How to get thereStarling Park is on Glen Rd (off Don Buck Rd), Massey.
Parrs Park MosaicA tiled toilet
In Waitakere we believe that even toilets are worth sprucing up! This one at Parrs Park was another venture undertaken by the city's youth.
Using ceramic tiles, they have created a funky mosaic which features skateboarding and soccer, favourite activities on this park. How to get thereParrs Park Toilet, on Parrs Cross Rd, Oratia.
Parrs Park Art Shelter
Luckens Reserve Seat
Harking back to history
The clay-laden land of this area was very boggy until an early settler, Rice Owen Clark, came up with an ingenious solution. He created hollow pipes by wrapping clay around manuka twigs, which he then burnt out. These pipes were used to drain the land and enable him to farm it.
How to get thereLuckens Reserve is at the end of Luckens Rd, West Harbour.
Godley Green Maze
The design incorporates a pathway made of concrete and brick to reflect the clayworks history of the area. The pathway will feature mosaic tiles created by students from Green Bay Primary under the guidance of artist Janet Holtrigter. Future plans include new park seating, a petanque court, and a series of sculptural pieces created by students from neighbouring Green Bay High School. Members of the local community have already participated in planting out the back area of the reserve, and the Council's parks division will follow this up with further planting.
Henderson Creek Carving
As part of the Henderson Creek celebrations which took place in March 2000, and in conjunction with the Reserves Management Plan being produced by the Parks Department, local Te Kawerau a Maki sculptor Sunnah Thompson was commissioned to produce a carving that related to the historical stories of the area. The piece depicts a figure turning to look down stream and greets the turning of the tides each day. How
to get there
Manawa Wetland Community Tiling Project
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The references are restorative, the act of restocking and replenishing that which is fragile and timeless. The eel could be described as a conduit between people and the natural world.
The physical and metaphorical journey it signals traces a passage inward and outward, to the hinterland and to the remote reaches of
the ocean."
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The Manawa Wetland reserve in New Lynn provides a beautiful recreation area for the community and a solution for stormwater management.
Part of the development has been to integrate handmade ceramic tiles and mosaics into the pathways that have been built throughout the reserve.
The tiles were produced at community workshops run by noted ceramicist Richard Parker and local artist Janet Holtrigter in late 2000.
The workshops were held next to the historic Gardner Brothers and Parker Downdraught Kiln at the end of Ambrico Place.
From 1902, the Manawa Wetland site was a clay pit used by brickworks company Gardner Brothers and Parker. In 1929 the company amalgamated with several other local brickworks to eventually became part of Ceramco Ltd, then New Zealand's largest ceramics manufacturer.
Once the supply of clay from the pit was exhausted, Crown Lynn used the site as a dumping ground for reject pottery. Some of the fragments of pottery that are imbedded in the soil have been collected to make mosaics for the pathways.
The project involved over 400 community members.
The Manawa Wetland Community Tiling Project now serves as a reference to West Auckland's rich ceramic heritage, and has preserved fragments of the past in the new design of the reserve.
Where to find it
The Manawa Wetland is part of Margan Reserve, situated at the junction of Margan Ave and Titirangi Road
Taniwha of a Thousand Hands
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Inspired by a local community and the river which flows through it, the 'Taniwha of a Thousand Hands' sculpture is a collaboration between artist Debra Bustin, Waitakere City Council, Creative New Zealand and the local community. The sculpture provides a safe and exciting place for local children to play, and a valuable teaching aid for nearby schools. Some 9 metres long and 1.2 metres high, the sculpture fits neatly into the Council's Green Network strategy and First Call For Children policy.
The project began in 1996, when Waitakere City Council contracted a designer to provide a creative solution to an area that needed a playground facility which catered to the needs of disabled children. It was agreed that the construction of a low wall, which would also function as a seat, would be the ideal solution.
Through a series of on-site public meetings at the Hart Domain, it became clear that the local community was keen to be involved in the project.
Petone-based artist Debra Bustin was commissioned to design and oversee the construction. Local artist Iona Matheson was contracted to act as Debra's assistant, to learn more about the processes of working with communities and to provide local knowledge for any maintenance required.
The body was built on a concrete pad which included a drainage system to manage stormwater runoff. Considerable time was spent 'wrapping' the body in wire mesh, which held smaller boulders in place, developing both detail and bulk where required. The mesh was wire stitched to itself, and tied securely to iron pins preplaced in the concrete base.
Debra and her team conducted workshops in eight local schools, working with children to create clay imprints of their hands. One thousand handprints were produced. The imprints were dried and filled with crushed recycled glass.
Earth cement was packed into the spaces left by the boulders, into which the fired clay and glass hands were inserted for the final 'skin' of the Taniwha. Spaces were left for plants to grow as 'hair'.
Local iwi were involved in blessing the ground prior to work beginning and when work was completed, at the official opening ceremony.
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