'The Chambered Nautilus'

"In 1944 when I was a pupil at O.G.H.S. (Otago Girls' High School) the principal, Miss Mary King, introduced "The Chambered Nautilus" by Oliver Wendell Holmes as the school osng. It was set to music by C.Roy Spackman the music teacher. many years later when I was a teacher at the school I noted how much the song had become an integral part of school functions.

When the new school additions became the "Mary King" building I was designing this mural. The spiral shape of the nautilus shell was used as a meaningful focal point. I used this shape several times in the mural to emphasise the growth and development achieved through education.

The masks and figures on the right-hand side are from the early part of girlhood and these are interspersed with stylised blossoms and crocuses.

The left side of the mural shows the maturation into womanhood. Autumn themes such as rainfall, falling leaves, thistledown and chrysanthemums predominate.

The mural is 10' x 7' and took me four months to complete. It consists of padded wool shapes and panels with surface embellishment of embroidery done in both wool and metallic threads. The colours are mainly reds, pinks and violets with navy trim and are meant to complement the neutral interior walls."

Betty Fraser, 1991