Mural Masterpieces - Ohoka School
Location:
Ohoka School, Jacksons Road, Kaiapoi.
Team:
All 36 Year 7 and 8 students assisted by parents Sandy Gottermeyer,
Cheryl Muirson and class teacher Jocelyn Austen.
Accessible to public:
Yes.
Mural theme:
Ohoka - Past and Present.
Background to mural creation:
The Ohoka mural was created as a focal point for the school celebrating
the special features of the district. The mural was a project
that the children could plan and create together then present
the finished work to the rest of the school.
To develop the mural the children first looked at
old photos of the district and books about early New Zealand,
flora and fauna and Maori designs. Each student created their
own Maori design and the best were chosen to feature around the
outside of the mural. Students also sketched native landscapes,
plants, birds and animals - once complete these were used to decide
which flora and fauna to include in the mural. The design was
broken into sixteen sections, one section allocated to each group
of students to practice the details then paint.
All work was done in the school hall before the
final work was transferred to its final home on the side of a
classroom. The students used a myriad of variously coloured Resene
testpots and then intermixed these to create other new colours
to suit the design.
The final mural design shows the:
Majestic Southern Alps under a norwest arch.
Foothills at the base of the Southern Alps.
Sun blazing down on the Canterbury Plains.
Waimakariri River traveling down the mountains to the sea.
Tram Road winding its way past Ohoka.
Flax and swamp areas.
Pukeko, monarch butterfly caterpillar and fantail.
Wilson's Mill, the Ohoka Train and the church from days gone by.
School, with its sign, bell and gate as we see it today.
Together these images show the district, past and present and
the place it holds in Canterbury.
|