Good Shepherd School (Balmoral)
Region: Auckland
Art form: Visual Arts
Project name: Our School in Art
Creative name:
Project information: One of Good Shepherd School’s strategic goals states that: Our students are aware of the impact of their actions on the environment and the role of sustainability in protecting it. In 2022 kaiako of Good Shepherd have planned an in-depth inquiry, integrating all learning areas, on ‘flight’. This rich concept will include our ākonga visiting Tiritiri Matangi to observe and identify rare and endangered birds and wildlife in an authentic natural setting. This visit will also help students to understand the role people play in protecting our environment and the need for all of us to take responsibility for this. Students will also explore the spiritual significance and the vital place birds held in Māori life, providing food and feathers for adornment and warmth. We plan to include a focus on the myths and legends of how these creatures came to be, and to incorporate vocabulary of Ngā Manu Māori (native birds) in our Te Reo Māori programmes.
The Creatives in Schools project will continue the exploration of birds and flight through art. Students will be looking at the natural world, drawing native fauna, and pushing into other techniques beyond drawing. The creative will teach techniques for image making, including looking at the colour wheel and the fundamentals of colour mixing and complimentary colours. Techniques such as printmaking, collage, watercolour painting and clay sculpting will be introduced to the students as they examine these themes. They will explore Māori patterns and images that can be used in their drawings of native birds and will be introduced to some contemporary artists using these techniques to make their work now. The main media for this visual art project will be clay tiles, which will be assembled to produce two distinctive murals on our school grounds. One of these will be part of our meditative prayer garden and the other will be outside the senior classrooms.
The junior students will focus on angel wings as they compose a mural as part of our contemplative garden. The senior students’ clay tiles will be brought together in a composition of birds, incorporating Māori designs in a distinctive and colourful clay tile mural. These pieces of art will reflect the importance of our special character and our community’s commitment to Te Ao Māori.
Project starting: February 2022
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