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The Matiti banners project – learning science through the visual arts

A science and visual arts collaboration project by students in the bilingual programme of Te Kura Māori at Wellington College of Education.
by Jane Winnie, Lecturer in the Visual Arts, Wellington College of
                     Education

To celebrate science for Māori immersion kaupapa, a festival called 'Whakaaturanga whakanui putaiao' was planned at the College in 2000. Jane Winnie, Lecturer in Visual Arts, was called in to help design and teach a unit of art for the final cohort of students on the bilingual programme, with the aim of providing dramatic artworks for the festival. The students undertook the project as part of their curriculum courses on science and the visual arts.

Rationale

The rationale for the project was to address the learning areas of science and the visual arts together in a bicultural context. The students taking part had previously been giving language support to schools, and were fluent in te reo and tikanga Māori.

The decision was made to produce large, mixed-media banners, which would focus on:

• the traditional Māori calendar;
• how time was organised in traditional tikanga Māori;
• rotation of the seasons and how these affected the natural world;
• the rhythm of life for pre-European Māori.

In creating the banners, the students explored bicultural symbolism using:

• two- and three-dimensional media;
• construction techniques for low-relief sculpture;
• printmaking processes.