Throughout term 2, 2025 a group of students and I have been on an incredible journey exploring the idea of their school whanau groups. St Claudine’s Thevenet School in Wainuiomata is surrounded by Rata, Rimu, Hinau and Totara trees. They populate the area in the expansive native bush of the valley. The streets near the school are also named after these important trees which expresses how proud they all are of them. When we dug a little deeper we found that the ages of children in each whanau group were named after each tree for a reason. The rata tree attaches itself to larger trees to help it climb into the light high above the bush. It eventually takes the place of the tree it climbed. Like the younger children at the school learning and being supported by the older students ‘Tuakana-teina.’ Eventually taking their place as the leaders of the school. The Rimu and Hinau trees both play important roles in the local ecosystem but are not the largest trees. The Totara is known for its large size, resilience and longevity and is often used as the symbol of strength and leadership.

We found this lovely Whakatauki that compliments this idea of leadership within the school. 

🌱E kore te tōtara e tū noa i te pārae engari me tū i roto i te wao-nui-a-Tāne

🌱The tōtara tree does not stand alone in a field but in the great forest of Tane

We also looked at a Samoan proverb Le ala i le pule o le Tautua ‘The Pathway to Leadership is Service’ which felt like a nice way to look at the journey through the whanau groups and links to the schools values.

St Claudine’s school is rich with pacifica, maori, asian and pakeha students. We looked at some great art and motifs from these cultures as well as some New Zealand artists and muralists. The students created some of their own patterns and designs which are featured in the detailing on the mural. The patterns they chose were special to them and their heritage which are samoan, filipino and maori. The shapes and motifs they used represent strength, protection, resilience, family, power, guidance through difficult times, unity, union and faith.

Throughout this mural concept development journey the students created a large amount of drawings of trees, people and cultural patterns. They then put these three elements into their own compositions and mural designs. These drawings are what I have based the final concept on however I have played with scale, layout and composition to create the desired impact and communicate our ideas clearly. The mural features 4 students from the school, one from each whanau group chosen by the mural students. The mural students then painted majority of the artwork themselves and I completed the black outlines and finer details. This was such a wonderful project, I am always blown away with what each group of students comes up with.

Birds playing Settlers of Catan painting

This painting was a commission for two friends of mine. They came to me with the idea of a tui and a little blue penguin playing Settlers of Catan. They like to play boardgames together and I just loved the challenge of creating this fun, cosy scene in my style. I haven’t done a commission for a personal client before but this was such a lovely experience and I can see how rewarding it was for both them and me the artist. I was able to buy a framed wooden round from a local framing company ‘Wallace Studio Designs’ which was so easy to use and looks fantastic. I uses a mixture of Resene Paints and Posca paint pens with a clear satin varnish to finish and protect it.

“It was really fun working with Amy and the other kids”

— Rian - Upper Hutt School Year 6 Student

Upper Hutt School reached out to me to create a mural with a small group of their senior students. They didn’t have a too much of idea around the theme of the piece other than it being about their school. The students and I created a set of worksheets which we got each child at the school to complete. We then had around 400 drawings, notes and ideas around what makes their school special. We collated these ideas and narrowed them down into these themes.

The schools culture is one that values friendship, supporting one another, aroha and safety. Each child knows what is expected of them and how to treat one another because of the PRIDE CAR values. Whether they are riding bikes around the bike track, playing snap or working their way across the monkey bars everyone loves being at school. They welcome people “into their family” through waiata led by the kapa haka group as part of the regular powhiri celebrations. They are surrounded by large oak trees which have been around a long time watching the tamariki grow and move through the school. The tamariki are connected to the history of the land and our country through the maori legends and gods.

“I really enjoyed painting the mural. Working with Amy was amazing and super great!”

— Aisha - Upper Hutt School Year 6 student

Upon presenting three concepts to the school management they liked them so much they decided they wanted two panels instead of one. We developed two of the concepts through to the final artwork and painted them onto plywood panels. The murals were then finished with a Resene graffiti shield product to protect them. This was such a wonderful project and the finished artwork really fits nicely into the schools strong culture.

