In 2020 Kath asked me to include the drawing and painting of birds within my art times with the kura students, because her class was studying aspects of Māori bird lore at the time.

I spent some time trying to find appropriate New Zealand model art and artists for the students to look at and learn from, but for the most part, I believed that the art I discovered was, for various reasons, not fit for the intended purpose. Much of the artwork is simply illustrative or overly symbolic and therefore not sufficiently approachable by junior students. Bill Hammond's wonderful images of bird-like figures tell stories, for example, The Fall Of Icarus, but do not deal with the stories which are ours: where is the opportunity for our students to learn of themselves and the stories of our country?

The answer was to paint something original to be an ongoing resource for the school. Kath's students had been studying Māori guardians of the natural world and were able to translate their knowledge into the exceptional creations and performances of the toi pūweru/wearable arts show. I took what they had been studying, and what they knew already about the guardians and lore to design a triptych that would be comprehensible to the students and which would illustrate the stories that they could already articulate. I hoped also to introduce ideas that could stimulate thought and discussion.

To ensure that the subject, story and theme of the paintings was appropriately targeted I shared my drawings, ideas and early painting with the senior students and was pleased that they could discuss confidently what they thought the painting was about. Some of their ideas became incorporated into the painting.

Because I wanted the painting to be a teacher resource it necessarily addressed the elements of line, form, colour, tone and texture in a manner that the students could learn of the principles of art, such as composition, balance and repetition.

Panel 1.

In the Māori legend Tāne Mahuta, guardian of the forests and of birds, observed that grubs were destroying the roots of the trees. Kiwi and humans saw what was happening but did not become involved; it was easier to simply fly away.

Panel 2.

Tāne Mahuta called on the creatures of the air to give up their wings and come to the forest floor and control the grubs. Kiwi, birds and humans, voluntarily gave up their wings and descended to the forest floor, but the human kiwi “sat down on the job” and often just walked away.

Panel 3.

Humans have reneged on the deal by cutting down the native forest and replacing it with pine plantations. We have introduced pests, polluted the air and manicured the ground with machines and poisons, thereby destroying the habitat for birds and ultimately for us too. We have created a realm for Hine-nui-te-pō, who in the mythology is the daughter of Tāne Mahuta, and is the guardian of death.