October, 2013: Marshallese weavers of jaki-ed (clothing mats) earned $11,000 in sales and awards at Friday evening's Seventh Annual Jaki-ed Exhibit and Silent Auction at the Marshall Islands Resort. Sixty jaki-ed — 45 by experts weavers and 15 by apprentices — were squeezed onto the walls of the Melele Room, making a fabulous display of art that had a level of quality never seen before. They were all well-appreciated by the large crowd, which included Minister Dennis Momotaro and his wife Internal Affairs Secretary Daisy, Speaker Donald and Rosita Capelle, and Senator Kessai Note and his wife Mary. According to co-organizer Dr. Irene Taafaki of the University of the South Pacific, people placed generous bids on the mats.
Earlier in the day, the judges spent many hours making their voting decisions, which resulted in a three-way tie between weavers Patsy Jibas, Maryana Samson, and Moji Kelen. "This was the first year we had three first prize winners," Irene said, "so a quick decision was made to add additional prize money and give them $800 each." The highest bid for a jaki-ed went to apprentice Daisy Elias of Mejit. "She earned a bid of $350 plus second prize in the apprentice category of $200 for this mat. She also earned $150 and won $100 for her second mat, which gave her overall earnings of $800."
Emcee on the night was old friend of the Marshall Islands MaryLou Foley. First up were short speeches by Brenda and Irene, who both praised the wonderful quality of this year's jaki-ed. Irene then introduced the creators of the newly-launched Museum of Marshallese Fine Weaving, Jaston Anjain and Karen Earnshaw. The latter took the guests on a 'stroll' through the virtual museum of jaki-ed, which was developed with help from the Australian Government's AusAID program and can be found at www.clothingmatsofthemarshalls.com.
Karen's first stop was to show off Hawaii's Bishop Museum's collection of mats, then she took everyone on a magic carpet ride across the Atlantic to view the British Museum's collection of jaki-ed. It was then onwards to the museum's official web site and photo gallery. "The last place we visited was the museum's restrooms, which gave everyone a laugh, because, sadly, they were closed for cleaning," Karen said.