Amy Burrell - Artist, Steph Campbell - Upper Hutt School Principal

“Amy is the best art teacher”

— Elijah - Upper Hutt School Year 6 Student

In term 4, 2024 I was asked to create a special piece of artwork featuring the ‘Fruits of the Holy Spirits’ for St Brendan’s School in Upper Hutt. I worked with a group of year 4-6 students over the course of six weeks. The students and I researched what a dove looks like and how to draw one. The finished artwork was based on one of the students drawings and another students typography design and layout. To get the dove as big as we desired we had to use two pieces of plywood and join them together. We painted the design onto the boards using Resene paints and covered with a graffiti shield to protect it. The colours were chosen around the schools branding and house colours. This was a fantastic project and I am so proud of how amazing it turned out!

In term 4 of 2024 I had the pleasure of helping two clever young men paint a ‘pataka kai’ they built from scratch to donate to their church. This was a special project with St Brendan’s School in Upper Hutt and the finished piece is now being used by their community to share food.

We used stencils to get the shapes the same size. We used just three colours and completed the painting in just a few sessions.

Through the first term and a bit of 2024 I have had the pleasure of working with Boulcott School on a large mural project with the students. This project was incredibly unique in that we were investigating and featuring an important historical event in the New Zealand land wars ‘The Boulcott Farm Massacre.’ As you can imagine this is a tricky piece of artwork that involves being incredibly diligent with historical sources of information, sensitivity to all parties involved and helping the students create their own feelings and ideas about what accrued.

The leader of this project was Brigit Scahill (teacher at Boulcott School). She based the project around the following whakataukī.

Kia whakatōmuri te haere whakamua. 

I walk backwards into the future with my eyes fixed on my past. 

This whakataukī speaks to the past, present, and future being woven together. 

We spent weeks researching the history of the Boulcott area. The students talked to their families about their own family history and what bought them to Boulcott whether it be recent or generations ago. We had a local expert of ‘The Boulcott Farm War’ Tui Lewis visit and share her knowledge. Tui is the Hutt City deputy mayor and is of Ngāi Tai​ and Ngāti Manu descent, she is currently working on a project to address the accuracy of the war event memorial and acknowledge Māori.

We created a visual timeline of every major event from the prehistoric age to now and narrowed it down to the meaningful parts to the students. This timeline included the students families arrival to the area and stories. We identified a common theme in people coming to New Zealand to live in that they were all searching for a better life for their families.

We then had the tricky job of figuring out what this history means to us today and how it has shaped Boulcott School culture. We managed to tie the schools ‘CHEER’ values to the events.

This is what we came up with.

Today at Boulcott School…

We aspire to be Confident because on the 16th May in 1846 200 Maori bravely marched through the night to Boulcott farm in an attempt to resolve the injustices of land agreements. They had confidence in their rights to the land they are connected to, their home.

We value Honesty because through our ancestors' suffering and conflict during the New Zealand land wars we have learnt to value communication and courageous conversations.

We strive for Excellence because 23 Chinese families who had immigrated to New Zealand for the Gold Rush were resourceful when they didn't strike gold and turned the Hutt Valley into the largest Chinese market gardens in the country to feed our growing population.

We look forward with Enthusiasm because in 1944 the Lower Hutt hospital opened and started caring for the growing communities health needs. The hospital has also provided jobs for many New Zealanders and immigrants.

We have the utmost Respect for our river Te Awa Kairangi which has been the source of water, food and transportation for many generations. We care for it to ensure a fertile future of this land.

In the finished mural you will see a night scene of two figures faces, one representing the Maori the other a British soldier. Under the moonlight they look each other in the eye with sadness and empathy. Behind them a large Totara tree which still stands in the school grounds. Running around them is the Te Awa Kairangi with our two Wellington taniwha Ngake and Whātaitai which were designed by a student. A Chinese market gardener and a signing featuring the whakataukī sit on the left. A historic hospital scene with an airplane out the window sits on the right.

The mural was painted predominantly by the students. Like a large colouring sheet they carefully fulled each section with paint. I then touched up and outlined everything to finish the mural.

This was such a wonderful process and project to be part of. One that I have to pinch myself as I can;’t believe I get to do this as my job!

