Working with Tapuihikitia Marae to Create Children and Art Project

I joined with a team of young people from the Tapuihikitia Marae (Maori center) and we created this painting of their Marae. We named it "Te Aroha" which means love in the Maori language and it's the name that is emblazoned above the door of the Marae meeting house. As you can see, the painting mainly includes a view of the Meeting House, the central point of the Marae, combined with swirling Maori designs drawn and painted by the youth team to convey the value of the marae within the Maori community and the unifying role it plays. The painting now proudly hangs at the Tapuihikitia Marae.

Here is an article that the local paper, the Gisborne Herald, ran about the completed project.

The Gisborne Herald 
Monday, 7 December, 2009

Showing Aroha for Marae through Art
By Alice Te Puni

A splash of colour and generous strokes of aroha were the finishing touches of a painting crated through a youth programme at Tapuihikitia Marae, Puha, last week.

Artist and activist Leisa Collins took marae affiliates Jasmine Morunga, Stephanie Murray, Haami Turei, Chelsea Hawkins and Casey Ihe under her skilful wing to create an art piece to hang in a place of honor at the marae. The young artists painted a piece called Te Aroha, which is the name of the wherenui.

The painting includes a view of the marae combined with swirling Maori designs.

"The purpose of the painting is to convey the value of the marae within the Maori community and the unifying role it plays," said Ms Collins. "The non-profit project was a labour of love. The kids are very bright. They wanted the painting of their marae to represent unity and a coming together of the people."

Ms. Collins, born and raised in Auckland, recently began a full-time art career after two decades of social activism that took her to the four corners of the globe and gave her a firsthand view of diverse cultures and social inequities.

One of her first paintings of social injustices was of Bastion Point during the 1970's. She was an 18-year-old who witnessed the drama unfold.

She is now combining her activist and artistic skills under the motto of "art with a message" and frequently gives free art lessons to young people to encourage them to further develop their artistic abilities.

Prior to returning to New Zealand a few weeks ago, she completed a 11,000 km journey across the United States to promote art education for children.

Two weeks ago she gave an impromptu free lesson to the pupils of the Mt Cook-Aoraki School, a location she stopped at as part of a national painting tour to retrace her footsteps of a journey through the South Island 30 years earlier. At that time she abandoned formal art training and the confines of the classroom in Auckland, opting to learn her craft through capturing on canvas the beauty of the New Zealand landscape

Ms. Collins is staying with family in Gisborne, painting a number of house portrait commissions while also creating a series of New Zealand landscape and portrait paintings.

Her website stresses the importance of the artist bringing about social change and her Art in Action page includes her activities in this regard.

Her website includes an online gallery of house portraits, child portraits, pet portraits and original landscape paintings.

"Art is a powerful means of communication and is therefore a potent weapon to bring about change. Art for me is something that goes far beyond the walls of the studio," she said.

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Leisa Collins
leisa@leisacollins.com
www.leisacollins.com