Renowned local artist Craig Gemmell in front of his new mural. Wairoa Star picture
Ta moko and Celtic patterns twine with one another across Wairoa artist Craig Gemmell’s new mural for the town’s college.
“The college wanted something that illustrated the uniqueness of Wairoa’s heritage,” he told The Wairoa Star.
The landmark lighthouse is at the centre of the work. The Mohaka viaduct features
in it too, but the work is dominated by the serpentine design that carries with it on the left side a humpbacked whale as it plunges into a sea pillared with sunlight, and a tui on a flax stem with a view of the sun as it rises over the sea. On the right, a ruru (morepork owl) perches on an unfurling koru frond under a full moon; a maunga sleeps under the setting sun and a stag gazes across the land.
The burnt orange and yellow flashes of sunrise and sunset to the left and right of the work contrast with the aqueous jade and purple that wind across the mural into nocturnal tones.
Off centre and at the bottom of the mural an intriguing form sits beneath a kowhaiwhai Celtic knot. The crimson circle/ wreath is etc
