[video: Dainty, upbeat ukulele playing in the background. Coastal summer scene showing Oaia Island in the distance with cliffs in the foreground, flax and leaves moving in the breeze. A person kite surfing along a beach with the waves breaking beyond. Beach scenes showing a vista of sand and sea and a gull taking flight. Two ladies of the mural design team talking in an art studio.]
Mandy Jakich, Creative Matters Owner/Educator: The area of Kumeu, Waimauku and Muriwai is a really stunning place, you know, it's full of incredible natural beauty with the sea, the power of the sea, and the forest and the bush. And it's, for some reason, an area that doesn't have a lot of public art so we're really excited about bringing, you know, some of that sort of art to this area.
[video: Vehicles drive slowly through a forest road with tall trees. Views of a vineyard with vines gently blowing in the breeze. Caption introduces Mandy Jakich who talks to the camera from an art studio.
Mandy Jakich: My business is Creative Matters. We run art workshops for children in the holidays and after school. And we also do lots of projects in the community.
[video: Captions introduce Tanya Blong, Mural Artist. The old, plain grey orchard shed before work started.]
Mandy Jakich: This time we were approached by Auckland Council to create something amazing on the fruit shed on State Highway 16 and we were asked to find an artist that would be appropriate for that kind of space. And I instantly thought of Tanya who's one of our educators, Tanya Blong, she does beautiful work that I felt would really fit for that kind of location and that kind of intention, I guess.
[video: Colourful artwork in an artist's studio depicting lush, tropical scenes in bright colours.]
Tanya Blong: My main consideration was where it was going to be viewed and that it would be viewed at high speed, so it had to be impactful and seen at one glance.
[video: Vehicles on a state highway rushing past the orchard shed in the background. Design team talking in an art studio.]
Tanya Blong: I really was inspired by the local history and the Dalmatians coming and settling on the land.
[video: Artist showing draft artwork concept designs and sample colour palette. Design Team talking in an art studio surrounded by artwork and lush green vegetation.]
Tanya Blong: And so we started with this, and I really played around with some different patterns and designs using an old paper-doll cut-out style, again taking into consideration how it would be viewed at high speed and…just colour play.
[video: The old orchard shed grey wall, with bamboo growing alongside. Caption refers to day one at the mural site. Artist preparing materials and tools from the boot of a car. Artist measuring and drawing up chalk grid lines on a grey wall.]
Mandy Jakich: We're very lucky to have the support from Resene for our beautiful paints that we use for the mural and also the amazing support from Auckland Council.
[video: The front of Te Manawa Library and council building with a person exiting the main doors. Caption: introduces Helen Smith, Graffiti Vandalism Advisor.]
Helen Smith: We at Auckland Council are proud to be supporting this community-led initiative in partnership with Creative Matters and Tanya Blong. Projects such as this have a preventative impact on vandalism and a positive impact on community well-being. We're delighted to empower and support the community to achieve these outcomes and create artwork for daily commuters and visitors to enjoy.
[video: Female talking to the camera outside the Te Manawa library. Vehicles rushing past the mural site. Noise of traffic and cicadas as Artist talks to the camera on a sunny day.]
Tanya Blong: So, we are day three of the mural site in Huapai and progress is coming along really, really well. I'm quite impressed with how far and how easy, things have gone along smoothly.
[video: Artist working on painting a mural, filling in the outlines with bright colours as an image starts to appear.]
Tanya Blong: Day one I started off just gridding up the wall, laying out my design and blocking the background, then started on the foliage. Today we're starting on the figure, so that's really exciting.
[video: Two artists wearing summer clothing working on a bright-coloured mural with the sun on their backs.]
Tanya Blong: It's been really enjoyable. It's quite interesting how all of the community has got behind all of this and I'm getting lots of toots and moral support. Lot's of treats, people stopping in and dropping by with goodies. With Creative Matters we really like to bring out local talent and support artists coming through. So, it's wonderful to have the steady hand of Izzy Harris helping me today.
[video: Ukulele music continues to play in the background. Young female wearing a sunhat painting the mural with a look of concentration on her face. A signboard standing next to the mural explaining the meaning behind the work. Bright green hues of tropical foliage on the mural behind and bamboo rustling in the wind. The finished mural painted on the orchard shed depicting a female figure lying on her front cradling a sapling. Cars rushing past in the foreground. A sign board displaying logos of supporting organisations.]
[video: Auckland Council logo featuring text next to a stylised pōhutukawa flower over water, Creative Matters logo featuring a black circle with white text, Resene logo featuring rainbow paint colours and text beneath.]
