Museum sculpture captures the essence of Mangawhai

HOO-RAY: Artist Joy Agar proudly displays her work of art which will be symbolic of the new museum for many years to come.

Recent visitors to the Mangawhai Museum will now be aware of the swooping short-tailed stingray that holds pride of place above the entrance to the main hall. 

As the old museum at the Village is now officially closed the new building will now become a focal point for many community activities.

Though the name Mangawhai has varying interpretations, one relates to Te Whai – where the streams meet and the stingray lives. There has always been quite a presence of the rays in the waters around Mangawhai.

In keeping with the architecture of the building, this sculpture is the work of local artisan Joy Agar. Joy applied considerable time and effort in getting dimensions of the ray correct and even visited  Kelly Tarlton’s Underwater World in Auckland to study more closely the relative size, colour and markings in order to craft as authentic a product as possible.

Planning done, the many hours of labour included guidance by Noel Foster who taught her to weld, a skill required for the the basic framework of the fish.

While it appears graceful in-situ, the ray carries a solid steel framework and took four men and some hefty machinery to transport and site, where it now enjoys pride of place.

Joy is proud and humbled to have been awarded the commission to craft this icon of the museum which is dedicated to the memory of Roy Coombes, a man with tremendous foresight, acumen and energy whose legacy will be reflected in many of the projects and facilities Mangawhai now enjoys.