A sculpture for Heaton representing love and unity through multicultural symbolism.

The Cultural Group and Art Extension have been working together to produce a sculpture for Heaton that represents the multicultural nature of our school and expresses the need for love and unity in the world today. It was not possible to include every country, so we took inspiration from the Olympic Rings. The Art extension spent many hours researching symbolism from the 5 continents of the world, Europe, Asia, Africa, The Americas and Oceania. 

We have been fortunate to have the expertise and enthusiasm of Heaton parent Aaron Smith to teach us how to carve. He was most impressed at how quickly, and well, everyone learnt the different techniques.

The main design for the sculpture, The Pikorua, was agreed upon by all the Art Extension and The Cultural Group. It represents friendship, knowledge and love. The continuous line of the twist design illustrates the never-ending cycle of life and love. It is a symbol of eternity that is used by many cultures.

We created life size designs for the huge Oamaru Stone. Before starting the sculpture  Art Extension surrounded the stone to say a Karakia.

E Rangi, e Papa, e te Whānau Atua,

whakatōhia to koutou manaakitanga

ki roto i tēnei mahi o mātou.

Sky Father and Earth Mother and

the family of gods infuse your

blessings upon this work.

We felt the messages our sculpture was to convey were all the more relevant after March 15th. To acknowledge the significance of this we have included the Kotahitanga heart. 

We will be producing a booklet about all the imagery. In the meantime please feel free to come and see the sculpture as it nears completion. Then the tricky bit, creating the secure base and plinth!

Fiona Taylor, Catherine Mundy and Sarah Cumming