Award Winning Artist
Caren Loebel-Fried
CREATES HANAUMA BAY MASTERPIECE
Caren Loebel-Fried’s Block Print for Conservation
Celebrating Hanauma Bay Through Art
In a stunning tribute to one of Hawaii’s most treasured marine ecosystems, award-winning artist Caren Loebel-Fried has created a hand-pulled, hand-colored block print of Hanauma Bay for the nonprofit Friends of Hanauma Bay (FOHB). Known for her conservation-focused artwork, Caren’s intricate piece highlights the breathtaking beauty and ecological significance of Hanauma Bay, while supporting FOHB's environmental education programs, scholarship fund, and ongoing community stewardship efforts aimed at conserving, protecting, and restoring the natural resources of Hanauma Bay.
In Caren’s block print, the story begins with coral. Coral is the foundation—both literally and figuratively—of the bay’s ecosystem. In the artwork's bottom panels, coral modules are depicted growing in a nursery, with Yellow Tangs actively cleaning algae from them in the tanks. Since the creation of the piece, these corals, grown by Dave Gulko at the Hawai‘i Coral Restoration Nursery, have been successfully outplanted into Hanauma Bay, helping to secure the future of the diverse species that rely on this vital marine habitat. You can read more about this project and watch an eight part video series documenting the progress of the restoration on the Friends of Hanauma Bay website.
Bullethead Blenny, pāo'o, male - Contributed to the Digital Coral Ark by Anke Roberts.
In another connection linking the past, present, and future, the artwork was created, in part, based on the stories and beautiful underwater photographs of Hanauma Bay shared by Anke Roberts, who has been a major contributor to Dear Ocean’s Digital Coral Ark. Additional help came from John P. Hoover, author of Hanauma Bay: A Marine Life Guide to Hawaiʻi’s Most Popular Nature Preserve, who also contributed his historical photographs of Hanauma Bay to the Digital Coral Ark. The imagery archive of the Digital Coral Ark will serve as a reminder of what the ecosystem was, and help guide future restoration efforts for the generations to come.
Caren Loebel-Fried in Hanauma Bay - Digital Coral Ark Contribution by Anke Roberts.
To learn about Hanauma Bay and the life it supports, Caren snorkeled, observed, and listened to local stories. The above photo shows Caren by one of the cauliflower coral colonies being monitored over time by Anke Roberts as part of the Coral Colony Temporal Texture study. In fact, the coral directly below Caren in the image is Coral Colony C2, a thriving example of the species in 2021 when this photo was taken. Unfortunately, the colony sustained extensive damage from trampling in December of 2022, causing a great amount of breakage and loss of tissue. You can view almost 200 images of this colony over time in the Digital Coral Ark archive. By raising awareness through art, visitors gain an appreciation for the lives beneath the surface, decreasing this type of harm to marine life.
Caren’s colorful block print depicts many other species you might encounter beneath Hanauma Bay’s waters—some common, others rare. These images capture the animals' lives: what they eat, how they interact, and the unique personalities of those that call Hanauma Bay home. The figure below was provided by Caren to use as a guide to identify the marine life included in the art, with Hawaiian names accompanying many of them.
Seeing all these species in one piece of art highlights this bay as a significant natural resource, harboring a fragile marine environment whose coral formations support over 400 species of fish. Hanauma Bay is truly one of the most unique and striking underwater landscapes in the world. Twenty to thirty percent of the fish and corals found in the bay are endemic to Hawaiʻi. Hanauma Bay is also home to the Hawaiian Green Sea Turtle, endemic to the Hawaiian Islands and considered by native Hawaiians to be an ʻaumakua. Endangered Hawaiian monk seals also visit Hanauma Bay often to rest, feed, and mate.
Above is a detail of the top panels depicting Hanauma Bay in the center with marine life including the honu (Hawaiian green sea turtle), ‘Ilio holo i ka uaua (Hawaiian monk seal), humuhumu-nukunuku-ā-pua‘a (lagoon triggerfish), and manini (convict tangs).
Hanauma Bay
by Caren Loebel-Fried
And here’s the big reveal, the block print in its entirety! See if you can find the bullethead blenny inspired by Anke Robert’s photo above.
In addition to creating this beautiful piece to raise awareness for conservation efforts, Caren has generously allowed Friends of Hanauma Bay rights to the artwork for use in creating fundraising merchandise. Stay tuned to see where you can support the Friends by purchasing!
You can find out more about Caren’s award-winning books and artwork on her website, which also has an online shop selling her art and note cards.