Mapua sculpture to be installed
The gateway to Mapua will soon have a shiny new look.
A 9.5m-high stainless steel sculpture, depicting the sea life of the Waimea Inlet, is due to be installed near the intersection of the Coastal Highway and Mapua Drive within the next couple of weeks.
It’s the second of three planned artworks for the gateways to the Ruby Coast and follows a successful fundraising drive by the Ruby Coast Initiative Trust since March 2017 to gather $48,000 for the creation.
Trust secretary Janet Taylor said after the installation of the sculpture, some ‘‘finishing-off’’ work would be completed including landscaping, to be followed by a dawn blessing.
About half of the funds raised for the sculpture came from grants; the rest from the community via the sale of 1m-high limited-edition mini sculptures and signed prints of the painting Mapua Montage by artist Betty Salter along with the proceeds from the 2016 Mahana Christmas gala and silent auction.
‘‘But also just through donations, local people donating money,’’ Taylor said.
As well as the fundraising, many people had donated ‘‘assistance in kind ... the builders, all sorts of people’’.
The Mapua Gateway Sculpture would be similar to the first of the planned trio, the Aporo Gateway Sculpture, which was installed in 2015 at the Tasman village entrance to the Ruby Coast route.
However, while the Aporo sculpture reflected bird life of the Moutere estuary, the Mapua work would depict the sea creatures of the Waimea Inlet.
Those creatures were based on the drawings of Mapua School pupils.
A panel, to be attached near the base of the sculpture, would show recreations of a selection of the children’s original drawings, Taylor said.
Last March, fellow trustee David Short said the sculpture would be an enduring legacy. ‘‘It’s made of stainless steel, it’s made of materials that are going to last the distance and is representative ... of our environment.’’
Meanwhile, fundraising is under way for the third sculpture.
Planned for the Seaton Valley intersection, the final installation will feature cut-out shapes of the bird and fish life depicted in the first two sculptures.
Taylor said proceeds from the sale of the last three Mapua mini sculptures would go towards the Seaton Valley creation as would the sale of the cut-outs of the sea creatures featured on the artwork.