Way back in the early part of the year, I began putting together a proposal for a Community Art project to present as part of the Mornington Peninsula Shire's Placemaking Grants program. The concept built on a previous pop up Art experience presented as part of Balnarring Village Common's 2010 World Environment Day Celebrations, where participants expressed their hopes for their environment and displayed those thoughts on a tree. The new project continues the idea, using the form of Tibetan prayer flags to express the community's hopes and dreams. Fortunately - the grant application was successful, so in July planning began for community workshops to be held throughout winter and spring. From the beginning, the plan was to display the flags as part of the Balnarring Spring Garden Festival in October - but with the Balnarring Community Sustainability Fair scheduled for the previous week - wiser heads prevailed and we decided to combine the events... such a good way to reach a broader audience all the while staying sane with the amount of effort needed to put on this kind of thing. Phew. Test workshops began in July with the Presentation Family Centre Holiday Program and continued with the Balnarring Quilters and local brownies having fun with text, printmaking techniques and stitching. The next workshop happens at the Balnarring Hall on Friday August 21 4-5.30 pm... stay tuned.
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Along with the Wall collection we installed the final cubby construction from the grade 5-6 students. Being outside on the land, there was much finger crossing and forecast checking for the weather. Wind could be the project's downfall (literally), and with projected breezes from the south west i decided to play safe and put the installation in sheltered spot in the shade of a large acacia. It had a cubby kind of feel, and with the ground underneath relatively flat - we had a good base to lay boards for overall stability. In case of emergencies, I had a kit of ropes with tent pegs, tarps and posts, spay adhesive, and adhesive tape to make sure the whole thing didn't blow away. The plan was to bring along the boxes, and allow the kids to build their own cubby in an interactive art display. Here's what happened... Throughout the day, several different configurations emerged... with the students enjoying finding their own construction then placing it in the perfect spot. Kids who weren't involved in the workshops were also keen to be involved, which was great. I had hoped that more of the students would take their mini cubbies home once the garden festival had finished, but at the end of the day pretty much all of the boxes remained. So, with the help of a (mostly willing) team of volunteers we carried the boxes across the land and back to school for the students to pick up from there. The above photos are thanks to the incredibly talented Jai Seales who captured the day beautifully here.
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December 2018
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