Honolulu Star Advertiser Feature Story Volcano Masterpiece
Photography by artist Rodney Pygoya Chang July 2013
"Rodney Pygoya Chang, Webist, collaborates with master gardener, Andrea Cabico, to bring one of her works-of-art online, so all can enjoy her unique gardens.
Cabico starts off with a natural Hawaiian rain forest, high up on a live volcano, fights off the invasive species (yellow ginger, strawberry guava, climbing fern vines, ever-reemerging weeds), choking vog, slimy slugs, pesky peasants, charging hornets, and wild boars with sharp tusks - as well as constant rain, chilly climate at 3500 feet elevation at which most tropical plants cannot survive in - to form and bring alive the blossoming flower gardens in her mind.
Born with this unique aesthetic gift as a working farm owner while toiling in the Philippines, she found herself one among no others of her rural village who cared beyond the practical function of land and growth. Ugly disarray and accumulated mess was part of a hard life. Instead, Andrea saw composition, shapes, colors, and form and expended the effort and energy to bring them forth. So others could see. She is an innate artistic spirit who was born into farming and its rural isolation.
Now Pygoya has the golden opportunity to document Andrea's efforts to "make the masterpiece of my life." She is presently 76 years old. This and follow up shows will demonstrate the order that Andrea is seeking to bestow to the acreages as she daily struggles to embed the landscapes in her head into the existing rain forest environment. Enjoy your visit into "Andrea's Gardens" at Volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii. (March 2012)"