Pre-planning
While sitting in the school marae Taraika at the annual beginning-of-year staff meeting, Kylie contemplated the aesthetics of the building. She says that in her experience maraes are colourful, decorative places with really beautiful interiors and exteriors, something which appeals to her love of visual stimulus. In contrast, Taraika is a young marae (built in 1994) and its whanau (family) is constantly moving on, consequently, she notes, there has been limited opportunity for "gifting" decoration and the interior "looked quite plain". Over the year she thought about how it might be brightened up and decided that creating some kind of decoration for Taraika would make a great project with a client for a Year 13 class.
In 2008, Kylie discussed the possibilities with her class, and suggested that a project like this would provide them, as seniors, with an opportunity to give something back to the school and to leave a little part of themselves behind for future generations. The students were enthusiastic about the idea and, when Kylie proposed a set of hanging panels to add colour and interest to the marae, keen to work on these. She notes that this sort of project allows the better students to be extended and also caters for those new to the subject or who lack advanced skills.
Students would design their panels as an artistic piece for a client, and also as samplers to display a variety of textile manipulation techniques. They had to consider a large number of stakeholders – all the students and staff in the school, as well as community groups which used the marae for meetings. However, Kylie identified HOD Māori Matua Ben (Ben Tangaere) and Principal Prue Kelly as the main clients. Other key stakeholders were teachers/auxiliary staff who were Māori or had strong links to Māoridom, and kapa haka (Māori performing arts) students.
