Brook Kapūkuniahi Parker is an artist of his native Hawaii, raised in Wailau, Kahalu’u, O’ahu. Brook’s family roots run deep in the islands being a direct descendant of John Palmer Parker, founder of the Parker Ranch on the Big Island of Hawaii. John Parker’s wife, Rachael Keli’ikipikanekaolohaka Ohiaku was a granddaughter of Kamehameha the Great and his wife Kanekapolei. The majority of Brook’s art portrays the deep love and admiration he has for his island ancestors. As a little boy, Brook was greatly influenced in the arts by his father David, a gifted, self taught artist and painter, Hawaiian historian, genealogist and writer. As Brook grew older his father’s interest became his interest and with no formal art school training, his father’s library of art books, Hawaiian history books & books of other interest became his other teachers.
As an artist, Brook has illustrated numerous children’s books for Aha Punana Leo Hawaiian Language Emersion Schools. Other clients include Disney’s Aulani Hotel, Kamehameha Publishing, The University of Hawaii at Manoa and Hilo, State of Hawaii Board of Education, Conservation council of Hawaii, Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale Sanctuary in Maui, Hui Malama o Waimanalo and ongoing projects with the Pacific American Foundation to name a few.In 2012, For the first time, a piece of Native Hawaiian art is hanging in the room where the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs meets, in the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, DC. The Committee, which oversees legislation relating to American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian groups, was chaired by Senator Danial Akaka, the first U.S. Senator of Native Hawaiian ancestry. The room’s walls feature art by American Indian and Alaska Native artists, but until now no work by a Native Hawaiian artist had been featured, according to the Hawaiian Way Fund, which worked with businesses and nonprofits to purchase the piece. The work, a painting by Brook Kapukuniahi Parker entitled “Aha Ula,” was hung on Thursday, September 20, 2012prior to a Committee meeting, and is on permanent loan to the Committee.
Commenting on his art Brook writes; “I firmly believe we ALL have been blessed with some God given talent. These talents are diverse and may not be as visible as in being an artist, musician, singer or athlete, etc. Whatever it is, our obligation is to identify those talents we posses, improve upon them and then share them with others. I am very grateful and thankful that I can share my deep love of my ancestors through my artistic God given talents. An illustration is first felt in the heart, visualized in the mind, and eventually out through the hands and on to the paper.”
Peter Mills

I am Peter Mills, full professor of anthropology at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo (UHH), where I have held a tenure track position since 1997. I received a B.A. degree (anthropology and psychology majors) from the University of Vermont in 1984, an M.A. (1987) from Washington State University in anthropology, and a Ph.D. (1996) in anthropology from the University of California at Berkeley. I have worked as an archaeologist in the Northeastern U.S., Northwest, American Southwest, Alaska, Hawaiʻi and Easter Island. My professional experience has included archaeological positions held with the federal government, state government, private consulting firms, and not-for-profit research organizations. From 1988 to 1990, I was the assistant state archaeologist for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, conducting review and compliance work for the Massachusetts Historical Commission (State Historic Preservation Office). In 1990, I began working in Hawaiʻi with the Bishop Museum’s Applied Archaeology Group (ARG), and I worked on additional consulting projects in Hawaiʻi from 1991-1993 with Biosystems Analysis, Inc. and Scientific Consulting Service, Inc. while conducting my dissertation research on Kauaʻi. For the last 19 years, my research has focused primarily on the of the Hawaiian Islands, and I served as president of the Society for Hawaiian Archaeology from 2010-2012. I have taught college courses in Cultural Resource Management almost every year since 1997, and I was a governor’s appointee to the Hawaiʻi Historic Places Review Board from 2004-2008. I am also director of the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo’s Heritage Management M.A. program that began in 2015. One of my major research projects is the examination of stone tool exchange patterns in the Hawaiian Islands, and from 2004-2006, I conducted a geological and archaeological study of the Mauna Kea Adze Quarry as part of the overall project. I am a qualified archaeologist who meets the standards of the Secretary of the Interior (36 CFR Part 61), and Hawaiʻi’s Administrative Rules covering professional qualifications for principal investigators on archaeological projects in Hawaiʻi (HAR 13-281-8).His research has focused primarily on the of the Hawaiian Islands, and has served as president of the Society for Hawaiian Archaeology from 2010-2012. He has taught college courses in Cultural Resource Management, and was a governor’s appointee to the Hawaiʻi Historic Places Review Board from 2004-2008. He is director of the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo’s Heritage Management M.A. program.