Dance The Spirit Series
Email: Calley@CalleyONeill.com
One day in 1980, my dear brother Rick Calley and I were walking on the Kahala beach road on the island of O’ahu, and for the first time, saw lots of large beautiful pieces of a’a niu (coconut cloth) all over the road. They looked like a cross between gorgeous wood veneers, finely woven strong natural fabric and suede, varying in color from golden beige to rich browns and silvers. Gorgeous! We asked the tree trimmers for permission to gather them and took them all home. We just loved them. Clueless as to what we would do with them, Rick gave them to me, suggesting I do something creative with them, and the bags of lovely a’a niu went into the closet. Two years later, I pulled them out and as they emerged, inspiration struck and time opened up to a fascinating journey.
Dance the Spirit series grew out of these pieces ‘speaking to me’. One day I took them out and placed one on a piece heavy watercolor paper. That was it! A shape that seemed to invoke more. It had so much character and compelled me to stop what I was doing and get to work, and over time, dozens of pieces emerged. I have continuously worked with a’a niu ever since in a variety of ways in both paintings and their integral frames. The shapes inspired me to free my mind of my perennial need to research, service and ideals, and just create. I made it a point to not ask questions, and to not have to know what they were about. When people asked, I said humbly, I don’t know ~ it is for you to sense what it means to you, or simply contemplate without having to know.
In an authentic and spontaneous way, Dance the Spirit honors the Earth, and the great diversity of life of which we are an integral part. It is a series that, no doubt, will grow throughout my life, even though there will be times when I do not create a Dance the Spirit work for a long time. In the end, all my works are part of DANCE THE SPIRIT.
All of paintings in the ongoing series have the title Dance the Spirit with a number and some have descriptive titles as well.
Dance the Spirit: 1 The Sorcerer Begins
Dance the Spirit: 2 Navajo Rite of Passage
Dance the Spirit: 3 (Burmese long neck woman)
Dance the Spirit: 4 (Wawayanda baby in water)
Dance the Spirit: 5 (Father with his baby in a sling)
Dance the Spirit: 6 (Orangutan mother and child)
Dance the Spirit: 7 Boy with trumpet)
Dance the Spirit: 8, Down Under (retinal Aborigine)
Dance the Spirit: 9, Fire Dancer
Dance the Spirit: 10 Orangutan Baby – (my antivivisection piece)
Dance the Spirit: 11, The Orangutan Twins
Dance the Spirit: 12 Eskimo Native
Dance the Spirit: 13 Monkey over New York
Dance the Spirit: 14 Easter Island mother, Collection of the late great Paul Mitchell
Dance the Spirit: 15 Kaho’olawe, Collection of Dr. Emmet Aluli, Moloka’i, community leader and leader of the Protect Kaho’olawe Ohana, who is portrayed in the painting)
Dance the Spirit: 16, Hindu Turtle, Collection of the late Arthur C. Clark
Dance the Spirit: 17, Native American Turtle
Dance the Spirit: 18, Kwei, The Chinese Progenitor
Dance the Spirit: 19, Jurong Bird
Dance the Spirit: 20, Pod Man
Dance the Spirit: 21, White Light, Blue City
Dance the Spirit: 22, Sacred Cows of Moloka’i
Dance the Spirit: 23, The Trance Dance
Dance the Spirit: 24, African Women
Dance the Spirit: 25, Mexican Woman
Dance the Spirit: 26, Once There Was a River…
Dance the Spirit: 27, Hawaiian and African Mothers
Dance the Spirit: 28
Dance the Spirit: 29, Gaia Hawai’i
Dance the Spirit: 30, Their Majesty, The Elephants
Dance the Spirit: 31, Ursa Major
Dance the Spirit: 32, Ursa Minor
Dance the Spirit: The Mothership Cycle # 1
Art and Soul for the Earth
Big Island of Hawai'i
