High school students celebrate the beauty of Aotearoa with their winning mural

11 Jan 2023

Students from Craighead Diocesan School had the local community in awe after unveiling their winning mural showcasing precious native wildlife. The high school students used Resene paints to illustrate their outdoor artwork with an important message about keeping NZ clean and beautiful.

The secondary school was one of ten winners in the latest Keep New Zealand Beautiful Resene Wall Worthy Competition, which gives youth groups, schools and ECE centres from across the country the opportunity to paint a mural with an environmental theme or message, and to help beautify an area in their local community.

The new mural celebrating the Cantabrian outdoors and Aotearoa’s native fauna, was completed by the local high school students in Timaru to help beautify a public space in their town.

The mural, titled ‘Ko au te whenua, ko te whenua, ko au (I am the Land and the Land is Me)’, was inspired by beautiful local trails and walks and the breath-taking scenery around Mt Nimrod and Mt Somers, from which many of the school’s students originate.

Craighead Diocesan School Head of Department for Visual Arts, Gala Kirke, said, “We tried to capture the character of every bird from the curious Kākāpō to the beautiful Tūī', shy Kiwi and ever so wise Morepork.”

“A small hut in the middle of the painting is reflective of all the tramping huts in the area (which we are lucky to have), allowing us to spend many days in the great outdoors.”

The tracks to each peak are full of native trees and birds and became an essential element in the design sketches for the mural. It paid homage to other native birdlife that is found in the area and also includes details such as a starry night’s sky, representative of the Cantabrian skies on a clear night.

Craighead Diocesan School had 28 students sign up to help design and complete the artwork, supported by the school’s art department. The mural is located at a focal point of the school’s grounds in Wrights Avenue and was designed to showcase the natural beauty that lay upon the town’s doorstep.

With an aim to increase awareness of what must be protected, the mural is on display to the community, as well as anyone passing through town, representing the importance of protecting our natural world and the future of NZ’s native flora and fauna.

Published: 11 Jan 2023