About Me

Established in 1995, Mauna Kea Galleries is a world-famous outlet for Hawaiian and Polynesian art, artifacts, and literature. Mauna Kea Galleries offers artifacts from Marquesas, Samoa, Easter Island, Tonga, Fiji, Tahiti, New Zealand, the Cook Islands, and more. Founded by Carolyn Blackburn, Mauna Kea Galleries prides itself in having the most complete and authentic collection of its kind in the world. Mauna Kea Galleries stocks a large inventory of rare Hawaiian and Polynesian artifacts, including jewelry, sculpture, and weaponry. Mauna Kea Galleries also maintains a large and diverse Hawaiiana collection, which comprises Aloha attire, posters, and hula dolls, as well as menus and other ephemera. Mauna Kea Galleries boasts an exceptional accumulation of classic South Seas literature, including rare copies of Captain Cook's Voyages and Isabella Bird's Six Months in the Sandwich Islands, and some of the finest Hawaiian art ever produced, such as work by painters D. Howard Hitchcock, Lionel Walden, Jules Tavernier, Madge Tennent, and John Kelly, among others. Appraiser Mark Blackburn has written a number of books on Hawaii, including Hawaiiana: The Best of Hawaiian Design, Tattoos From Paradise, Hula Girls and Surfer Boys, Hula Heaven: The Queen's Album, and Surf's Up. Mark Blackburn is a senior certified appraiser with more than 30 years of appraisal experience. Mark Blackburn has given appraisals to a number of prominent art institutions, such as the New York-based Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Honolulu-based Mission Houses Museum and Bishop Museum. Like her husband, Carolyn Blackburn is active in preserving Hawaiian culture, possessing a federal and state license to rehabilitate endangered or threatened Hawaiian bird species. For more information on Mauna Kea Galleries, visit www.maunakeagalleries.com.