School kids put history into airport art

TALENT TO BURN: Tahuriorangi Mihaka (left) from Whangamarino School, Tanerya Evans from Whakarewarewa School and Georgia Hale from Lynmore School worked on some of the new murals on the outside of the Rotorua International Airport terminal. PHOTO/STEPHEN PARKER 131213SP4

She might be only 13, but Tanerya Evans' artwork is set to be seen by thousands of visitors to Rotorua every year.

The Whakarewarewa School pupil is one of a group of Rotorua pupils from five schools who have created five murals for the outside of the Rotorua International Airport.

Pupils at the schools got to see the panels for the first time yesterday after they were put on display earlier this week, and Tanerya was pleased with the result.

"It's really artistic. It's about our culture and Te Arawa."

The panels are part of a new school art project where primary school children created murals focusing on their culture and heritage as well as the way their school linked in with the airport.

The murals on display are from five of the schools situated closest to the airport - Rotokawa, Whangamarino, Owhata, Lynmore and Whakarewarewa - and will remain on display for a year before being swapped with murals done by pupils from other schools.

The artworks will consist of five 6m x 2.4m murals, each made up of five aluminium panels.

Rotorua Airport business development manager Anna Rodgers said she'd had plenty of positive feedback on the panels in the few days they'd been up.

Ms Rodgers said she was really pleased with the way the schools had embraced the project and the way they had incorporated their own stories into the art.

The project's co-ordinator is Rotorua District Council community arts officer Marc Spijkerbosch.