Wind Chimes

Students from Ahoaho came to the art room today and made wind chimes based on the Māori creation story. To start the day we read books and learned about the gods in the creation story.

In the creation story, the children of Ranginui (the sky father) and Papatūānuku (the earth mother) wished to separate their parents so that light could come into the world. The only brother who did not agree to this was Tāwhirimātea, the god of wind and storms. When Ranginui and Papatūānuku were separated, he ascended to the sky to be with his father. Te Ara-Encyclopedia on New Zealand

The students created beautiful crayon and dye artworks based on the realms that the gods control. The students aimed to include the natural phenomena found in each realm such as stars, rain or ferns. This was a good exercise to help the students familiarise themselves with the subject matter for their wind chimes,

The students looked at images of wind chimes and sketched a design for their own construction based on one of the gods from the creation story. The designs included a base structure and at least three wind chime pieces.

The students rolled out flat slabs of clay, remembering to flip it often so that it didn’t didn't stick to the tables. Some students used templates to create multiple wind chime pieces that were all the same. Other children made many different sorts of wind chime pieces.

I love how the students use problem solving skills and show resilience in the art room. Sometimes the clay got a bit dry, it stuck to the table or the design didn’t work. The students were great at showing patience while figuring out ways to fix their problems. At one point we almost forgot to put holes for hanging through the base structures - luckily one of the students reminded us!

Next time the students come to visit the art room they will apply glazes to their wind chimes. I can’t wait to see which colours they choose and then how the final pieces look once fired and assembled. In the meantime, take a look at the unglazed pieces below and see if you can pick which Māori god each child has chosen to represent in their wind chime.