Monday, January 11, 2010

Some images of the mural








The last weeks of the school year 2009

Kira painting


Nina painting


Beau painting


Curtis painting


Emma painting


Nina, Beau and Curtis painting


Alex painting


These are some images of students painting the mural as they prepare for the 2009 end of school year break. Since painting of the mural began I've been fortunate to have had the enthusiastic support of the Carcoola Primary school students. Throughout most mornings from 9:00am till around 11:30am groups of 4/5 students have been contributing their painting skills and ideas to the development of the mural. They have all been a fantastic, positive and highly creative group........well done!

Painting on Saturdays

Rhys, Jayden and Zac chillin out


Chad and Rhys take a break


Aleasha and Jayden painting


Since painting began on the mural, Saturday mornings has been promoted as an open session to all interested members of the community. Anyone who would like to paint and or contribute their ideas and suggestions on how the mural might progress has been encouraged. I'm pleased to say there has been a very enthusiastic group of local youth that have embraced this opportunity and played an important role in the unfolding of the mural. Their contribution has been significant, helping to shape the content and design of the mural.

The intention of the project has always been to allow the mural to evolve through the input of community members. Whilst the design stage of the project was important as determined through the extensive series of workshops conducted with Carcoola school students at the primary school and with community members at the Carcoola Community Hall. The outcomes of the design stage were never intended to be fixed as the exclusive content of the mural, but rather serve to provide a starting point from which painting could commence.

Throughout the painting process participants have been encouraged to comment on the development of the mural through questions such as:

What do you think we should paint there? What would be a good colour for this or that? Someone suggested ..........what do you think about that and what would you like to see in the mural?

The ideas as suggested by the participants have been incorporated where ever possible into the mural as it is being painted. The process of constant renewal of mural content has provided an interesting dynamic in that it has allowed the mural to develop and remain relevant to any participant at the time of their involvement.

It has also provided an excellent mechanism for ensuring community ownership in the mural is enhanced. Another interesting outcome of the process has been the inclusion of multiple themes and designs upon each panel of the concrete walls of the underpass.