Photos by Lisa Dahm

Above, designs from the new shirts. Below, left, Dietrich Varez. Below right, Kirk Hubbard, chief executive officer of Reyn Spooner, displays the lasts Dietrich Varez Saint Damien aloha shirts in his Big Island office.

Varez does it again

Hawaii’s first saint continues to inspire the linoleum block artist, and sometimes shirt designer, from the Big Island

By Lisa Dahm | Special to the Herald

WAIMEA

Long before the date was set for the canonization of Father Damien, well-known Hawaii artist Dietrich Varez was working on designs for a new Reyn Spooner aloha shirt to commemorate the day.

“I was chomping at the bit to make some new Damien print,” Varez said. “I thought, ‘It is really going to happen in my life time.’ There can be no more inspiration than that.”

Father Damien de Veuster is the Belgian-born Sacred Hearts priest who died caring for Hansen’s disease patients on Molokai more than a century ago. Pope Benedict XVI will declare him a saint on Oct. 11 in Rome.

Varez, who lives in a remote area in Volcano on the Big Island, created his designs by the linoleum block print process. He printed his images onto paper and Reyn transferred the artwork onto fabric.

Varez had already designed two Damien-related shirts for Reyn Spooner — one of Blessed Damien and one of Damien and his successor Blessed Marianne Cope. The company initially produced more than 1,000 of each design, but both were so popular they were given a second production run.

The newest shirt, a three-button pullover design, will be printed in four color themes — tan, navy, red and black.

According to Kirk Hubbard, chief executive officer of Reyn Spooner, the latest design was thought out well in advance of the scheduling of the canonization.

“Once we found out the date, we literally worked on it the next day,” Hubbard said. “Because we know our lead time is so long, we wanted to make sure that shirts were available in time.”

Very different, very Dietrich

The results are nothing short of spectacular. The Reyn Spooner aloha shirt commemorating the canonization of Father Damien breaks from the previous rectangular grid design. Instead, the images “float” on a “tapa” backdrop.

“That was the idea; that it look very different from the other shirts, but is still very ‘Dietrich,’” Hubbard said. “Dietrich is our inspiration.”

Hubbard and Varez worked on the concepts together.

“We talked about what we wanted and each individual scene and we put it together in a layout.”

“When you look at these shirts,” Hubbard said, pointing to the two earlier ones during an interview in his Big Island office, “there really is no tie-in to Molokai.”

The new shirt, on the other hand, has an image of Damien’s cross-shaped Molokai gravestone, his St. Philomena Church in Kalawao with the famous Molokai cliffs in the background. Another scene shows a young Father Damien posing for a photograph with the Kalawao children. And honoring the priest’s many trips to “topside” Molokai, one image shows him on the back of a mule ascending the cliff’s switchback trail.

This shirt also boldly displays the logo of Father Damien’s Sacred Hearts order — the two entwined hearts with a flame and a cross. The image of Damien, with his iconic hat and cassock, also has a large Sacred Hearts symbol on the front.

“Those who know what it is will appreciate it,” Hubbard said.

Varez wanted a strong representation of the Sacred Hearts symbol, he said. “He wanted to make sure that was included in there.”

A collector’s item

The shirt is also dated. Below the bust of Father Damien are his name and the canonization date, “October 11, 2009,” making the shirt a collector’s item. Reyn Spooner generally makes a limited number of shirts, and then retires the design.

Reyn’s first Damien shirt was sold mostly in the Reyn Spooner stores. Other retailers were at first reluctant to carry a “Catholic” shirt, Hubbard said, “but in the end, they saw that Father Damien is not just about Catholics or Christianity, he is about Hawaii.”

“So they started carrying it,” Hubbard said. “When you stop to think about it, it is a little unusual — carrying a shirt that has a priest on it.”

The second shirt, with Mother Marianne who also served patients with Hansen’s disease in Kalaupapa, was done around the time of her beatification in Rome on May 15, 2005.

Both Father Damien and Mother Marianne symbolize Hawaii, Hubbard said.

Reyn Spooner has produced aloha shirts in Hawaii since 1959. It is famous for its “reverse print” look, which displays the back side of the printed cloth for a more subtle, textured, sun-washed look. Reyn Spooner shirts are not only popular in Hawaii, Hubbard said, but across the country, especially in southern California, and internationally.

One trail leads to the next

Varez gets his inspiration by studying the life of the imminent saint. In his research, he said, “one trail takes you to the next one.”

“I read Damien literature and I have a book from Spain,” Varez said. “I go through it and figure out what would fit the current situation. I look at pictures of Kalaupapa and something pops into my head like, ‘We need the Sacred Hearts logo,’ and ‘We could see some maile.’”

“Sometimes at night I lay there in bed and visualize things,” he continued. “I am ready to draw them in the morning and they end up a print.”

His other key inspiration is his longtime friend, Sacred Hearts Sister Mary Dolorine Pires, a Maui-born, Honolulu-based scholar and teacher. Chats with the Sacred Hearts sister result in little details, such as having the picture of Damien on the shirt show his left hand, with the physical signs of Hansen’s disease prominently visible.

The image was adapted from the famous photo of the priest taken during the last year of his life. According to Sister Mary Dolorine, the photographer must have coaxed Father Damien into the position because “Damien would have been very reluctant to show his hand that way,” Varez said.

In addition to the shirts, Varez created about five different Damien block prints. He also painted full-color portraits of Father Damien and Mother Marianne which he gave to Bishop Larry Silva, and which now hang in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace in Honolulu.

“I like Damien because he is a good guy,” Varez said. “To live the golden rule is the supreme statement. Damien gave his life to help the people and he didn’t need to do that. He gave himself to the Hawaiian people.”

Varez’ Damien prints are sold at the Volcano National Park art gallery. Though the gallery was skeptical of selling religious-themed art, they were so popular the center recently reordered them.

The artist has also given Bishop Larry Silva permission to reproduce and sell his latest Damien print to raise money for canonization-related activities.

The new Father Damien shirt will be available at the end of September. It can be purchased at Reyn Spooner stores on Oahu, Maui, Kauai and the Big Island or through the company website, www.reyns.com. Varez will be at the Reyn Spooner store in the Ala Moana Shopping Center in Honolulu on Oct. 3 to meet customers and sign shirts prior to the canonization.

Varez’s Father Damien and Mother Marianne block prints may be purchased at Volcano National Park Art Center, through its website at www.volcanoartcenter.org, or at www.dvarez.com.