Maitai News

The Opening of our exhibition Transformations 2011.

2011-11-21T18:26:00.016+13:00

Thank you to everyone for making this such a successful event.
Thank you Michael, Keith and Ellie for the images.

Nearly ready for the opening on Saturday 19th November.

2011-11-17T21:01:00.003+13:00

Come and see Elvira's Room, walk the leafy pathway through the

silken forest and enjoy seeing all the work we have done this year.

Painting Spring Flowers for Packaging.

2011-10-31T22:06:00.008+13:00

Invitation for the Transformations Exhibition

2011-10-31T20:25:00.003+13:00

Room 1 Visit Lud Valley to do some eco- dyeing!

2011-09-27T21:00:00.001+13:00

Making, Dyeing and Unwrapping Bundles.

2011-09-26T21:36:00.003+13:00

Dyeing Using the Hot Extraction Process.

Wrapping bundles with leaves and dyeing them using iron and copper pots on a fire pit. Opening the bundles to discover the amazing and delicate colors and patterns achieved by the students with out the use of chemicals.

Scarves available to buy at pre-exhibition price.

2011-09-19T20:14:00.006+12:00

If you would like to buy any scarves the students have made please contact :

email: office@maitai.school.nz Phone: 03 5480281 for more information.

Creating Mixed Media Paper Towers.

2011-09-14T22:21:00.010+12:00

Constructing structures with cardboard and wood.

Choosing the flowers to press, opening the flower press.

Pasting the pressed flowers onto 'tea bag' paper.

Hapa Zome on silk using spring flowers to be pasted onto

paper.

Pasting mixed media onto the 'tea bag' paper.

Pasting the silk hapa zome flower prints on to a paper tower.

We are making a collection of mixed media paper towers to

be displayed in the exhibition at The Suter in November 2011.

Fabric and Gelatine Printing.

2011-08-22T22:16:00.007+12:00

We will use the prints for packaging, display and advertising for our project Transformations 2011.

Room 2 Visits Lud Valley to do some Ec0 Dyeing.

2011-08-03T14:49:00.001+12:00

I'm Going To Colour My World.

2011-08-03T11:27:00.007+12:00

A song adapted by Dominic Schryvers and performed with Auckland Point Satellite Class as part of our Transformations 2011 Project.

The Scarves Room 4 and Monique Dyed at Lud Valley.

2011-06-29T10:16:00.004+12:00

We used copper pipes to wrap the bundles and a copper pot

for dyeing to enhance the green colours.

Unwrapping the bundles is always fun!

Here they are!

Room 4 and Monique visit Lud Valley to do some Eco-Dyeing.

2011-06-20T15:14:00.002+12:00

We learnt about using different pots as mordants, copper enriches greens, iron creates a dark colour. We made bundles using silk and leaves and put them in the copper pot to dye. We look forward to showing you the results of our dyeing on the following post.

Room 4 and Monique visit Lud Valley to do some Eco-Dyeing.

2011-06-20T15:14:00.000+12:00

Shibori resists using berries.

2011-06-06T11:46:00.011+12:00

Some of the patterns we made using different resists.

First of all we folded our fabrics in halves, quarters and

eighths before securing our resists with elastic and clamps.

Can you spot the different objects we used for resists?

Squeezing the juice out of boysenberries, cranberries and blueberries.

Opening our shibori resist silk and enjoying the look and feel.

Casey and Te Aroha you look beautiful!

Unwrapping Bundles.

2011-06-06T10:50:00.009+12:00

Enjoying the sensory delights of unwrapping bundles.

Identifying plants, leaves and colours.

Making Leaf Prints on Merino and Silk.

2011-05-23T13:28:00.020+12:00

We made samples of leaf prints using the steaming method.

Identifying and matching leaves and prints.

Placing leaves radomly and using a sequence onto merino and silk fabrics.

To enhance green colours we used copper pipes to wrap up the fabric and leaves into bundles.

Wrapping the bundles tightly with an iron rod, for dark tones, and string.

Composting the waste leaves and saving the dyed string.

Unwrapping bundles!
We look forward to showing you the results of our bundles on the following post.

Auckland Point enjoys a morning of eco-dyeing at Lud Valley.

2011-05-16T16:07:00.000+12:00

Transformations 2011: Eucalyptus leaves are magic!

2011-05-11T11:18:00.003+12:00

Eucalyptus leaf prints eco-dyed onto habotai silk using the hot eXtraction process.

Making samples to discover the colour eucalyptus leaves will make on silk.

Rolling and wrapping the samples into bundles ready to be steamed.

Unwrapping the samples, will the colour be blue? It is orange and red!

Making large bundles of eucalyptus leaves and silk for scarves.

We are amazed at the transformation of green leaves and heat create orange and reds. MAGIC!

NMIT Presentation of Art Mural Thursday 5th May 2011

2011-05-09T20:04:00.006+12:00

The mural fits in with the sensory panels in the playground.

Thank you to NMIT for inviting us to take part in the School Mural Project.

Welcome to Transformations 2011

2011-05-03T14:17:00.024+12:00

We are researching colour through dyeing using natural materials and plants.

