Sunday, December 6, 2009

More images of those that paint

The crew from FloeJoes


Saturday morning is a busy time and a good time to be painting


Nina painting


Cyril painting


Bradley painting

Let the paint flow free, the young crew that are painting are really enthusiastic, on Saturday mornings I spend all my time mixing colours that the painters tell me I should mix. I just go with the flow and it seems to be working out well. We even have a blue rabbit with white spots, wow!

Paint and enthusiasm combine to create?

Pricilla painting

Amber, Zac, Megan and Tayla taking a break to pose for the camera

Chris painting

Brodie, excited to be painting

Beau painting

The painting has begun!






The painting of the mural has taken off with a blast, and yes we cleaned and prepared the wall before painting.

Community workshop images






All in all the community workshops were very successful, considering past experience the level of community participation was relatively good. Several groups of committed youth regularly came along to the workshops as well as the those that dropped in for a look and stayed to produce some drawings and contribute ideas. All that attended added their thoughts on what should be included and what was important. Here are a small selection of images of those that participated.

Monday, November 23, 2009

More images

Artwork by Tnaya

Artwork by Daniel

Artwork by Amy

Artwork by Kyle

Artwork by Joel

Artwork by Kyle



Artwork by Shannon Lee


Images from the community workshops

Artwork by Andrew

Artwork by Chad

Artwork by Clay

Artwork by Tealah

Artwork by Bree


All community workshops have been completed. Design workshops were facilitated with all year 1-7 students from Carcoola Primary School and produced some fantastic images. Additional community workshops were conducted at the Carcoola Hall, on a Saturday morning from 9:30-11:30am over a 5 week period. The workshops attracted a committed group of youth and provided an opportunity to talk with a number of locals about the project. An additional design workshop was also facilitated with FloeJoes Friendship Club an intellectually challenged group that regularly meet here in Carcoola and have done so for the last 20 years.

Whilst participation in the design workshops has been predominately by youth, a small number of adults have contributed to the content of the mural through their comments and suggestions. It's unfortunate that the project has been generally perceived to be youth orientated, that's not a bad thing, in fact the level of youth support has been very encouraging and I suspect that as the painting of the mural progresses more youth and adults will continue to add content and scope to its development.
The natural environment featured strongly throughout the images generated with suggestions for mural content including:
  • Images of plants to reflect the street naming within Carcoola (all streets are named after Australian plants/trees.
  • Feminine and masculine qualities that could be depicted through colour and image, for example sports.
  • Bright and colourful, images that evoke qualities of the bush and farmland around Carcoola (the location of Carcoola is essentially surrounded by cattle farmland.



Saturday, August 15, 2009

Carcoola Primary School student images

Caleb (year 5 student)


Monique (year 6 student)


Patrick (year 1 student)


Harmony (year 3 student)


Aleasha (year 5 student)


Connor (year 2 student)


Courtney (year 7 student)


Kelvin and Raagon (year 2 students)


Chade (year 2 student)


Tayla and Monica (year 2 students)


Dylan (year 3 student)













Carcoola Primary School design workshops

Jordan and Cameron year 3 students of Carcoola Primary School



An initial series of design workshops have been conducted with the year 1-7 students from Carcoola Primary School. During the last 2 weeks I've visited each class of students and introduced the project, what we hoped to achieve and how they could become involved. I asked all students to draw a picture or write something special about Carcoola, their school or themselves. The response has been fantastic, its very refreshing to be involved with such an enthusiastic and pleasant bunch of students.

Sure..........they are a captive audience......in school and on their best behaviour, however in my experience with them they have all shown respect and enthusiasm for the project. Quite frankly, the students generally seem delighted to be involved and keen as mustard to "actually" do some painting on the walls of the underpass. Unfortunately, only students from years 4-7 will be able to participate in the painting and only in groups of 4 or 5 at a time.

It has been very interesting to see the imagery that is produced when the students have been asked to draw or write something which they regard as special. Some of the younger students have drawn drag cars, people playing cricket whilst others have chosen to write poems or produce quite detailed drawings of the Carcoola environment.

Next week I'll return to collect all the completed images and text, I'll post a selection of the work soon. Until then check out some photos of the student workshops.



Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Testing an anti graffiti coating


The surface of the underpass is a 30 year old cement render that has been painted (numerous times and with various types of paint?) and it appears to have been coated, albeit sometime ago with an anti graffiti coating. About 2 weeks ago I contacted Crommelin a paint and industrial coatings manufacturer to source a suitable anti-graffiti coating. The technical chemist was very helpful and offered to conduct a sample test on site ( 1 hour south of their facility) to determine suitability of their product. I was impressed, especially in light of the relatively small amount of product to be purchased. The Crommelin product had originally been developed as a clear barrier for dense substrates including:
  • marble,
  • granite
  • terrazzo,
  • reconstituted stone,
  • polished concrete and
  • vitrified stones.
If successful the mural project had the potential to open up another target area for the product.....................and it was successful..................the product proved ideal, it is water based, non sacrificial and can be spot retreated. The product is called Cromshield - Barricade MG1 at around $16.00 per litre from:

Crommelin
72 Division Street,
Welshpool 6106
Western Australia
ph: 9458 5711
also available from other outlets

Monday, June 15, 2009

Nth Pinjarra Pedestrian Underpass Mural


Please watch this space..........an exciting community art project taking place at Nth Pinjarra. Nth Pinjarra is also known as Carcoola a Nyungar name meaning "Place of many trees".

The project is a grass roots initiative, developed, designed and managed by the local Nth Pinjarra Progress Assoc and has been funded by the following:

  • Community Arts Network WA

  • Alcoa World Alumina Australia

  • Shire of Murray
with the support of the Carcoola Primary School.


The location of Nth Pinjarra is peculiar within the greater Peel region and has the unique history of being originally established in the early 1970’s as the housing estate for a new and emerging mining community employed by alumina producer Alcoa World Alumina Australia. Interestingly, in 2009 with a population of between 1300 and 1500, Nth Pinjarra finds itself situated in a precarious geographical void of being “too close to existing urban infrastructure to develop autonomy of identity and yet not close enough for inclusion and a sense of belonging”. The historical town of Pinjarra is located 4 kilometres to the south.

Whilst, the Nth Pinjarra community enjoys cultural and generational diversity, relatively low crime rates and a general sense of community safety, there is a wider community perception of semi isolation in regard to its locality within the Peel region.


The project is aimed at engaging local youth in its design, development and making. The emphasis upon youth participation in all aspects of the project is significant in light of the semi isolated nature of the community and the detrimental implications of alienation, be it social, geographical or economical. Through the medium of a community mural, the project seeks to provide community members with an exceptional and creative opportunity to explore and express their cultural identity, and through their actions achieve an enhanced sense of community ownership and pride.

The pedestrian underpass is situated in a prominent location, is easily accessible to the general community and maintains a strategic link in the urban design of the Nth Pinjarra public open space environment. The underpass has continued to function as a main safety access conduit for students of the near-by Carcoola Primary School for over 30 years.

In partnership with the Nth Pinjarra Progress Association, I will facilitate community member participation in a series of free design workshops at the local Carcoola Community Hall and conduct whole of school design workshops with the students from Carcoola Primary School. The intention of the workshops will be to encourage community members to explore social and environmental aspects of personal importance, and to consider the varied aspects that make Nth Pinjarra unique. Importantly, workshop participants will determine the mural theme through the incorporation of these aspects into the overall design of the mural.


All interested community members and school students will be encouraged to participate in the painting process. The mural will be painted with a combination of traditional mural paints and high quality modern urban art materials, and will be treated with an anti graffiti coating upon completion.