Swannanoa School 150th Anniversary Sculpture
Swannanoa School has been part of my life for a while now. This was my second project with them — the first was back in 2017, when we created five taonga representing the school's values. So when the school approached me about marking their 150th anniversary, I already knew the community. I knew how much they cared about getting it right.
The school opened in 1871. That's 150 years of children, teachers, families, and a farming community that hasn't forgotten what it is. This sculpture needed to carry all of that.
Two Sculptures in One
The design has two distinct faces. The front is the hapū sculpture — four stacked discs, one for each hapū group in the school. Above those, the five school values: Roimata (Respect), Porowhita (Success), Koru (Kindness), Toki (Integrity), and Pikorua (Community). Higher still, the farm animals — a goat, a chicken, a quail — because this is a farming school and that identity matters.
The reverse is a Pikorua — a twisted double koru — representing the intertwining of people, community and continuity. The Pikorua is also the symbol for the school's fifth value, Community, so it ties the whole piece together.
Around the base of the plinth, each hapū carved their own relief panel — their bird, in stone, by their own hands.
The Hapū Panels
Hapū 1 — Pākura (Pūkeko) · Years 0–2
Hapū 2 — Pīwakawaka (Fantail) · Years 3–4
Hapū 3 — Kārearea (Falcon) · Years 5–6
Hapū 4 — Ruru (Owl) · Years 7–8
How It Worked
The senior students did the heavy work — the main forms, the values, the Pikorua. Then we worked down through the year groups, each hapū taking ownership of their own panel. The five-year-olds through to the Year 8s all have their mark on this piece.
What made this one stand out was the artistic detail. The students who carved the bird panels were genuinely talented — I gave them the tools and the stone, and they brought it to life. My job was to guide them, not do it for them. That's always the goal.
Swannanoa is a proud farming community. The goat, chicken and quail at the top aren't decoration — they're a declaration of identity. 150 years on, this school knows exactly who it is.