10-minute colour hunt
Nā Kauae Raro Research Collective, November 2021
Earth pigments are always our focus, but it doesn’t have to be yours for this exercise - this is a quick and fun colour hunt that will help to tap into the variety and subtlety of colours in te taiao. It can be carried out by individuals, but we’ve had a great time doing this colour hunt with groups.
All images on this article were taken by Toroa Creative (2021) - Thanks Te Kawa!
Before you invite others to join in the hunt, walk around the area where you plan to do the activity. This could be your backyard, marae, school grounds, a local park or reserve. Note the colours of the environment, soils, sand, stones and plants - these colours will inform what colour samples you choose for your colour-hunt. Also check if there are any hazards present in the area - there may be plants and fungi that should not be touched.
Next, collect paint chips from your local hardware store, these are usually free and offer the opportunity to deep-dive on a particular tonal range. An earthy/ neutral paint chip (think beige, brown, sandy) and a more vivid paint chip (yellow, red, orange, green) gives the opportunity for participants to search for a range of colours. But this will be dependent on what is present in the immediate environment where you have chosen to search.
Once you have the paint chips, and the lay of the land, you’re ready to invite others to join you in a colour hunt.
All images on this article were taken by Toroa Creative (2021) - Thanks Te Kawa!
Each group is given a neutral and vivid paint chip. After being briefed of the boundaries and any potential hazards, the groups set out to find colours in the environment that match the colours on the paint chip.
*At this point we encourage participants not to pick any living flora, choose petals and leaves that have already fallen off the plant where possible. Even though we’re treasure hunting for colour, it’s important not to negatively disrupt the environment by killing plants! We also encourage people to pick up rubbish on this search too - please be careful of broken glass in the taiao.
The groups can have 5-10 minutes to search, then regroup to see if any colours are particularly elusive - then 2 more minutes to search again. Each team can present their findings to the wider group - or the teams can be encouraged to walk around and see how the others went. Perhaps there was a colour that one team found and another missed? Teams could present their hardest colour to find, or maybe their favourite? This is a nice chance to discuss the variety of materials and colours present in the taiao.
All images on this article were taken by Toroa Creative (2021) - Thanks Te Kawa!
At this point, we usually have our Earth Pigment hats on and we align this mahi to paint making methods. We ask the groups if any of the colours they found can be easily made into pigments/ powder by either crushing them in their hands or on a rock. From there we introduce a whenua identification exercise and a basic how to make paint tutorial.
That’s what we do, but this 10-minute colour hunt stand alone and can be a nice break from the day or a way to get people outside and observe the natural world.