New artwork site gets council nod

A historic area in Hamilton East known as Hayes Paddock will be the site of a new public artwork.

The work – which as yet has no assigned artist – will be the fifth facilitated and funded by the philanthropic arts group MESH Sculpture Hamilton. The group has already helped manifest some of the city’s better known artworks, including Michael Parekowhai’s colourful Tongue of the Dog which, since its arrival in 2016, has become an icon of Kirikiriroa.

The other MESH works are Lonnie Hutchinson’s Te Waharoa ki te Ao Maarama near Lake Rotoroa; Beat Connection, which was created by Seung Yul Oh and is located outside Claudelands Arena; and, most recently, Robert Jahnke’s work Te Tatau ki Kirikiriroa, which has become the centrepiece of the Victoria on the River gathering space. Hamilton City Council’s community committee gave its seal of approval to the first stage of establishing the new work at a meeting on Thursday, where Laree Payne, who will curate the project, gave the politicians some insight into what form it would take.

‘‘Three central themes have emerged which have become the most important part of the artists’ brief . . . those themes are nature and texture and movement and play.’’

It would have to be sympathetic to the surrounding environment, including the nearby river and Wellington St Beach, and the fact it was a place that people walked or cycled to.

The work, which would be smaller than other MESH artworks and has a $150,000 budget, should also have a texture that would encourage people to touch and interact with it, but not clash with the textures of the trees, grass and other natural elements of that environment, she said. It would be a ‘‘dynamic yet stationary and static’’ piece – ‘‘We have really tried to discourage artists from incorporating light, or any moving parts or water . . . and not abrasive, considering how near the site is to a residential area.’’

Once an artist and a design for the work had been found, it would be considered under council’s newly-adopted permanent public art policy before the go-ahead is given. The successful applicant will also be required to engage with the Te Ngā whā Whakatupu Ake Comittee, which consists of representatives from iwi, mana whenua and mā tā waka.

Hayes Paddock is named after William Hayes, who leased the land from the Hamilton Borough Council and farmed it in the early 1900s.