During the April School holidays, I was asked to adorn posts in the playground of the Doubtless Bay Kindergarten.

This project would have been overwhelming if not for the skills and experience of students who attend my weekly Toi Mauri art classes, supported by the Creative Communities fund.

This would be the perfect opportunity to give rangatahi the experience as practicing artists, working to an artist brief provided by the client, and applying a creative process for the project’s completion.

The artist brief was to represent Nga Atua : Tangaroa, Tane, Tawhirimatea and Rangi and Papa. They would become teaching aids for the Tamariki who use this playground.

The Tamariki got to see our creative process unfold before them. They enjoyed watching us paint and asked lots of questions of how Atua relate to our natural environment – Te Taiao.

Each day the Tamariki were sat in front of each Pou and stories about them shared. These structural posts went from mundane everyday objects to Pou Whenua with an identity and a story.

This project was artistically satisfying and creatively rewarding to be apart of.

Here is a slideshow of our mahi toi in progress.