By Andrea Blum ( @myamericanpantry ), Montalvo Culinary Artist
Tongan visual artist Kalisolaite ‘Uhila and his daughter Nia.
Tongan artist Kalisolaite ‘Uhila has family at the center of his practice. “The importance of family in my work signifies being grounded and community,” he told me recently. Before leaving Montalvo at the end of April, after a three month stay at the Lucas Artists Program (LAP), Kalisolaite, who prefers to be called Ite, invited his extended family and LAP residents for a Tongan feast. This meal of sandwiches and barbecued chicken took place at his studio, which was filled with paintings he had created while in residence. Ite usually works through the medium of performance but while he was at Montalvo he decided that he wanted to paint. Instead of using paintbrushes, Ite used tools associated with tending the land to make each painting: a machete, a hoe, a rake… “Each tool has an importance,” he said. “I chose tools to create my paintings that represent labor and are also symbols: a machete clears pathways and hoe is used to dig and plant for new growth.”
