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Festival of Pacific Arts 2016 - GUAM

Wow we were super excited to be chosen to attend the festival alongside some of Aotearoas finest craftsmen & creatives. 19 days as a group, we left the Hobsonville Airbase Thursday 19th June on a Royal New Zealand airforce plane heading to Hamilton, Wellington & eventually Townsville for the night. A beautiful dinner & breakfast, we were off again 5 hours north just past the equator to the extremely hot & humid nation of Guam to celebrate alongside our Pacific brothers & sisters.

We stayed at Okkodo High School & were assigned buses to transport us around the island, the days were some of the hottest we have ever experienced so finishing 2 large scale murals including art work for a group show GAX was a big ask.

There are so many memories, moments of amazement & beauty. Our eyes were widened & our hearts deepens to the love of the Pacific nations. Here are just a few snapshots from our journey to enjoy.

Mangere Bridge School

We had the privilege of visiting Mangere Bridge School last Friday to share our story & to bring the students & staff into our crazy world. They sang a beautiful waiata about the pepeha of their kura & had so many great questions to ask us about our careers.

We will be painting a mural on their famous concrete block handball court wall in July & will be getting a group of students together to think up some great ideas & to help us in the process.

We are currently in Townsville on our way up to Guam for the Festival of Pacific Arts 2016 alongside the Creative NZ delegation so will be updating that soon so stay tuned.

Tōia Precinct - Otāhuhu

We recently went to visit Tōia (Otāhuhu Recreational Precinct) for the blessing of the new carvings. We were reminded of the great privilege it was to paint the major art works for the facility but more importantly presenting this on behalf of Mana whenua.

Auckland has 19 official Mana whenua tribes, it was our responsibility to include their own tribal influences & desires & somehow create an image that included everyone. 'Rangatira', 'Kaitiaki', 'He Tangata', 'Putiputi' (our native/pacific flower window graphic manifestations) & exterior mural 'Maunga' were our response to the brief. What a privilege to be involved in such a momentous & important part of community development in the local area.

Thank you again to the team involved & in particular Anita Coy-Macken from Auckland Council for making the process an easy one filled with honour & integrity, it truly was our pleasure!

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