Siapo.com launches its site at www.siapo.com. The site is dedicated to the preservaton of the ancient but almost extinct Samoan bark cloth art of Siapo.

Siapo, also known as tapa, is one of the oldest Samoan cultural art forms. For centuries Siapo has been passed from generation to generation. Even so, it has fast become a nearly extinct art form. Siapo.coms mission is to preserve as many pieces as possible while also promoting the art and its artists.

Siapo.com features an online museum with a large collection of works dating back as early as the 1800s. The site also features many educational sections dedicated to the preservation of the art. These sections include artist profiles, detailed sections with photos on the preparations process involved in Siapo and much more.

The site was designed by Siapo artist Tupito Walker Gadalla. Tupito was born in 1967 in American Samoa. She grew up with Siapo all around her. Both her mother, Marylyn Pritchard Walker, and her grandmother, the late Mary Jewett Pritchard , are renowned Siapo artists. Tupito learned Siapo at a young age. As a child she helped her grandmother teach the art. Tupito continues to create and teach Siapo in the tradition taught her by her mother and grandmother.