Gourd screenprints inspired by Split Level View Finder

By looking at Split Level View Finder: Theo Schoon and New Zealand Art, students learnt the differences between inspiration and appropriation. They thought about where artists get their ideas from and discussed what some of the impacts might be, from one artist appropriating another. They observed patterns incised on dried gourds by Theo Schoon, some of which mimic kōwhaiwhai while others are purely abstract. Students learnt about traditional Māori uses for dried gourds and the customary belief in the capacity for gourds to contain powerful and positive karakia. Inspired by this they developed their own abstract gourd designs. Students arranged letter shapes to create a pattern, then screen printed them to create a design with symbolic meaning. They imbued their artworks with positivity, examples were P for peace, C for calm, L for love, H for hope.