This project is inspired by the artisan India Flint and her book Eco Colour.

Hapa-Zome Process.

Hapa-Zome means 'leaf-dye' in Japanese.

It is a process where we beat the plants and leaves with

plastic mallets to get a print on fabrics.

We made up rhythms with our beating and counting songs.

We worked in a group on this recycled cotton vest.

We enjoyed seeing the beautiful prints we had made.

The plants gave a fragrant perfume a well as a beautiful prints.

We tested the colour fastness of the prints using warm

water and a natural soap and discovered that the rich

colours turned brown. We decided to use this process

on fine papers and fabrics for packaging and display.

Ice Flower Dyeing Process.

2011-05-03T09:27:00.010+12:00

Transforming colours with vinegar and wood ash.

Identifying fabrics and observing colour changes.

Kia Kaha Christchurch

2011-03-11T15:41:00.002+13:00

Felt Exhibition

2010-08-18T13:55:00.001+12:00

The Maitai Sensory Fence

2010-06-23T11:26:00.004+12:00

Download the Sensory Fence PDF here (2.3Mb). File opens in a new window.

NMIT Mural

2010-06-16T11:58:00.001+12:00

Cake Stands

2010-06-16T11:51:00.007+12:00

Fantasy Shoes

2010-06-16T11:36:00.002+12:00

From our Board Chairperson

2009-08-13T14:14:00.009+12:00

A word of advice: laughter - especially big, joyful laughter that stretches the corners of your mouth towards your ear-lobes - is not advisable when snorkelling. I learned this lesson while submerged just beneath the surface of the ocean in Vava'u, Tonga, frantically flipping my flippers in an effort to remain side by side with a magnificent humpback whale and her calf.The 'whale lady' who took us on this adventure had told me succumbing to tears is a common reaction - no-one had warned me about laughter. It bubbled up like fizzy. I could feel my heart pounding and my ribs expanding hugely with every breath. I wanted to squeal with joy. But being just metres from a 45-foot-long humpback whale and her baby when they're both serenely eye-balling you takes your emotions to a new level.

Twelve of us were on that three-day adventure with Whaleswim Adventures and its owner, New Zealander Rae Gill. The welfare of the whales is paramount to Rae and the guides she affectionately calls her 'fish' - so we're split into three 'schools' of wetsuit-clad humans. We're reminded to slip quietly into the water; not to splash and not to swim directly at the whale or her calf - a directive that was a source of amusement later, when the whale calf decided to swim directly towards me and my friend Jo. Through her mask, Jo's eyes match mine - bright, excited and growing bigger. I know she's wondering what this 20-foot playful calf is about to do. It deftly veers away and back to his mother's side. If whales can express humour, that cheeky calf was surely grinning.

Whaleswim Adventures skipper, Vava'u local Kam, has an uncanny ability to find the whales. When one of us spotted a plume of water arcing from a blowhole, a dorsal fin breaking the surface, or a magnificent breach in the distance as a whale exploded out of the water, we'd shriek, "Whale!". Invariably, Kam had already seen it, had already turned the boat. He drives beyond the whale, skirting around her at a distance and stopping in a spot further along her path.Look down!
By then, four of us have wriggled into our flippers, masks and snorkels and shimmied to the back of the boat, where we sit in a row - our guide in the middle of us. I can hear us trying to breathe evenly through our snorkels - and not doing it very well. "Go! Go! Go!" Kam shouts - and we scoot forward, plop into the water and fin as fast as we can, as he's excitedly shouting: "Look down! Look down!" Some of us hear him, some don't. But there's no chance of missing the magnificent sight of an enormous humpback whale.

Story by Victoria Bartle

Recently published in AA Directions

Our first post

2009-08-13T14:00:00.016+12:00

Here is a photo of our wonderful 3D fantasy shoe project, which is currently on display at theElma Turner Library - it's in the Childrens' section - call in and see it!!

Sensory wall officially opened

2009-04-11T13:18:00.003+12:00

The opening of a new sensory panel wall for high-needs students at Maitai School is something you would not find anywhere else in the world, says its principal.

Diane Whyte welcomed representatives from across the special education community yesterday to officially open the wall, which caters to the Nelson school's 30 high needs students.

"We have done our research and we couldn't find anything like this anywhere else, it really is very experimental but we hope that it will take off."

From The Nelson Mail
Read Heather Roy's opening speech.

Artists in School Project

2009-03-30T13:14:00.000+13:00

At Maitai School, staff and students were faced with a large blank fence that encircles the school playground. Principal Diane Whyte, playground designer Lyn Cadenhead, artist Anne Rush, and technician Sam Laidlaw collaboratively conceived an initiative that involved the creation of a series of sensory panels that would be attached to the fence, allowing students the opportunity to interact with these. Read more here.

Staff in the news

2009-03-28T13:31:00.001+13:00

When Michael and Judy Keylock moved thousands of kilometres from England to live an eco-lifestyle in rural Nelson, they wondered if their contact with other cultures would diminish.

Instead, helping them shape their tranquil Lud Valley property has been a virtual United Nations of visitors, eager to lend a hand in exchange for a place to stay and some tucker.

Read the article in The Nelson Mail