The excitement and worries of moving to a different school
Evolving patterns
New direction

Changing schools can be an exciting event for a lot of students.

But for some it can be a stressful transition.

The guidance desk at the Ministry of Education department has provided some tips for parents on how to help your child have a smooth transition into the new 2010 school year.

Change and nervousness

As adults and parents, it is easy to forget the worries involved in changing school. Anxiety is a normal response to change. Everyone does it – yet moving from primary to high school or from junior high to senior high school will still cause anxiety or worry.

Some of the worries that young people have shared:

Nervous that:

- I might get lost

- I might not make or have any friends

- the work might be too hard for me

- other kids might bully me (see below)

Helpful tips for parents and other adults to support those starting a new school:

Talk to the young person – understand their feelings

Ask them about their fears or worries, listen; don’t ignore their fears. Find out what they enjoyed at the previous school, talk about how those things may be part of the new school.

A time to reduce bullying impacts

If the young person was caught up in bullying – either as a bully or as a victim of bullies, the new school gives a chance to change. It is important to talk with the principal at the new school, so they can help with the changes.

Let the young person get to know the school

Visit the school with them before start date, walk about the grounds, and if possible meet and talk with some teachers. For those with high anxiety, this can be very helpful.

Be organised beforehand

Regular activities help to reduce worry. Work out plans before school starts. This might include having uniform, backpack, books, pencil case, lunchbox ready and creating a sleep routine.

Be positive, encourage and support them

Help them to focus on the excitement of new learning, new steps in their journey of life, new beginnings. If the young person feels that adults support them, their worries will shrink.

A time for new beginnings

Changing schools can mean that there is a chance for a new beginning and a new way of being. If the young person has not been settled in the previous school, or had bad experiences, the new school gives a chance to start again in a positive way.

Without any formal training, local artist Kay George has developed her own unique style of art which has seen her become a prominent figure in the regional art industry.

Coming from an artistic family, Kay is a self-taught artist who in the 80s began painting on fabrics and selling her work at Sydney markets in Australia.

Originally from Rotorua, Kay and husband Ian returned to Rarotonga and opened their gallery – The Arts Studio in Arorangi – in 2001.

As one of the six local artists in the Master of Art and Design course, she has had to step outside her ‘comfort zone’ and explore new directions in her art making process.

Kay says that the course has been very challenging with her tutors constantly pushing and challenging every brush stroke and colour choice.

“They have been times when a few of us wanted to throw the towel in!”

“I suppose our tutors felt we could go further in our art.”

But she also says the course has been extremely rewarding.

“Our tutors constantly ask why this and how that and of course you can’t answer ‘because I like it!’”

“They constantly challenged us to work through our thought process of where our ideas have come from.”

“Sometimes you’d go through a series of experiments and some pieces were so bad you had to throw them away and you’d try another idea and your end product is far away from the idea you started with.”

Despite the challenges and having your every art process questioned, Kay says that the course tutors have been there for them every step of the way.

“They’ve pushed us and stumped us but they’ve always been available to help us through either online or by phone to talk us through it.”

And five weeks out from the final thesis exhibition – Kay looks and sounds confident as she explains her work which will be exhibited and assessed by her tutors at her Arorangi gallery.

‘Evolving patterns of change’ is the theme of Kay’s final thesis exhibition in which she explores the changes in women’s adornments through the ages.

“I’ve live here for 20 years and have seen a lot of changes in women’s adornment.”

In her written component, Kay explores the changes in women’s adornments starting from the pre-European days when island women wore very little.

Kay explains her findings of how Cook Islands women adapted to cloth in order to make their own creations giving them a Cook Islands identity.

Kay also explores overseas influences on women’s adornment with the opening of the Rarotonga airport and the arrival of the internet which have created somewhat of an international dress code on the island.

“The changes have done a full circle now where we see young girls who wear labelled clothing that are next to nothing!”

Kay says that her practical course component was influenced by her mother who always had a box of photographs.

Kay gives little away about her practical work which will be assessed by her tutors first before the public is able to view it.

She does say that she has spent some time photographing local women who’ve allowed her to do so for her practical work.

Meanwhile Kay will fine tune her final work before the course tutors arrive on February 18 for the finals assessments on February 19 and 20.

- Matariki Wilson

As Cook Islands Master of Art and Design students prepare for their final thesis exhibition to be assessed on February 19 and 20, Cook Islands News will bring you a series of profiles on each of the six local artists in the course. This week we profile local gallery owner and self-taught artist KAY GEORGE from Arorangi. She’s pictured surrounded by some of her textile work. 10012209

Moving in new directions from their normal art making practices has been the aim behind the Master of Art and Design course being undertaken by six Cook Islands artists.

The Master of Art and Design through AUT University, Auckland, in partnership with USP was offered to practising artists in the Cook Islands allowing them to do the course by distance over a two-year period.

The course is a research degree and as such each artist decided on their research project which is initially outlined in a project abstract.

The resulting Master’s thesis is comprised of a written component or exegesis constituting 20 percent of their course work with the remaining 80 percent coming from an exhibition work.

The purpose of the exegesis is to explain the research process and why and how the ideas explored in their practical making relate to the thesis exhibition.

The aim for the artists was to move in new directions from their normal art making practice.

Six of the nine participants who received their Post Graduate Diplomas for the first year then proceeded into their master’s thesis year.

The artists are Andrea Eimke, Kay George, Joan Gragg, Eruera Nia, Loretta Reynolds and Krick Barraud.

The assessors from AUT will arrive on Rarotonga on the February 18 and will spend Friday 19 and Saturday 20 assessing the students’ end of course exhibitions.

All the artists are exhibiting in various gallery spaces which will be announced to the public for viewing.

• Matariki Wilson