If there was one thing three senior Hauraki students wanted to do for future students it was to “leave a legacy”.
As many students before them had done, year-13 Hauraki Plains College students Tiana Tanner, Erin Aralar and Emily Logan wanted to follow the school’s motto of leaving a legacy.
The students created a mural in Ngatea that included themes that were “quite significant” to the Hauraki community.
The artistic trio were first prompted by the “loose idea” of competing in a Resene Mural competition. This followed an initiative to create more awareness of the arts at school, which the students thought would be fun to do, they said.
The young creatives told The Profile it was almost perfectly timed when their art teacher, Mr Hamzen, let them know businesses had been looking for aspiring artists to create art over graffiti on a car park fence over the road from the school. “We were quite interested to take it on, it being our first ever mural.”
The mural is located at the Public Office car park in Orchard West Rd in Ngatea.
The students said they totalled around 72 hours of work, and painted most Saturdays for roughly 12 weeks. They wanted the design to be “bright and colourful” and fit within the Ngatea/Hauraki community themes, they said.
“The sun in the background represents the beautiful sunrise from the plains, the cow representing the farming culture, the eel with the Māori design representing the Māori culture and history in the Plains, and the rowers on the river (Piako) representing the significance of rowing at Hauraki Plains College.”
When asked what inspired them to create, Emily said it was definitely the beauty of the scenery around her, which always gave her a reason to paint.
Erin said something that always felt great was “that last look” at a painting once it was finished. “So I keep painting to chase that feeling,” she said.
Meanwhile Tiana said the process of art – brush strokes, colours, patterns and “every small detail” was like putting a puzzle piece together to fill the white space of a canvas or “creating a new reality”.
“I enjoy the small moments of painting and after, it turns into a big moment on the final result,” she said.
The trio’s advice for students who were getting near the end of their college journey was to take every opportunity offered to them.
“It is great for experience, great for learning, leadership, great for character building and so much more.”
But the mural creators hoped to leave a lasting impression on other students at Hauraki Plains College. They hoped to leave behind a legacy that “inspires other creative students to be ambitious,” they said.
“And to expose their passion for art as more than just a hobby”.
HPC year-13 students and mural artists Erin Aralar, left, Emily Logan and Tiana Tanner.
Photo: SUPPLIED
