In whānau class we have been making Kowhaiwhai prints.  We have been learning about negative detailing at the same time as learning about the different patterns that we see in Kowhaiwhai.  We have learnt that the main patterns are koru, mangopare, pātiki. They represent new growth, courage and bravery, and manaakitanga (caring for people).

We started by sketching our designs on foam and then used carving tools to make indents.  We then had to use printing ink to replicate our pattern on paper.  This was tricky because we had to make sure there was the right amount of ink and that we didn’t get too covered in ink.  To get a nice even spread we had to use the special rollers to make sure it was nice and smooth. Once we had the ink on our plate, we stamped them onto new coloured paper to see what it looked like.  We experimented using different coloured paper to see what different impacts we got in our negative space.  Some of us even tried using different ink colours.

Did you know that different colours can represent different things?  Mā (white) can represent peace and light, pango (black) can mean darkness or night and whero (red) represents life force and vitality.  Some of us used these meanings to help us with our artistic choices for our final prints.

When we finished creating our art prints, we then wrote our stories that reflect our koru that we choose.  Lots of our stories were about our whānau and how their personalities can be seen in our different koru designs.

By Holly, Ariah, Sylvie and Isabella M