Editor’s Note: Writer J. Eston Dunn shared his experience finding art at the Give & Take and researching the life of the artist.
“Standing in the Hawaii State Art Museum gallery looking at the rich brown ink swirling into waves and human figures of Hawaii long past, I knew I had seen that style before. The framed print on the wall bore uncanny resemblance to a pair of similarly sized prints I had salvaged from a bin at the Give & Take on campus the week before. They were depictions of the demigod Maui being carried on the backs of jellyfish while being fed by birds, and as an adult, wrestling a great eel,” Dunn writes. “The caked grim on the glass frame did little to dampen the still beating heart of Hawaiian myth imbued into the page by the printer, the same heartbeat I felt looking at the print in the Hawaii State Art Museum. I read on the little plaque next to the print, ‘Dietrich Varez, Big Island’.”
The two prints found at Give & Take, pictured at the left, inspired this story, writes Dunn.
Dietrich Varez is one of Hawaii’s most recognizable artists, whose philosophy of art belonging to the people and distinctive style in portraying Hawaiian myth cements his place as a modern ambassador of native Hawaiian story, according to art critics.
“My goal is to make art – at least my art – available to common people,” Varez said in a 1979 interview with Sunday Today. He added, “I want to get it into your mom’s house and my mom’s house.”
Because of Varez’s liberal art philosophy and skill, his linoleum prints, for which he is most famous, decorate homes around the world and local museums including the Hawaii State Art Museum and Bishop Museum.
Art style and philosophy
“Dietrich was very unique,” said Emily Weiss, a long-time friend of Varez and gallery manager of the Volcano Art Center where Varez sold a majority of his prints.
Weiss explained Varez was aware English doesn’t translate well to Hawaiian. Since Varez’s work shows the Hawaiian connection to the environment, she said, “He chose printmaking as his form of storytelling.”
Varez considered his work essential in preserving and spreading Hawaiian culture and said in the 1979 article saying, “Well, I’ll tell you: The Hawaiian ‘melting pot’ is being melted right into oblivion. Linda [his wife] and I feel like we’re doing something to sustain it. Especially since it’s been so neglected. There was a simplicity and a strength in the old ways, in their life.
“I try to do two things: Please the viewer visually and give him a lesson, something from the past. Like the tying of canoes, fishing methods, things like that.”
Weiss describe Varez’s distinctive style, “[Varez] was able to add so many elements that relate back to the Hawaiian language. So many facets to describe and share these stories, like words with double meanings. He’ll add borders or other types of embellishment that add to the illustration. These elements that you would not necessarily appreciate is why his work is so important.”
Weiss said for example, “In the ‘Opihi Pickers’ image, the design shows an ocean scene, with human forms picking limpets from rocks. You might not even notice, but the subjects are turned in a way that they never have their backs to the ocean. This is a very important rule in Hawai’i Nei.
“If you focus on the details of the images, you will learn very important lessons for his work. Dietrich could’ve made a few pieces of art and kept producing, but he made over 300 hand-carved blocks.
“He would tell those stories over and over and change the illustrations to depict that. He wanted to keep going. The detail he added amounted to the amazing textures of the prints. Dietrich carved out every little inch he could to make these amazing details.”
“Originally,” Weiss said, “people were afraid of the Pele stories especially, and his depiction of them since he was an outsider. Yet, through his humility and dedication to his art, people began to accept him and his work. One of his proudest accomplishments was being recognized as the illustrator for Mary Kawena Pukui’s ‘Oleleo No’eau, Hawaiian Proverbs & Poetical Sayings’.”
Weiss said Varez built his own homestead on the Big Island and felt he needed that isolation to produce his work. Steven Spense, the author of the 1979 Sunday Today article, described Varez’s homestead as, “There is no electricity, no running water, no sewers, no phones, no paved roads, no street lights, no postal service. There is just the silence of the deep woods, interrupted only by birds and at times the furious, pounding rain unleashed by the brooding clouds that hang low over Kilauea Volcano higher up.”
“He didn’t get caught up in the social scene, [nature] is what inspired him,” Weiss remarked. Spense said Varez’s self-imposed isolation also included regularly missing artist receptions at galleries that sold his work in his early career.
Weiss continued, “He was inspired by the Japanese philosophy that art belonged to the people and encouraged by a local Japanese businessman to produce unlimited, various sized, affordable prints. He wanted to keep his art affordable. That way it wasn’t elitist, and anyone could afford a print and take in any home.”
Originally, Varez produced all his own prints on the floor of his homemade cabin to keep costs low before he outsourced the work to local art publisher Magic Mo Ez. Varez described his process as, “I’m down on all fours, man; My art comes with dirt and dog hairs on it. I like to think that the people who buy my prints know they’re getting something for the deal.”
Early life
Varez’s early experiences in Hawaii proved formative in shaping his connection to people and places. Varez first arrived in Oahu in 1948 at the age of 8, with his brother, Christian; mother, Ursula; and new stepfather, Manuel Varez, an American Army sergeant, and according to the 1940 census, an Oahu native.
They came from war-torn Berlin where his mother had divorced his father after he abandoned them at the close of the war. Varez referred to the period of his life as “pure misery” in another interview with Hawaiian Magazine that same year.
Weiss said Hawaii proved its own set of challenges for Varez. Upon arrival, Varez couldn’t speak English let alone Hawaiian. Varez told Weiss that as a result he was teased at school and was “definitely an outsider.” This social isolation combined with his adopted father’s house sitting out on the reefs of Pearl Harbor, led him and his brother to spend hours together every day out on the reef, fishing, collecting, and learning the art of peddling their catches at the Chinatown market.
“Varez said it was the first time he was able to enjoy his childhood,” Weiss recalled, “It was also where he developed a deep appreciation for the Hawaiian culture and wanted to share it with the world.”
Varez would later pursue a master’s in English at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, join the Army Reserves, and marry competitive surfer Linda Donneberg in 1965. Eventually, Varez worked at Ala Wai boat harbor as a shipwright. “That’s where [Varez] learned about woodworking and started carving icons out of scrap lumber,” Weiss explained.
Move to the Big Island
“Dietrich moved to Big Island in 1969,” Weiss elaborated. “It was really important for him and his family to be in the forest environment.”
Varez said in the 1979 interview “At first, I carved wooden tikis. Then I tried shallow-relief stuff and finally the linoleum blocks. With wood-carving, you make something and sell it and you never see it again. There is a continuous reward with prints.”
Weiss said, “In 1974 the [Volcano Art] Center opened and put out his block prints and sold seven in the first month. He became one of the first artists at the center, which was really important because we didn’t know if [the center] was going to make it.” But by 1979, Varez’s prints became so popular that despite the relatively small profit he gained from each print, he was able to quit his bartending job and work entirely as an artist to support himself and his family.
Legacy
Varez passed away on Aug. 14, 2018, on the Big Island. Even beyond the grave, Varez has done his best to ensure his art remains affordable and accessible by leaving the rights to reproduce his art at the Volcano Art Center and having his art on display in public galleries. Varez’s longtime publisher Karen “Magic Mo,” Ez said, “Dietrich Varez, [was] one of the most humble, giving and dearest artists in all the world. His works carry on. Every print I create of his contains my love and memory of his laughter and joy.”
The Volcano Art Center has begun a legacy program for Varez where it offers a once-a-week block printing class on Mondays from 11-1. Students can come and print off of his hand-carved blocks – a few that his wife allows – for a $5 supplies fee. The class is scheduled to go through July of this year. Anyone interested can contact the Volcano Art Center or visit www.volcanoartcenter.org to find out more.