arts foundry in Berkeley, California. They first poured a wax of the clay image, which was cleaned to eliminate any imperfections, coated many times with a heat resistant plaster and allowed to dry for several days. The mold was placed inside a furnace to melt the wax, leaving a negative image of the bust inside the plaster mold. This is known as the “lost wax process”. Almost immediately, molten bronze was poured through sprues leading into the mold, where it hardened. After several hours, the plaster coating was removed from the casting, which was cleaned and polished ready for patination. The casting was refined again to remove any imperfections before buffing the surface and finally, a patina was applied to complete the sculpture.”
20"W x 20"L x 12"H