Local artist works to restore Ortquist painting at the museum

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Local artist Reggie Meredith-Fitiao, with help from a group of volunteers, is in the midst of restoring a painting at the Jean P. Hayden Museum, which is currently undergoing expansion.

Meredith-Fitiao told Samoa News last week that it was during the ongoing Museum construction/expansion project that the painting  — done by legendary artist-carver-sculptor Sven Ortquist — was painted over.

Sven Orgquist in an L.A. Times photo [from their website]

The artwork, which depicts the legend of Tagaloa and Pava, is on the exterior wall of the Museum. Samoa News drove by the site this past weekend and saw Meredith-Fitiao hard at work with her paintbrush.