Orangeburg artist Janet Kozachek received a $1,900 grant from the South Carolina Arts Commission to help further her study of the huaca, a multi-chambered flute similar to an ocarina.

The SCAC Arts Project Support grant will enable Kozachek to travel to Hawaii this summer to expand her knowledge of huacas, which can be both two chambered and three chambered.

Kozachek said musician and ceramic artist Sharon Rowell perfected the art of the three-chambered huaca in the 1980s.

She has been studying online and through PDF tutorials with artist and musician Teri Suggs, a student of Sharon Rowell’s partner, Jane Zenger.

“The grant award will help cover material costs and travel to the Suggs’ studio in Hawaii over the summer,” Kozachek said.

“The three-chambered huaca by Sharon Rowell, featured on the cover of Barry Hall’s ‘From Mud to Music,’ provoked my curiosity and inculcated a secret possessive desire,” she said.

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Kozachek continued, “I’ve always wanted to make one, but the knowledge seemed so remote and out of reach. Finally, after several years, I managed to find someone versed in how this beautiful instrument is constructed.

“Ms. Suggs agreed to teach me the process, mostly out of a desire to preserve the art form. We set about our plans to do this via Zoom sessions and tutorials by email.”

Kozachek said she knew, however, that there was no substitute for in-person training.

“So I applied for a travel grant from the South Carolina State Arts Commission and felt honored to have their support,” she said.

Kozachek said the huaca is a complicated instrument which takes time to build.

“The engineering has to be precise in order for it to have the right sound, or for it even to sound at all! I’ve made single-chambered ocarinas for 15 years and gradually progressed into making full-octave instruments,” she said.

The artist continued, “Working out the details on how to construct and tune the huaca has been hard. But after five weeks of building, I finally have my first double-chambered huaca. I’m still fine tuning.”

The South Carolina Arts Foundation is a nonprofit organization that has been dedicated to recognizing, encouraging and supporting the arts and artists of South Carolina for over 50 years.

For more information on the huaca, visit stonewhistle.com/instruments/huaca.

Contact the writer: dgleaton@timesanddemocrat.com or 803-533-5534. Follow “Good News with Gleaton” on Twitter at @DionneTandD

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