Asha Hughes and Akelah Mackey-Gilroy from Makauri School with pictures they drew at The Aurora Education Foundation art workshop on Wednesday. Photo / Rebecca Grunwell
Asha Hughes and Akelah Mackey-Gilroy from Makauri School with pictures they drew at The Aurora Education Foundation art workshop on Wednesday. Photo / Rebecca Grunwell
Inspired by the beachfront location at Waikanae Surf Life Saving Club, 31 students used oil pastels to create colourful artworks in a workshop provided by The Aurora Education Foundation on Wednesday.
It was fitting an ocean theme dominated the pictures at the aptly titled Pastel Tides workshop. The youngartists, ranging in age from 6 to 9 years, drew all sorts of mainly ocean-related things ... from dolphins to waka.
St Mary's Catholic School student Manaaki Scanlyn with two of her artworks. Photo / Rebecca Grunwell
Art tutor and workshop facilitator Jo Cringle said the children were selected because they were talented at art and enjoyed the subject.
Cringle taught them various techniques using oil pastels such as blending, colour mixing, stippling and sgraffito – where a sharp object is used to scrape into the pastel.
They were shown a series of photos to stimulate ideas and were provided with stencils.
“They were very engaged and despite the fact they came from a number of different schools, they all mixed well with one another,” Cringle said.
Bowie Jefferson (left, Wainui Beach School), Molly Moore (Ormond) and Keyan Summerlee (Wainui Beach) at the Pastel Tides art workshop held at Waikanae Surf Life Saving Club. Photo / Rebecca Grunwell
“We wanted to introduce children to Aurora at a younger age and thought art was a good and inclusive way to do it,” said The Aurora Education Foundation director Sunny Bush.
“It is great for the children to have dedicated time just for art and we got a fantastic response from the schools.”
This was the youngest cohort to take part in The Aurora Foundation art programme and it was such a success that they are definitely going to do it again next year.
Sonrise Christian School's Olivia Gibson with her depiction of the scene behind her. Photo / Rebecca Grunwell
“In the evaluation session afterwards, all of the students said they would love to come back and do more art, so that was encouraging,” Bush said.
An upcoming boys’ mentoring workshop will involve a small group going out on the ocean on the Tairāwhiti waka hourua. Boys seen as benefiting from such an experience will be put forward by their schools to attend.
Bush and her team are already planning their 2026 programme with funding provided by the Ministry of Education.
Vivienne Green draws a whale breaching, a dolphin and lots of colourful jellyfish using oil pastels at the Pastel Tides workshop provided by The Aurora Education Foundation. Photo / Rebecca Grunwell
