Mural Masterpieces - Te Hapara School

Location:
Te Hapara School.

Team:
Trish Brown (all murals), Michelle Lewis (student apprentice, mural three).

Accessible to public:
Yes.

Mural theme:
Blue murals (series of three) - Getting to know and love our local flora, fauna and sea-life.

Background to mural creation:
The school principal wanted the school frontage beautified with large murals for public viewing. The murals tell a story, the characters being local creatures.

In the first mural, Salty Seagull, the new school symbol, is a high flyer. He soars above the Poverty Bay coastline when Friendly Fantail flits on flax and Buzzy Bee gathers pohutukawa pollen.

In the second mural, King Kereru sits on his bejewelled cabbage tree throne. The ponga tree births new life as baby fronds unfurl. Tenor Tui takes a break from sipping golden kowhai nectar, while Red Admiral warns his mate Monarch of imminent danger. Beneath the fernery walks Willie Weka. He and Old Tuatara simultaneously spy dinner sitting on a bushman’s friend. Frantic Mantis prays for a miracle!

In the third mural, this mural is on the exterior wall of the swimming pool. The array of life-sized sea creatures inhabit the coastal waters of the East Coast, where many enjoy crayfishing, gathering mussels, kina and paua, fishing, feeding stingrays at Tatapouri and playing with Moko the friendly bottle-nosed dolphin. Once again, the food chain features along with local attractions – Orca eats stingrays, starfish eats mussels, snapper crunches crayfish with powerful jaws, terakihi searches for crabs, yellow moray eel attacks any fish too close, shark eats smaller fish, including this ill-fated yellowfin tuna and baby dolphin stays close to mother’s milk.

The children have lots of fun with the murals and love to have their photo taken with their favourite creatures.