Janine Goldsmith, teacher in charge of the Visual Arts, presented a proposal to create a permanent art work involving every St Mary’s student early in the year. This was an initiative by the Schools Leadership Team to foster the Arts and Creativity for our students.

Janine envisioned a series of mosaic panels and totem poles as the medium to best represent the students’ ideas of what makes St Mary’s school such a special place for all who belong to our unique community.

During Term 1, Janine enthused the staff through sharing her understandings of Visual Arts through the new Curriculum, at a staff meeting. Classes were organised to visit the Tauranga City Art Gallery and explore the ‘elements’ of Visual Art. Students explored the works of Pacific artists, shared their ideas about the art they viewed at the Gallery and practised sketching these ideas. Initial design ideas emerged as symbols were identified.

Printmaking was explored during Term 2, following expert guidance from the local Art Advisor. Students were then guided by their teachers to explore what makes St Mary’s special; the people, location, estuary, identifying its very heart and soul.

During the holidays Janine explored this collaborative thinking further with her two ‘art experts’, Sister Katrina Fabish ( a Sister of Mercy) and Francie Dickson both from Auckland, whom Janine had enlisted to facilitate this significant project. Together they created a storyboard, remaining faithful to the students’ original ideas.

Sister Katrina has worked on a number of significant mosaic projects with schools and community groups. During the Sisters of Mercy Jubilee Year in 2000, she created a series of mosaics, ‘Sacred Spaces’ to celebrate the Sisters of Mercy 150 years presence in New Zealand.

“What is important in Mosaics is having everyone participate in telling the stories of schools, the symbols, what makes our space special”.

Students’ negotiation skills and all the Key Competencies were employed from the outset in this collaborative project. Classes nominated 6 of their peers to create a core group of mosaic artists, with interested students assisting in the construction phases.

Manipulating materials such as concrete, pliers, coloured glass and tiles gave the students the experience of working as ‘real life’ artists.

A project of this scale would not be possible to achieve without the assistance of our generous parents. At this stage of the project, we wish to thank and acknowledge the artistic endeavours of:

Christine Wilson who has led the volunteers with her experience in mosaic art assisted by: Claire Clarke, Jane Fawcett, Bridget Lowe, Linda Manning, Lynette Yaylor, Sharryn Jones, Julie Simpson, Penne McGloughlin, Lisa Broadmore, Maree Rood, Sarah Watene, Stacey Hilton, Nikki Paynter, Bernice McDonnell, Clare Clarke and Andrea McLeod.

The Junior school will create their mosaics in the form of totem poles during Term 4, with assistance from the Junior school parents.

As a community we thank Janine Goldsmith and the staff of St Mary’s for initiating and supporting this magnificent venture to create a permanent art work to be enjoyed by our current and future students. The art work undoubtedly creates a sense of belonging to our special Sacred Space, here at St Mary’s School Tauranga.

Images of the mosaic panels can be found here.