““AMY LISTENED CLOSELY TO OUR BRIEF AND WAS THOROUGHLY PREPARED AND RESEARCHED. THE MURAL IS ONE WHICH REFLECTS OUR DIVERSE SCHOOL COMMUNITY WHILE ALSO RECOGNISING OUR LOCAL HISTORY. I WOULD HIGHLY RECOMMEND AMY TO WORK ON ANY MURAL PROJECT AND LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING MORE OF HER WORK AT BOULCOTT SCHOOL.”

”

— Brigit Scahill, Boulcott School

As you know I love to draw and paint fun, bright, loveable characters many based on our native birds here in New Zealand. Each year St Joseph’s School in Upper Hutt welcomes groups of international students into the school to join their classes and experience school life here. I was asked to run an art class with two groups from China. These students knew very little if any English so art was the perfect activity to connect with them. These sessions were two hours long.

I drew some of my characters step by step on the whiteboard and the students followed along. they then created some of their own. Their ideas were amazing, a kiwi jumping on a trampoline, fast food worker penguins and a tuatara who had worked out too much at the gym. What I was blown away with it how they were able to draw along with me so confidently, some of their drawings looked better than mine!

They then drew their favourite design onto a wooden shape and coloured it with Posca paint pens. This was a nice small size they could take home with them easily. A few of the younger students wrote to mum and dad on the back as they were missing home.

---

Having just had a new playground installed and a large blank wall facing it the principal of St Brendan’s School reached out to me with her ideas. She was an after a piece of line art that told a story about the school and their values and feature the students having fun. This artwork is now a special visual they can use of school collateral and communications going forward.

I visited each class in the school and they shared with me what is special about their school, their favourite things to do at school and their values and beliefs. I used their ideas to create the artwork.

I painted the artwork onto the wall with a white primer coat followed by the colour and a graffiti shied to finish. This was a large wall and took some time but I am so happy with the end result.

School Mural St Brendan’s, Upper Hutt - Principal Veronica Sawers, Artist Amy Burrell

---

I was asked to come and work on a special mural with a group of year eight students at St Brendan’s School in Upper Hutt. They wanted to create a piece of artwork to communicate and celebrate their GRACE values and aimed to display it at the front of the school. As this was their final year it was their gift to the school and future students.

The students had to carry out the entire collaborative process from creating a brief, research, concept creation and design, enlarging the design onto the board, painting and presenting it to the school.

I worked with this group for one session per week throughout the term with the project completed in time for their farewell assesmbly. They did such a fantastic job!

Painted Mural at St Brendan’s School, Upper Hutt

---

St Joseph's School is in the heart of Upper Hutt and shares a strong relationship and connection with the wider community. I worked with a group of students to create three large mural panels for display on their school building. The aim of these murals was to celebrate and bring light to the wonderful history the school has.

With a group of year 7 and 8 students we spent around 12 weeks diving into the history of not only the school but the wider Wellington region. We started with a trip into Wellington’s Te Wharewaka o Pōneke where we learnt about Kupe’s discovery of New Zealand and how life was for Maori. Next we talked to people throughout the school about the important catholic people who started the school and bought Catholicism to New Zealand. We created a historical timeline which included all important historical events from the pre historic age to now - featuring earthquakes, arrivals, treaty signings and buildings being burnt down. We picked out the events that were important and meaningful to the students to focus on for our murals.

Along the way each student created a fun animal self portrait using a plywood round and Posca paint pens. These personal works helped the students practice putting multiple ideas into a single artwork. It was also a fun way to use visual storytelling, symbols and metaphors.

We used these skills to draw each of the historical events that would feature in the murals. We started by drawing the events individually then trying to put them all together into a three compositions in a logical way. This involved a lot of fun collaborative whiteboards sessions and discussions. We created several rounds of concepts which we presented to the principal and deputy principal making changes to reflect their feedback. Once they were happy we started the process of transferring the artwork onto the primed panels.

We used the doodle grid method to transfer the artwork onto the boards. This was a challenging activity that worked really well with a large group as many hands make light work. Once complete each student worked in a single colour applying the paint to our designs. Once the colour was complete we added the black outline.

Once the murals were complete a Resene graffiti shield paint was applied to the panels to protect them from any damage. The caretaker then attached them to the side of the building. We celebrated by inviting the community to join us for the unveiling and morning tea. This was such a wonderful project and I am once again blown away with what students of this age can think up and create. I can only image what creative endeavours they will achieve in their futures. this project was funded by the Creative in Schools initiative.

---