Current Exhibition

The Isla Center for the Arts at the University of Guam is proud to announce the opening of theexhibition Storyboards of Micronesia on September 2, 2010. This exhibit will feature over 35 storyboards from the Micronesian region.

The art of storyboard carving stems from the more traditional form of carving formerly seen on the horizontal crossbeams in a bai, or Palauan clubhouse. These structures were built for the people of the villages to congregate, socialize, and discuss community matters. The horizontal beams within the bai were carved with depictions of stories that told of Palauan legends, heroic tales, as well as historic events significant to the specific village. These depictions not only served as a means of declaring the village’s power and significance but also proclaimed the legendary tales surrounding the origins of the Palauan islands. Yo

Young people, particularly males, who entered the bai were told of the important legends while viewing a visual narrative of the legend. Even though the stories were simplified in the carvings of the bai, several stories could be depicted on these beams as they could reach a length of up to thirty feet. Originally, pigments used in the bai and on storyboards were produced by mixing lime, soot, and ochre with parinarium nut oil to create the commonly used colors of white, black, red and yellow.

The production of the storyboards was initiated by Japanese ethnologist/artist Hijikata Hisakatsu during the 1930s. During the Japanese administration of the islands, Hijikata instructed and encouraged young men to carve smaller versions of the beams found in a bai while using the traditional incised and low relief technique and the traditional pigments. Two of Hijikata’s students, Ngiraibuuch and Francisco Sbal, are represented in this exhibition.

It is rare to find a traditional bai with carved beams in Palau today. Most carving can be found on storyboards which are made for commercial export. And, the use of natural resources to produce pigments for the storyboards has been replaced by commercial paints and products, such as shoe polish. Although there are different styles of storyboard carving, they are a testimony to the traditional form of carving in the islands and attest to the strong oral tradition of the islands as well as serve as significant expressions of the Palauan culture.

Ranging in length from one to ten feet, the stories depicted in this exhibition include the Creation of Palau, the Discovery of Palauan money, and the Search for Ultimate Satisfaction, Demei and Crocodile, among others.

In addition to the Palauan storyboards, works by local Master Ifit Carver Robert Taitano are included in the exhibition. A carver for more than twenty years, Taitano is recognized as a Chamorro Traditional Master and creates storyboards that depict local myths and legends as well as plaques, tables, matatis and kamyo stools.

The storyboards on display are from the private collections of Christopher Garcia, Philip and Keiko Noble, Robert and Cynthia Sajnovsky, Viktoria Sayrs, Alma Vander Velde, Antonio and Lorraine Yamashita, the Isla Center for the Arts Permanent Collection and the Master Carver Robert Taitano.