Bellevue School (Tauranga)
Region: Bay of Plenty/Waiariki
Art form: Visual Arts
Project name: Te Hīkoi
Creative name: Martine Jefferson
Project information: Our project weaves together our local curriculum and local environs to create a large-scale interactive art installation which will adorn an entire classroom block (nearly 60 metres long). This project will be a visible representation for our students, teachers, and whānau of the journey our Bellevue learners go on whilst at our school.
The central motif, a colourful harakeke weave, will symbolically tie our whānau rōpū, syndicate teams, and Bellevue School learner values together. Bellevue School is enriched with native trees, and it is also surrounded by coastal wetlands. Both of these elements will be interwoven through the design. Our majestic pōhutukawa, standing sentinel beside the office, is the centrepiece of our school logo. Native trees, prominent on our school site, provided the inspiration for our whānau rōpū names. Rather than use iconography of the actual trees, images of creatures who live amongst them will be created. QR codes will link to recorded stories and information, connecting these images to our whānau rōpū groups, our local environment, and symbolic meaning for tangata whenua. Students will research, write, and record the scripts attached to the QR codes.
This project provides an authentic context for learning not only visual art skills, but the symbolism, planning, technology, and research that goes into creating an installation of this nature. Student learning will integrate achievement objectives from Art, Languages, Mathematics, Social Studies, English, and Technology curricula. The collaborative nature of the project will ensure that students are engaged in all of the Key Competencies—thinking, using language, symbols, and text, managing self, relating to others, participating and contributing.
Project starting: May 2022
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