Mural Masterpieces - Owairaka Primary School

Location:
Owairaka Primary School, 113 Richardson Road, Owairaka, Auckland.

Team:
Room 1 (year 1 class), Owairaka Primary School, Juliette Laird, teacher: Jo Williams.

Accessible to public:
Yes.

Mural theme:
A garden of flowers and insects, a loving environment.

Background to mural creation:
Asked to paint a mural at Owairaka Primary School, Juliette worked with the Room 1 teacher and students in a collaborative way.  The children created the images and Juliette incorporated these into the mural.  Juliette brought flowers and greenery for the children to draw and paint.  The children developed their observational drawings into paintings and these were combined into the mural with clouds and insects.  After cutting out individual elements from the photographs of their paintings, Juleitte created a design, consulted on colour and layout details with the class, then started painting.  The children were shown the work in progress and could identify their own images in it.  The three boards were mounted for the official opening at the school's Gala Day.  They brighten the assembly area and frame the entrance to the Junior classroom block.

The mural is designed to beautify the area where the year 1 (5 year old children) line up before going into classrooms and to support their learning around ways in which they can improve and care for their environment/surroundings.