Hapuna Beach Big Island Ceramic Art Tile

The longest white-sand beach on the Big Island, on the dry leeward coast where the trade winds have wrung themselves out against Mauna Kea before they get here. A half-mile of crushed coral, framed by black pāhoehoe at each end. The water reads clear in summer and turns dangerous in winter when north swells run the channel. Dr. Beach named it the best in America in 1993, and locals have been quietly correcting that for thirty years: the best is whichever Kohala beach you can find empty. Hapuna is rarely empty, and that is the price of being beautiful enough to be named.

Slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, in our family studio in Knoxville, Tennessee.