Six Trade Academy students have created rock art dedicated to Matariki, Maori New Year. Coordinator Jess Shirley at NMIT says that the students enjoyed this project a lot and she is ‘so proud of what the students have created’.
The rocks will be sold in an online auction on Facebook to raise funds for charitable foundations that the students selected, among them are Inside Out, Epilepsy New Zealand, Nelson Ark, Magenta Creative Space and Mental Health Foundation.
Skyann Martin, Year 13 Tapawera Area School student, (second left on the picture), created a beautiful rock art called "Home". She is saying ‘I wanted to show the land of New Zealand and the beauty of it. As well as having a New Zealand Native bird involved to indicate our beautiful nature, all together I want my painting to be shown as our home and how we're connected and what keeps us connected with our annual celebration.’
Dahlia Shaw, Year 13 Waimea College student (first from the right), created a rock art that shows dramatic night landscape. ‘This piece represents my love for the night sky, as well as my love for the mountainous terrain of our great country of New Zealand’ says Dahlia.
These rock arts will be displayed along with other Matariki rocks created by the Trade Academy students in the TDC Richmond reception area during 6-20 July. Have a look at these rocks in our Gallery.
We would like to encourage the Tasman community to create their own Matariki rock art (it doesn’t have to be that big) and hide them in local parks for others to find and re-hide.
