Harewood School, Te Kura o Tāwera / 150 Year Jubilee Sculpture

Past, Present And Future

In 2013 I was invited back by the organising committee of Harewood School, Te Kura o Tāwera to help create a new sculpture to celebrate their 150-year jubilee. All of the tamariki at the school were involved in the creation, from the design to the finished product.

The design concept has many aspects to it. The tree is the school logo, and that connects to a pathway of learning. The three holes represent the past, present and future, with one including the koru to show a commitment to bi-culturalism. The school name is Te Kura o Tāwera. Tāwera is the morning star, and this is shown at the top of the sculpture.

All of the students at the school were to be involved in creating this artwork, so I decided to set them up into four groups. The first group took on the challenge of sawing and chiselling to remove all of the excess stone. The second group consisted of most of the students from the school, and they focused on the design by chiselling and filing away the stone.

The third stage was a small group of students that worked on the detailed areas, particularly around the logo. This is a specialised area that needed a steady hand to be done correctly.

And finally, the young ones got to have to go with a bit of filing and sanding to finish off.

Once the sculpture was completed and installed, The school arranged a special ceremony to unveil and bless the sculpture.