Client: Aupuni Palapala
Capacity Development & Learning
Providing engaging yet practical professional development experiences for Hawaiʻi teachers during the Pandemic was nearly impossible. However, Salted Logic designed and facilitated two capacity development and learning workshops through a unique collaboration with Aupuni Palapala and the College of Education of the University of Hawaiʻi.
Despite being hosted on Zoom, the workshops were built around hands-on activities, including two collaborative murals that acted as visual narratives of the workshop themes, which Aupuni Palapala chose. The first workshop, held in February 2020, was entitled Nā Hopena Aʻo and drew inspiration from the State Department of Education’s framework of the same name to honor the qualities and values of the indigenous language and culture of Hawaiʻi. The second workshop, held in April 2022, focused on Hoʻoulu Lāhui, or to Grow the Nation, and the importance of individual health to ensure holistic community wellness and resilience. The image below is the final mural from this workshop.
Workshop Overview
Each session was an hour and a half long, followed by a separate meeting between teachers and Aupuni Palapala to fulfill the professional development credit. The initial gathering began with introductions and a breathing exercise that would open the following sessions. Project objectives were achieved by using short videos mixed with hands-on art activities and group discussions. Art and mural materials were mailed to teachers beforehand, and they returned their mural tiles a week after the last session.
Sessions
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To create interest in the entire Hoʻoulu Lāhui workshop series, Aupuni Palapala hosted a primer session. A broad spectrum of teachers participated in a hands-on art activity and reviewed the agenda. The main goal was to support teachers in connecting to their worth and values by integrating creativity into their daily routines.
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Introductions included teachers’ names, where they considered home, and why they got into education. Increasing our capacity to create and heal framed the session presentations and group dialogue—two small-group breakouts allowed for more detailed discussion and deeper connections between and amongst teachers.
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A series of short videos on creative capacity set the stage for a group dialogue that expanded the concept beyond “being able to draw” or “good at art.” The mural activity and timeline were introduced; the session ended by using the last 15 minutes to start their tile.
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The final session started with group reflections, but the main task for each teacher was to develop a personal investment framework. Using a customized intake form, each participant outlined where they wanted to create abundance, how they planned to achieve this state, and the time/attention they would invest to manifest their vision.
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It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more.
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It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more.
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It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more.
Collaborative Murals
Salted Logic’s founder, Naiʻa Lewis, uses a unique mosaic mural process to increase people’s capacity for fostering connection, managing change, increasing productivity, and employing solutions-based thinking. Teams or groups can leverage the collaborative nature of mosaic murals to push past limiting beliefs and embrace their creativity in ways that enhance their daily work and personal and professional relationships. The Hoʻoulu Lāhui mural featured iconic Native Hawaiian species and natural phenomena to create a vision of abundance from a balanced ecosystem – a vision meant to inspire us to create a similar interconnected harmony within our lives.
Once the tiles were returned and the mural reassembled, additional layers of art-making merged everyone’s contribution. The final mural was revealed online, and each teacher received a framed print; the original hangs in the Aupuni Palapala offices.
The gallery below shows a few progressional images of the mural-making process.
