Artists have it taped with kite project
‘‘Go fly a kite’’ is taking on a whole new meaning in Porirua.
Over the past year Erica Duthie and Struan Ashby from Tape Art New Zealand have been running community art workshops in and around Porirua, as part of the Porirua Kite Project.
Duthie and Ashby have developed tape art, which uses blue masking tape to create giant, temporary murals.
Tape art is not new to Porirua – large scale examples have appeared at the Festival of the Elements and at other city events, and continue to inspire and engage people of all ages with their colour, size and fun.
However, the latest project has seen local groups work with the artists to produce a fascinating array of kites.
They call the creations ‘‘cultural kites’’, as they reflect their makers’ backgrounds. That could be life as a teen parent or health client, the journey a refugee has made, or be a celebration of life in the case of Summerset Retirement Village participants.
Pataka will be exhibiting a cross-section of this colourful and inspirational art work from Sunday September 3 to September 10.
‘‘The Pataka exhibition will give the wider community a glimpse at what is possible when they are able to engage in workshops with artists of high calibre,’’ said Margaret Armour, the coordinator of this Porirua Community Arts Council project.
She said workshops held in Porirua by Duthie and Ashby were so crowded that more had to be organised.
Free talks by the tape artists will take place in the Helen Smith Community Room on September 3 and 10 at 2pm.