Vibrant murals will help keep Te Arawa stories alive

Vibrant murals will brighten up a key entranceway to the city and help keep the legends and stories of Te Arawa present.

The murals will be installed outside early education centre Te Puna Akoranga o Ngati Whakaue on Ranolf St, opposite Kuirau Park.

Rotorua Lakes Council community arts advisor Marc Spijkersbosch said Te Puna Akoranga o Ngati Whakaue contacted him about the possibility of working with its tamariki on murals for the concrete fence which ran along its front boundary.

"Given the wall's high profile and location, this was an opportunity to brighten up a key entranceway to the city and tell our stories and legends."

He said given the major upgrade to Kuirau Park, the wall would potentially enjoy increased profile from locals and visitors to the city.

Spijkersbosch said after consultation with Te Puna Akoranga o Ngati Whakaue it was decided the legends and stories of Te Arawa would be most appropriate and well received.

There will be 11 murals by three artists - Jackie Lunam, Maria Marshall and Glenys Courtney-Strachan of Design Tank.

He said the trio were talented and recent Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology graduates, who had a good grounding and experience in community art projects.

"They are specifically skilled in working with our tamariki and their whanau.

"The murals have been painted via a community process which allowed for wide participation and so ownership is therefore inherent.

"They are vibrant and colourful and tell some of our local stories. These new murals will be a welcome addition to the city's public art collection."

He said the murals cost about $6000, which was funded from Rotorua Lakes Council Community Arts.

All going well, they should be installed by the end of next week, he said.

Marshall, who did a lot of the sketches and outlines for the murals, said the stories themselves were beautiful, so it was easy to conjure up a picture using the myth as inspiration.

She said she had enjoyed creating the murals with her friends.

Vreating the murals at the "Imaginarium" next to McLeods Booksellers on Pukuatua St meant they had people dropping by all the time, talking to them about the work.

Marshall said having the murals installed at Te Puna Akoranga o Ngati Whakaue was a great thing.

"I run the Children's Art House and want to show them there is work you can get if you use your creative talents.

"There are other places where children can take their talent and grow it, so that's important for me to show them."

She said keeping Rotorua stories and legends present was also important.

"Everybody here owns a part of these stories and we really need to keep them alive."

Courtney-Strachan said it was community art and she had enjoyed interacting with people while creating the murals.

She said a lot of locals, people from out of town and tourists had been going in to ask about the stories "so we are sharing our culture with the world really. It's been amazing".