Students examining the artifacts with Juliana Deo to the right (in the yellow top and scarf)
A unique and inspiring experience for our UPC secondary school students, came about from an impromptu catch-up between Lecturer Michael Freeman and former student, Juliana Deo, who now works at Auckland War Memorial Museum.
Juliana, a graduate of our Bachelor of Design and Visual Arts programme is the Associate Curator – Pacific Collections at the Museum. Alongside the Curator and Collections Manager for Māori, she led our Mahi a Toi Level 3 students (Rutherford College and Massey High School) through an exclusive behind the scenes tour of Pacific and Māori artifacts, that provided them with some incredible inspiration for their own creative journey.
During the tour our students were very privileged to ‘handle’ Cook Island artifacts and taonga from the Māori collections, which their hosts are responsible for. They look after the conservation and preservation of these culturally and historically significant objects; including the cataloguing, appraisal, as well as exhibition research and design.
The students were able to study and hold some of the pieces up close and to tour one of the spaces where the Māori taonga are stored – they were encouraged to touch and hold the pieces they felt connected to.
It’s inspiring to see where our students Unitec journey takes them and how the generosity of our Alumni can instigate collaborations, opportunities and amazing experiences like this example.
A big thank you to Michael Freeman for initiating this opportunity and to both Hohepa Renata and Michael for leading this incredible piece of mahi for the team and our students.
Pictured below: Michael Freeman and Hohepa Renata with the students outside the Hotunui, Whare Runanga at the Museum. View more pictures in the Yammer post.
