Driftwood Art by Cris Gutierrez

Cris Gutierrez was a successful teppanyaki chef on Maui for 20 years when his business shut down when the coronavirus pandemic struck. Back then his medium was food; now his medium is driftwood. He believes divine intervention aided him when he noticed the driftwood at Kahului Harbor. Out of the driftwood Gutierrez made planters, but then he decided to tackle a more ambitious project. He created a driftwood humpback whale along the shoreline outside Kahului Harbor. The whale is 15 feet long and made out of hundreds of driftwood pieces he collected from the coastline. He also made a 5-foot-square Hawaiian Honu (sea turtle) and mano (shark) out of driftwood. People from all over the world have taken pictures with Gutierrez's impressive sculptures.