This year a number of students entered the SCAPE Re:Active Aspiring Artist competition. We worked with Mrs Taylor to create our own designs under the theme The Shadow. We spent Tuesday morning each week working and developing our ideas. I was lucky enough to be a finalist and have my design, “The Roots Of Us’’ feature at Tūranga.

My design featured different hands making a tree. The hands represented the shadow of our ancestors and how they hold us up so that we can be here today. I also had a Māori quote winding down the tree which meant, “Like branches on a tree we all grow in different directions but our roots remain the same.'' This was also a reference to our ancestors.

Recently I also created a clay model of my statue with the help from Emily Room 12 and Kate Room 11. It was quite challenging and we had a lot of fingers falling off, but eventually we made a model that we were happy with.

Thank you to Mrs Taylor for giving us this opportunity to participate in this competition. It definitely helped us expand our ideas and skills.

We now have to wait and see how it will look when it emerges from the kiln.

 Ka rite ki nga managa i runga i tē rākau ka tipu kōtou tātou i roto i nga huarahi rere aha hoa kō noho tō au a moa tū pakiaka hei kōtou.

Mia - Room 12