In 2007 the ministry of education opened up an amazing opportunity for artists, schools and communities by launching a ground breaking project called "Artists in schools". To find out more about the Artist in schools project please visit here
The year six students of Whangaparaoa primary were looking at "people of the pacific" for their social studies topics. We thought this would be an excellent theme to base our visual arts project around. Each class focused on different Pacific islands, Room B1 looked at Papau new Guinea and devised wearable art costumes from found materials. Room B4 looked at Tivaevae and then looked further into tapa. Room B5 also looked at Tivaevae and as groups made three cloaks out of recycled fabric, B5 devised their own myth and legend behind the cloaks because they learned that the women of the Cook islands that traditionally practice Tivaevae usually have a story their quilt is based around. Room B6 made their own metre tall tiki based on traditional Maori carvings and the contemporary works of artists such as Warren pohatu.
Each child began by drafting out their ideas.. In the case of those making Tivaevae we used newsprint and sugar paper to experiment with symmetry and rotation based Tivaevae design. B1 who made the wearable art made fashion drawings and thought about what materials they may need to make their costumes based on those of the people of Papau New Guinea. B6 drew their tiki initially on news print paying a great deal of attention to traditional Maori pattern work, its origin and meaning.
