Hand-crafted Maui sculpture for MoTEC

ELISE VOLLWEILER

A striking primary school art collaboration is to become a permanent fixture in the foyer of Motueka’s technology centre MoTEC, and the creative process will also live on in the form of a 15-minute student-led documentary.

The sculpture was created by 30 students from the 13 Tasman primary schools that utilise MoTEC, which is based at Parklands School and is the district’s educational technology hub for Years 7 and 8.

A further 30 Year 7 and 8 students created the documentary to show the sculpture’s evolution, from concept to carving to compilation.

The dual projects were the result of a successful MoTEC funding application to the Ministry of Education’s Creatives in Schools programme in 2022.  

The staff then shoulder-tapped Motueka creatives Stuart Kere and Ruby Fitzgerald, who have spent almost three terms this year working alongside the students on the static art and the documentary respectively.

The sculpture, which is to be assembled in the coming few days, is the figure of Maui, carved half from totara and half from Oamaru stone.

His hair is harakeke, which twists down his back and becomes the rope that secures his hook.  This is made using recycled glass, an environmental touch that was important to the students, Matua Stuart noted.  

The students also carved 14 gently cupped hands – one for each of Tasman’s primary schools – and these are to be vividly displayed on black shelving behind the larger sculpture.

Matua Stuart, who is Parkland School’s Kaiārahi Reo, has been practising his craft for about 20 years, and he was full of praise for his proteges.

Accustomed to working on his art individually, Matua Stuart said he “thoroughly enjoyed” taking a step back to allow time and space for the students’ ideas and talents.

“I’ve been [carving] for such a long time, it’s not work for me,” he said. “It’s a passion, and just something I love to do.”

Fellow creative Ruby learned her craft at Wellington’s Toi Whakaari, the New Zealand Drama School. She had 10 years of film and television experience to draw from as she guided her group of students through the process of making a documentary, from scripting, boom operating, filming, and directing.

“The big challenge has been that [the project] is huge. We’re working with 13 different schools, and we’re creating something that is to a really high level… we’ve taken on something quite big, so it’s been a bit of a puzzle bringing it all together.”

The students rotated their roles but also became more specialised in their tasks as they identified where they wanted to practise and where they were confident.

“A lot of them have already got YouTube channels or they’re making lots of films at home, so they had a lot of high skill already.”

She said that working with smaller groups of students was particularly rewarding.

“We could dive straight into what their interests were and really expand on what knowledge they already had.”

By the end of the project, they could work quite independently, and naturally defaulted to creating a professional working environment.

“The students have been really respectful of each other, and really brave about being on camera,” she said.

Ruby commented that she was so impressed by what the children had managed to achieve.

“It’s going to be there for the future years of students who come through MoTEC, and the documentary can support people understanding how it was made.”

The statue is to be unveiled to the collaborating artists in a private dawn ceremony on Thursday, 14 September. The statue and documentary, as well as all of MoTEC’s facilities, will be available for public viewing from 3pm-6pm that afternoon.