Samoan Siapo Fale Ornaments are a big hit on DeYoungster's Day in San Francisco

Don’t you love to unpack your suitcase once you get home?

After a long trek up to San Francisco and back for a very exciting weekend at the DeYoung Museum, our unpacking certainly brought us a wealth of happiness remembering the event we just experienced. It’s when we unraveled the green butcher paper used to protect the tables we’d been assigned to. Read on.

 Fa'asamoa Arts Siapo makers Su’a Uilisone Fitiao & Reggie Meredith Fitiao were invited to be  a part of the one day DeYoungsters Day, an annual event held at the DeYoung Museum. It is a day for  families to visit the Museum and experience an array of fun filled  hands-on activities for all. There’s music, artists of all types,  food trucks, drawing and painting alongside the beautiful collection of artifacts on display. This is the

4th year of DeYoungsters Day celebrations.

“When we got  the invitation, a lot of planning had to take place. We knew it would be siapo based, but what exactly could we do?  And how many visitors would we work with in a day?”recalled Reggie as she reminisced about the planning. And then both Su’a Uilisone & Reggie decided on a readymade siapo ornament in the form of a Samoan fale (house) that had been previously done with their Tutuila island community over the holidays. “That’s it! We’ll prep and construct unpainted Samoan siapo fales for our visitors and we’ll call it “Mai le makou Fale i lou Fale- From our House to Yours.” When told the number of how many to prepare for, a whopping 300 siapo fales, they asked for some assistance! We added a few extra and our total count of 370 siapo fales made of hand beaten u’a paper mulberry, stained popsicle sticks and skewers  was made possible with the help of art students (namely the American Samoa Community College students & Phi Theta Kappa), family members,  siapo makers, visitors to our studio, and friends. 

The day of the big event in San Francisco was held on Saturday May 3rd, and our corner in the Oceanic Wing was constantly busy. We had a show 'n tell table of Samoan artifacts which Su’a Uilisone’s knack for storytelling and knowledge of our ancestors kept everyone engaged in our history. He also prepared them for what to expect as they made their way to the activity tables where a variety of Samoan mamanu symbols and visuals drawn on green butcher paper that covered them helped each participant create the beauty of their fale ornament. Once completed,  they headed to the gluing and packaging table. And I must admit, 

There was an air of contentment as each participant left with their beautiful fale ornaments.

By the end of the day we were spent! What an event! All 370 siapo ornaments were handed out and the only evidence of all the activity were a few great photos, and the green butcher paper still on the tables. Those butcher papers were filled with dots and scribbles, names and preliminaries all made by our visitors to the venue. The energy captured on the butcher paper for us confirmed a very successful interaction of siapo designing. for all ages. That alone was too precious to throw away, so we brought the green butcher paper home as a reminder of how important art making is. Each mark and scribble made are signs of happiness, cooperation, exploration and fun. We want to give a big shout out and Faamalo to the team at the DeYoung Museum who helped put this together, Cuzzie Sekio Fuapopo, and the Samoan Solutions aiga who came and assisted us for the day! Faafetai tele lava also to all the families who brought their children and worked with us! Thank you so much! Until next time, we are sending you much Alofa from our House in Amerika Samoa to yours! BTW: the total number of visitors to the DeYoung Museum for DeYoungsters day is 7,705! Malo lava everyone!!