Programmes

Discover how artists Areez Katki and Khadim Ali use painting embroidery, weaving and sculpture to share their stories of being forced to leave their homes and move to new lands. We visit There is no other home but this and consider what home means to us and our whānau. We explore symbolic ways of sharing our pepeha and stories of belonging. In the studio we create small bags from recycled fabric colouring and adding simple stitched symbols and marks to “take our homes with us”.

At school:

Find out about artists Areez Katki and Khadim Ali
Read stories about refugee life
Ask your family about your history/ whakapapa
Share a family recipe or cultural greeting
Create a class world map showing people’s connections
Practice your pepeha

Len Lye was expert at inventing surprising ideas from ordinary stuff. Experience Rainbow Dance and Convolutions and learn about Lye’s approach to experimenting with materials. In the studio we get imaginative with recycling to create art with eco messages.

At school:

- How did Len Lye get inspired by nature?
- Class brainstorm how humans are damaging the earth
- List ways you and your whānau could improve your school or community’s environment and get started!
- Find out how others show kaitiakitanga.

Research Len Lye here.

Tour Rainbow Dance and Convolutions and discover where Len Lye got his ideas. Experiment with Surrealist art making and poetry techniques then in the studio dream up surprising dye and resist costume designs for your own imaginary movie.

At school:

Find out about where Surrealist artists got their ideas – dreams, games and other automatic or random processes, give it a go at school.

- Discuss - Are dreams real?
- Make a Sunprint (cyanotype) photo experimenting with the shadows of objects.
- Draw or write combinations that show juxtaposition.
- Write a strange poem using Te Papa’s Surrealist exhibition website.

What can we learn from Len Lye?

Experience the multi-sensory exhibitions Rainbow Dance and Convolutions through interactive activities adaptable to your students’ learning needs and level. Find out how Len Lye came up with his ideas and what made his art special. Then create your own Len Lye inspired artwork.

At school:

- Find out about Len Lye here

We introduce students to the Gallery. Discover the many personalities of contemporary art and the creative processes behind them. Create your own quick artwork inspired by Len Lye and friends.

At school:
Find out about the Gallery’s exhibitions
Class brainstorm your ‘before’ and ‘after’ feelings about visiting the Art Gallery.

How did old school animation work? What makes Len Lye’s films still cool today?

We go to the flicks to discover how image, movement and sound are combined to create an illusion. Students analyse animation techniques and use gallery zoetropes (animation viewing devices) to create their own moving image.

See Rainbow Dance and Convolutions.

BYO your class video camera, phone or ipad to record students’ animations.

At school:
Google Slide: Len Lye Style Flip Book

Click below to view Len Lye films online:
Tusalava
A Colour Box
The Birth of a Robot
Free Radicals

Films supplied by Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision. Please respect the integrity of Len Lye’s artwork by not copying his films.

Download the Len Lye: Animation Resource

A compilation DVD entitled Colour Box: 19 Films by Len Lye is available from the Govett-Brewster Shop

E ono ngā kaupapa Matua mo te tau:

Orokohanga / Creation stories, Origins:
- Len Lye Arts
- Ranginui me Papatūānuku
- Origins

Ranginui / Spiritual Realm:
- Spiritual World
- Karakia, Waiata
- Huarere / Weather

Papatūānuku:
- Physical World
- Climate Change
- Take Wenua / Significant Land

Te Waonui a Tāne:
- Ngā’ere / Forest
- Rākau, Rongoa

Tangaroa ki uta, Tangaroa ki tai:
- Ngā Awa, Puna, Roto, Repo /Rivers, Streams, Lakes, Wetlands
- Te Moana / Oceans

Te ira tangata:
- Kaitiakitanga / Guardianship
- Ko wai koe / Who are you


Tangaroa Ki Uta, Tangaroa Ki Tai:
Term 2 we focus on wai/water. Join Gallery educators exploring our local waterways through art, science and Te Ao Māori. We discover Taranaki artists who are kaitiaki of water and learn ways to be the same. Together we plan a project that can include exhibition tours or zooms, field trips and video doing tutorials. Ākonga share their mahi in school and beyond – please contact us to discuss options. 


Wāhanga Tuatahi:
Our full immersion and bilingual programme focus on creating art relating to ‘Ko wai koe / Who are you’’. We explore our new exhibition There is no other home but this. 

Kaupapa include:

Pēpēha: A way of identifying and introducing who we are and where we come from.

• We find hononga (connections) and create art that symbolises our Mounga, Awa, Moana, Marae, Iwi, Hapu and Waka. Discuss places and landmarks that we identify with or that are significant to us. 

• We connect with our homeland and the vessel that brought our people to this land both tangata wēnua and tangata tauiwi. 

Whakapapa: Whakapapa is genealogy, a line of descent from tūpuna down to the present day and links people to all other living things. Everything comes from somewhere. The story of where something or someone comes from is whakapapa.

• We explore family relationships and dynamics to create art works that complement our kōrero and findings.

• Gain an understanding of tikanga Māori relating to whakapapa.

Explore whakapapa stories such as Ranginui and Papatūānuku or Te Wānau Matariki.

Create - Family Art activities online:

These quick, fun activities are based on Family Art sessions in the Gallery (10.30 – 12.30am Sundays), a selection are now available online to share in school or as links for home learning. Found in the ‘What’s on’ section of the Gallery website Create: Online Art Activities, Instagram posts, or as Google slides for classroom use.

Tai Moana Tai Tangata virtual tour:

Visit the Gallery’s website and take your class on a virtual tour of the monumental exhibition by Brett Graham (Ngāti Koroki Kahukura, Tainui) Tai Moana Tai Tangata. This virtual tour was developed for schools and aims to bring local history to life through art. Accompanying lesson plans available by request.

Eco mural:

Tour New Plymouth's CBD murals with us then head up to the Gallery to design a school mural with an environmental message, or create chalk masterpieces in Huatoki Plaza.

Marae-based learning: 

Gallery educators join in with classes at their local marae to learn about ngā toi.

Art at school:

Gallery educators visit schools to lead selected art lessons including Environmental sustainability – create group sculptures focusing on te Mounga and caring for water, and Art that moves – various learning activities inspired by Len Lye’s short films.