Saturday, June 10, 2017

St Michael's Catholic School Rotorua and our gorgeous quirky animal, bird, fish and insect Mural created with 200 different coloured Resene testpots.

 Over the eighteen years I have been a professional artist  I have designed and organised a number of mosaic projects in schools in the Bay of Plenty and Waikato
Children adore making  mosaics and schools always look brighter and happier with them. 

 I've wanted to make a painted composite mural  using Resene testpots,  featuring native birds for many years. 
 I have been visualising for seven years that a school would approach me and pay me to do it. 

 Voila..  at long last....Shelly Fitness from St Michael's School approached me. 
Wonderful a dream come true, visualise to materialise.....


St Michael's Catholic School in Rotorua  was the perfect school to make my first one. 

 From experience working with them with mosaic projects in the past, the children are well behaved, creative  friendly and well behaved. 
The other teachers are a beautiful team to work with, so welcoming  the whole school sparkles with a family atmosphere. 


Principal Shelly Fitness has artistic, creative vision.
 I adore  schools who encourage  make artistic creativity a priority.


I did my very first mosaic mural series with  former Principal Greg Day,  13 years ago so St Michael's Catholic School holds a special place in my heart.


Thanks to Creative Communities for helping to fund the project and for Julie Parsons for emailing me suggesting we apply for some funding. 



Guardians of God's Creation. 56 components to make up a seven piece mural.

1. Sam the Saddleback by Hamuera.


 Giant Green  caterpillar eating bird walking towards  a feast of red berries while dropping some eggs.


2.Tama the Tuatara by Campbell.



Galloping Tuatara, wonder where he is off to?

 Artistic expression  is a gateway to the power of possibility. 
 A picture tells a thousand words.

3. Monique the Monarch by Phoebe


Monarch butterfly with her caterpillar babies

4.Campbell the Canadian Goose by Rangatahi


 Plucky, Clucky Canadian  Goose. Canadian Geese  at so much grass on farmers' land that they are considered pests. In 2011 the Canada goose was declared an unprotected species. Sad because they are so graceful.



5.
Kevin the Kakariki by Tamzyn


 Apple Eating  Kakariki with insect friends.


6. Fishla the fish by Ranni


Gregarious ( Mother)  Goldfish with Agonising Octopy and tantalising Turtle.


7. Briana the Butterfly By Reilly.



Admirable Admiral  Briana Butterfly flying over lilly pads towards a bright and shiny day


8. Kate the Kea By Grace.


 An over enthusiastic, Kea wrecking a raspberry bush by mistake.  Tiny her best owl friend sits nearby on the lichen covered fence  hoping he's not going to be showered with raspberries.

9. Frank the Fantail by Ayva.


  Food, friend  or foe Frances the  Fantail is too young to know , which is why he looks so worried.
10. Still unidentified


Grumpy Tui trying to spear a berry?

11.Bianca the Butterfly by Phoenix


Monarch Butterfly chasing a Ladybird

12.Ruth the rainbow trout by Maddy


Rainbow Trout blowing Bubbles

13. Mike the Mallard duck by Harper.

Duck meditating while looking after  his eggs

14. Willow the Waxeye, by Hana


 Hana Waxeye  in a field of daisies contemplating a butterfly on a happy , sunny day.


15. Bobby the Black Robin by Tama.



16..Mitchell the Moa, by  Toby T.


17.


18. Daphne The Dragonfly By name to come




19. Bella the bellbird, by Francis.



20. Katherine the Kokako, by Tara.


21 Tommy the Tomtit, by Lincoln.


.

 22. Tony the Tuatara, by Cohen


23. Fiona the Fantail and Rosie the Chihuahua by Lincoln Eviarn and Ruby.


24. Walter the Wasp by Jack



25. Bernie the Bee by Teagan


26.Wrinkly the Weta by Luke


27. Kerry the Kiwi, by  Hamish and Lincoln, name to be confirmed.

28. Shelly the Saddleback by Annabell


29. Fred the Frog by Alyssa.


30.Blake the Blackbird by Rowland.




31. Hannah the Huia by Kate.

 32.Seb the sparrow by ?


33.Queenie the Quail by Jade W.



34.Olivia the Owl by Sammy


35.Koby the Kakapo by Blake.


 36.Chloe the Caterpillar and Bob the Beetle by Madison and Isobel.


 37.Izaeha names to come.



38.George the Gecko by Theo.


39. Sarah the Saddleback by Teoriwa


 40. Bruce the Black Backed Gull by Richi.


41. DJ the Dragonfly by Rebekah.



42. Paul the Pheasant by Andrew


43. Matt the Morepork by Justin.


44.Goldie the Goldfish By Alisha


45. Tim The Takahe, By Nicholas

46. Peter the Praying Mantis, By Niwha


47.Freedom the Falcon,  By Koby

48. Lilly the Ladybug, By Ruby




49. Smith the Saddleback by Jack P.




50. Harry the Hawk, By Dylan


51.Polly the Pukeko by  Keita


52. Martha the Mynah Bird, By  Honor


53

54 Olive the Owl, By Anna

55.

56.Lori the Lorikeet, By Bianca.




Creative Quote:
Every child is an artist the challenge is how to remain one once you grow up. Pablo Picasso. 


Endorsement from Shelly Fitness Principal of St Michael's Catholic School. 


“A few of our children are now considering careers in The Arts as a direct result of working with Janet. The project exposed them to arenas of possibility that hadn’t occurred to them before and they loved learning about Janet’s life as a professional artist.
 I would definitely recommend working with Janet if you have an art or mosaic project to complete at your school.
We have several more projects in mind and will definitely be working with her again in the future. Shelly Fitness St Michael’s Catholic School “


 Principals of  schools or organisers of community projects  please contact me at 07 346-3435 or email jkeen@clear.net.nz or text to 027 3513887 if you would like me to organise a painted or mosaic mural  project  for your school.

2 comments:

janeen brian said...

Wonderful, strong and appealing work. I LOVE children's art! And you're so good at getting the best from them, Janet!

Danielle said...

Absolutely magnificent, Janet. Each and every one, a wonderful piece to behold!