My Account
Year 8 artists Kaede Prescott, centre left, and Grace Wallace, sit beneath their paintings with Inspector Mark Fergus, left, and Snr Constable Bernie Watt. Right, Red Beach School’s art piece.
Three new art pieces, created by Ōrewa College and Red Beach School students, are on display at Ōrewa Police Station.
Students from both schools presented their work to the station on November 28.
Rodney area commander, Inspector Mark Fergus says police staff were “blown away” with the artwork.
“Having the art displayed in our foyer is a great way to humanise our space,” he says. “People usually come here for reasons that aren’t very nice, so we hope the art brightens up their experience here.”
Two paintings were created by Year 8 Ōrewa College students, Kaede Prescott and Grace Wallace, both inspired by life on the Coast.
“We enjoy volunteering time to make art,” Kaede says. “We also created a group mural for Ōrewa Beach Kindergarten earlier this year.”
Kaede and Grace’s class visited new entrants at Red Beach School to help them create a piece of artwork for the station.
The end result featured 32 paper people representing the community – with Senior Constable and school community officer, Bernie Watt, at the centre.
“The moustache isn’t grey on the art piece, so they kindly made a version of me from a few years ago,” Snr Constable Watt says.
He presented a Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design course to Year 8 students at Ōrewa College, which encourages students to take ownership of their personal spaces, and respect public ones, to reduce crime.
From this, Year 8 teacher Fleur Knight suggested students help decorate the police station, because it was a central part of the community.
Inspector Fergus says police will feature new student art at the station every year.
“We think it’s a great idea – it has genuinely put a smile on our faces.”
