Colour our city

A few weeks ago Mairtown kindergarten was approached by a local community organisation. Having heard about our art's based curriculum they asked if any of our children would like to take part in the 'Colour Our City' exhibition on Saturday 9th May.

Whangarei is a city full of creative talent, and we were delighted to support this event - themed on the artist, Hundertwasser.

The gathered crowd at the Town Basin

Hundertwasser is an artist we study regularly at Mairtown. In a blog post I wrote back in November last year I stated:

'An artist the children at Mairtown are very familiar with is that of Friedensreich Hundertwasser. Hundertwasser tends to appeal to children, he uses a lot of bright colours, often leaving no hint of the white paper he began with. He also represents many aspects of his work, in an almost child like manner (for instance his lollipop trees) and as the children of Mairtown know, Hundertwasser was not a believer in straight lines. These factors make him a natural choice to study and to use as a provocation for the children to create their own Hundertwasser inspired pieces'

To read this blog post in full click here

The winning recipients of the art competition

On the day of the exhibition and parade there was so much colour everywhere! At the Bach (the basin arts & crafts house) all the art was displayed - sculptures and paintings - from many different schools and from many different year groups. It was spectacular and really wonderful to see the art of children admired and appreciated by so many people. Mairtown entered the 'pre-school' section, so a big thank you to the four Mairtown artists that submitted work - Matteo, Sienna, Sharlotte and Mia - your work was stunning and its vibrancy really made it stand out.

After the parade had walked through Whangarei (there was lots of music playing and people in fancy dress) everyone gathered at the town basin to hear the results of the art competition. Mairtown kindergarten is very proud of all our entrants, but really delighted and pleased for Sharlotte who won the best art piece based on the work of Hundertwasser in the preschool section.

Sharlotte (right) collects her prize

Well done Sharlotte, your work was amazing and we are all so very happy for you  J

Yvette (Sharlotte's mum), Sharlotte and me (Christine)

This was a really fun event, and I know the organisers are thinking of making this an annual celebration - I hope they do - and remember,

“As the sun colours flowers, so does art colour life” 
John Lubbock

Charlotte's winning piece

Until next time,
Christine