Family kowhaiwhai art

Prior to our marae sleepover experience, Room 4 have been learning about the symbolism behind Maori works of art.  We spent a day learning about koru shapes and kowhaiwhai patterns and soon realised that these are not just pretty shapes - they represent things, usually people.

We began by experimenting with drawing koru shapes on paper and concrete.

It was great experimenting with a range of designs.

They just kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger!

We then learnt about the colour wheel - primary and secondary colours.  Also complementary colours (those side by side on the colour wheel) and contrasting colours (those opposite each other on the colour wheel).

After all of our experimenting, we had the challenge of representing our own family in a kowhaiwhai design.  We had to make choices about who to represent in our art works, how to place koru shapes on the page, and which colours to use.  We tried hard to use complementary pastel colours for the koru shapes and a contrasting colour or colours for the background.

The last step was to create a koru framed border.

 Finally we shared our kowhaiwhai family art and explained why we had placed family members where we had.  The results are OUTSTANDING!!!!!

"Dad is on the left and Mum is on the right.  There are 5 children in my family." 

"Dad is behind us, he’s big because he’s the tallest in the family.  Jess, Bryce and I are with Mum because most of the time Dad is out on the farm or away in Dunedin or somewhere getting tools for the farm. I’ve drawn Mum and Dad like that because they live together."

"That is my step-Dad on the left.  Then Mum, me and Shannon.  I put my real Dad up the top becausehe’s part of me and Shannon’s lives.  My step-dad is part of our lives too."

"Mum and Dad are joined because they’re together, they always do lots of stuff together.  I’m with Dad because I mostly go fishing and hunting and help him on the farm. My brother is with Mum because he mostly sticks around with her." 

"Dad is on the left. Mum is on the right.  Kade and I are joined on to Mum because we spend more time with Mum."

"Dad is bigger than Mum.  Megan is bigger than me.  Mum and Dad’s heads are touching because they normally stick together, like they’re a team."

"Mia is in the middle of James and I because she’s the smallest. I’m close to Mum so that's why I'm near Mum in my picture and James is close to Dad. "

"That's me in the middle because I’m the smallest with Jaxon and Fletcher on either side.  You can tell that that’s Dad on the right cos he’s got a bigger tummy."

"Sam is red because her favourite colour is red.  Yellow’s not my favourite colour.  I couldn’t use purple because it’s not a complementary colour.  Sam usually snuggles up with Dad in bed so I’ve drawn her close to Dad.  I usually snuggle up to Mum so I’m close to Mum."

"Mum is on the left and Dad is on the right.  Gen, Kendra and Gab are together.  I put me with Mum because I’m usually with her and I still need her.  The other girls are OK by themselves."

"Mum is in the middle with her 5 children around her. Mum is really important. Grandma and Grandad are on the right because they are important people in my family. They visit us from England."

"There are two parts to my family.  Rueben and I are touching Mum because we live with Mum.  Rikilee is touching Dad because she sees Dad the most when Dad goes up north."

"Murphy is taller than me.  Mum is shorter than Dad.  I’m the shortest.  I’m beside Dad because I like going out on the farm with Dad."

"Madison is between Mum and Dad because she’s the youngest and she needs cared for more.  Lucie and I are on the right.  We are joined because we hang out together."

"That's me on the left, Rubie is on the right and Mads is in the middle, between Mum and Dad.  I’m on the left because my name starts with L and Rubie is on the right because she starts with R."

"Keegan is joined to Mum because he stays around the house with mum. Christopher and I are joined to Dad because we go to work with him.  Matt is over to the side because soon he’s not going to be living with us."

"Me, Isla and Tom are up the top.  Dad lets me come out on the bike with him and Isla sometimes so we're close to Dad in the picture. Tom has to stay with Mum because he’s only one." 

Mum and Dad are around us 4 kids.  I’m close to Mum because I always have to go to the shop with Mum.  I would’ve put Adam taller than Dad but there wasn’t enough room." 

"That's me inside Dad – I’m usually working with Dad on the farm.  Blaize usually goes with Mum.  Dad’s taller than Mum so that’s him on the left."

"Us three girls are joined to Dad because that koru was going to be Mum but I drew it too big.   We should be joined to Mum because she spends more time with us and she doesn’t have to go to work every day of the week."

"Mum is in middle because we usually spend more time with her.  Dad is bigger so he’s coming out the side bigger.  My twin sisters are in between Anna and I because we care for them."

Blake and William's pictures still to come......