They say having limitations is always good when undertaking a creative endeavour. For two of our Year 9 students, Joel Cooper and Riley Nixon, time in quarantine led to some artistic and creative projects.

For 13 year old Joel Cooper, quarantine was a chance to indulge his artistic side by painting a mural on his bedroom wall. He started the project three weeks into quarantine, and at the time of our conversation had been working on it for about five weeks. The mural takes up the entire wall of his bedroom.

Joel said his parents were quite enthusiastic about the idea.

“I wanted to do something cool over quarantine since we are just stuck at home and they said I could if I try and get it done really quickly, but obviously it haven't so…” he trailed off with a laugh. “They think it is still taking forever but they think it is pretty good,” he added.

The inspiration came from a trip down South.

“We went down there a couple of years ago and then I saw a photo of the place we went to I am kind of going off that but I did change a few things,” Joel said. 

For Riley Nixon, also thirteen, quarantine was a time to take on a creative challenge. His digital technology teacher, Edward Patillillo gave students the option of entering the ‘Go Digital’ challenge that took place over lock down.

 The challenge, which was sponsored by Weta Workshop and Massey University, required high school students to design and create a character inspired by native New Zealand flora or fauna using Sculptris (a 3D modelling application.) Riley’s creation “Spike” was one of the five winning entries in the nationwide competition.

“Spike was based on the NZ weta, and he just evolved from there,” Riley said.

As a prize, Riley received a 3D printed copy of the Moose of Fiordland by ‘Go Digital’ judge Tanya Marriott.

While it is early days, this  recognition from the likes of Weta Workshop might bode well for Riley’s future plans.

“It would be awesome to get a job at Weta Workshops and get to create movie props for the likes of Lord of the Rings,” Riley said.