Jozef Smit Appointed Managing Director
At the Trustees meeting on July 20, 1995, Jozef Smit was appointed to the position of Managing Director of the Hana Cultural Center and Museum.
Jozef first became a member of the Cultural Center when he moved to Hana in 1986 and has served as an administrative volunteer and computer consultant since 1992. Under the sponsorship of Hana Cultural Center, he has helped coordinate the Hana Students Hawaiian Art Exhibit at the East Maui Taro Festival and he coordinates the Hana Culture For Youth programs which include the soon to be dedicated Hana Art Barn open arts studio at the Hana Community Center.
Jozef is an "Artist in Residence" at the Pacific Basin Arboretum, a small private garden in Ulaino where he is directing long term development of an eight acre conservation area, both as a refuge for tropical plants and an artist rainforest retreat.
Before permanently moving from California to Maui in November of 1984, he worked in technical fields such as the Apollo Lunar Landing Project, systems analysis and design in the computer industry and development of the satellite communications industry for cable television.
In his art studio, he studies early symbolism of Oceanic cultures, particularly those of pre-contact Hawaii when graphic art was first developed using the "I`e Kuku", carved beaters, to create watermark designs on kapa cloth. His work is represented by Hana Coast Gallery at Hotel Hana Maui.
Jozef Smit was born at Groningen, Holland, the tenth child of a family with eleven children. He is the father of four children and since 1994 a grandfather of seven.