Art Parade & Celebration West Harbour

Celebrate the creations made by Tamariki from Pūrākaunui School, Port Chalmers School, Kōputai Pioneers ECE and Port Chalmers Kindergarten, under the imaginative guidance and inspiration of our 2024 Artist-in-Residence, sculptor Jerry Howlett!

The parade will start at 12pm at the school gate at 30A Albertson Ave, Port Chalmers, and will walk the loop around the avenue and back to the school hall, Wharenui. The artwork will be on display in the Wharenui for an hour or so while guests can also enjoy the celebration.

All are welcome at this event, which includes family entertainment by Te Kura o Kōpūtai Kapa Haka and the Port Chalmers School Marimba Band. Everyone is invited to bring a blanket and share a picnic lunch, along with Sausage Sizzle, Vegetarian Curry, and Candy Floss for sale. There will also be baked delights for sale and other refreshments.

Extra Info:
In a very exciting turn of events, this is the first year - in the residency's 26 years of operating - where the trust has selected an artist who themself took part in the residency as a child. Jerry (Jared) Howlett is a brilliant sculptor who has made highly accomplished work, has completed a Master of Fine Art at the Dunedin School of Art, and is presently based in Dunedin.

As you might have seen by his sculpture installed in the Pea Sea Art window in the last few weeks, Jerry's artwork includes beautifully crafted miniature elements as well as large, impressive structural features. This is a bit like the ideas he addresses in his work; large-scale problems like climate change and habitat destruction, as well as narrowing down on specific theories, for example, 'speculative fictions', Donna Haraway's theory about using imaginative thinking to solve real problems. These are the ideas he is bringing to the tamariki of West Harbour for this year's project.

Jerry's direct exposure to artists through the West Harbour Arts residency programme is part of what has led him to his position in our community as a valued maker and thinker, and we are so thrilled to have him working alongside our kids and creating a new masterpiece! Come and check it out!