Johanna Drew Cluney
{{Short description|American Hawaiian featherworker (1895–1978)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Johanna Drew Cluney
| other_names = Johanna Drew–Cluney, Johanna Keaioana Drew Cluney
| birth_name = Johanna Keaioana Drew
| birth_date = October 6, 1895
| birth_place = Honolulu, O'ahu, Republic of Hawaii (now Hawaii, United States)
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1978|02|19|1895|10|06}}
| death_place = Honolulu, O'ahu, Hawaii, United States
| burial_place = Nuuanu Memorial Park, Honolulu, O'ahu, Hawaii, United States
| occupation = Cultural artisan, conservator, collector
| known_for = Lei hulu (feather lei), haku hulu (featherwork)
| spouse = William Allen Cluney (m. 1914–1931; divorce)
| children = 5
| relatives = Kamaka Oukamakaokawaukeoiopiopio Stillman (maternal grandmother)
| awards = Living Treasures of Hawaii (1977)
}}
Johanna Keaioana Drew Cluney (née Johanna Keaioana Drew; 1895–1978) was an American Hawaiian featherwork artist, conservator, and collector of featherwork.{{Cite news |last=Taylor |first=Clarice B. |date=March 13, 1959 |title=Johanna Drew Cluney feather worker |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/honolulu-star-bulletin-johanna-drew-clun/15643207/ |access-date=2024-11-28 |work=Honolulu Star-Bulletin |pages=36 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news |date=August 30, 1952 |title=Collector of Feather leis is Tacoma Visitor |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-news-tribune-collector-of-feather-le/159902651/ |access-date=2024-11-28 |work=The News Tribune |pages=10 |via=Newspapers.com}}
Early life and family
Johanna Keaioana Drew was born on October 6, 1895, in Honolulu, Republic of Hawaii (now Hawaii, United States).{{Cite news |date=1978-02-22 |title=Queen of feather leis, Johanna D. Cluney, 82 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/honolulu-star-advertiser-queen-of-feathe/159903920/ |access-date=2024-11-28 |work=Honolulu Star-Advertiser |pages=22 |type=Obituary |via=Newspapers.com}} Her parents were Keaupuiohiwa Katherine (née Stillman), and Levi J. Drew. Cluney's maternal grandfather was Henry Martyn Stillman (1822–1891), a banker from Boston who had married into the Hawaiian nobility, through his marriage to Kamaka Oukamakaokawaukeoiopiopio Stillman.{{Cite news |date=April 30, 1977 |title=Hawaii's heritage in featherwork |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-boston-globe-hawaiis-heritage-in-fe/159902685/ |access-date=2024-11-28 |work=The Boston Globe |pages=23 |via=Newspapers.com}}
In 1914, she married William Allen Cluney (1889–1941). They had five children together, and divorced in 1931.{{Cite news |date=1931-08-15 |title=William Allen Cluney and Johanna Drew Cluney |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/honolulu-star-bulletin-william-allen-clu/15643739/ |access-date=2024-11-28 |work=Honolulu Star-Bulletin |pages=3 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news |date=1931-07-08 |title=Five Divorces Are Granted By Watson |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/honolulu-star-bulletin-johanna-drew-clun/15671514/ |access-date=2024-11-28 |work=Honolulu Star-Bulletin |pages=16 |via=Newspapers.com}}
Career
Cluney was technically a member of Hawaiian nobility through her ancestry, but Hawaiian politics were changing at the time of her birth, and with those changes, there was a loss of social power within her family. As a result she struggled financially in her early life, and became interested in the traditional Hawaiian featherwork as a spiritual source.
Her collection began when someone was throwing out a peacock feather lei, and she asked if she could keep it. Cluney started making feather lei in 1935.{{Cite news |last=Damon |first=Annabel |date=November 2, 1950 |title=Feather Scarcity, Rapidly Increasing Market Accounts For Fast Disappearing Lei Making Art |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/honolulu-star-advertiser-feather-scarcit/159903663/ |access-date=2024-11-28 |work=Honolulu Star-Advertiser |pages=24 |via=Newspapers.com}} She learned how to make the feather leis from an older Hawaiian woman, and early on she would collect feathers at the butchers and learned to dye them. Cluney would stitch the feathers in place, and it would often take thousands of stitches. For many years she worked at the Bishop Museum, helping with the conservation of the Hawaiian Royal featherwork.{{Cite news |date=October 29, 1961 |title=Johanna Drew Cluney perseveres and preserves culture |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/honolulu-star-advertiser-johanna-drew-cl/15632983/ |access-date=2024-11-28 |work=Honolulu Star-Advertiser |pages=40 |via=Newspapers.com}}
In 1966, Cluney was awarded the Hawaiiana Award by the Honolulu Chapter of the National Society of Arts and Letters, for her work in making feather leis.{{Cite news |date=May 21, 1966 |title=6,480 Stitches Make Her Leis |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/honolulu-star-bulletin-johanna-drew-clun/15631587/ |access-date=2024-11-28 |work=Honolulu Star-Bulletin |pages=10 |via=Newspapers.com}} In 1977, she was awarded the Living Treasures of Hawaii award. She was a member of the Daughters of Hawaii, and was active in their events.{{Cite news |date=1954-10-20 |title=Hawaiian Motif |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/honolulu-star-advertiser-hawaiian-motif/159903780/ |access-date=2024-11-28 |work=Honolulu Star-Advertiser |pages=11 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news |date=October 21, 1954 |title=Queen's Home Open House |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/honolulu-star-advertiser-mrs-johanna-dr/15726639/ |access-date=2024-11-28 |work=Honolulu Star-Advertiser |pages=10 |via=Newspapers.com}} A film was made in her honor, Hawaiian Featherwork With Johanna Drew Cluney (1970).{{Cite news |date=April 4, 1983 |title=Keaau Library's Film Night |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/hawaii-tribune-herald-keaau-librarys-fi/159904024/ |access-date=2024-11-28 |work=Hawaii Tribune-Herald |pages=6}}{{Cite book |last=Miller |first=Melissa C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GHgZAQAAIAAJ&q=Hawaiian+Featherwork+With+Johanna+Drew+Cluney&dq=Hawaiian+Featherwork+With+Johanna+Drew+Cluney&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiZjY7hzP6JAxWzIUQIHYohOFcQ6AF6BAgEEAI |title=Moving Images of the Pacific Islands: A Catalogue of Films and Videos |date=1989 |publisher=Center for Pacific Islands Studies, School of Hawaiian, Asian, and Pacific Studies, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa |pages=56 |language=en}}
She died at the age of 82 on February 19, 1978, at Queen's Hospital in Honolulu;{{Cite news |date=February 22, 1978 |title=Hawaiiana Artist, Mrs. Cluney Dies |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/honolulu-star-bulletin-johanna-drew-clun/15514408/ |access-date=2024-11-28 |work=Honolulu Star-Bulletin |pages=47 |type=Obituary |via=Newspapers.com}} and was buried at Nuuanu Memorial Park. She left a collection from 1930 to 1978 to the Kamehameha Schools of handicrafts made in feathers, shells, seeds, lauhala, and manufactured hats, called the Johanna Drew Cluney Collection.
See also
{{Portal|Hawaii}}
References
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Category:Artists from Honolulu
Category:Native Hawaiian culture