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Zart Extra Term 2 2010

Making a Difference in the Whole School Community

Urquhart Park Primary School

In many school communities, art is simply seen as a subject where students have fun and play with paint. As an artist and art teacher, I see the importance of sharing the impact that art has on students as well as communities, the impact it has on self development, social development and creative thinking.

In April 2009, Urquhart Park Primary School was successful in receiving a Student Focused Youth Services grant. Our project aims were to engage otherwise disengaged students, to create community partnerships and networks to support further art projects and to build on our arts culture within the school community. Many local businesses donated tiles, glue, grout, tools, graphic design and printing services and concrete.

Our sculpture was developed by the students at our school with the guidance of Deborah Halpern, an artist based in Warrandyte, Victoria. Deborah works in a range of mediums but is well known for her public mosaic sculptures. After some internet searching and emails, I finally tracked her down and we started a discussion that inspired us both. What grabbed our attention was that the project we were about to embark on had huge potential to engage children, to promote students having positive experiences, achieving success, participating, building relationships and a connectedness with school.

Deborah was introduced to our school and presented her work at an assembly, after which we had a whole day workshop developing ideas for the sculpture. The children were instructed to draw whatever they loved and felt was special. This developed a unique ownership and a connection between the artwork and each student. The ideas were collected and Deborah chose multiple drawings that became the basis for the sculpture design. The design ended up looking like a mother with open arms and an embracing skirt.

We developed an arts committee that consisted of five parents and three artists. The project would never have survived without the support and hard work of the committee. They worked on a roster with a select group of students each week. When selecting students, we considered improving achievement satisfaction in students, relationship building, enjoyment, attendance, participation and concentration. The committee worked for five months tiling. Precise cutting and gluing of each and every tile was critical, meticulous work.
Prior to gluing, the students participated in a family fun day, parents and grandparents came along and began wrapping the aluminium armature with expanded mesh. The armature was then covered with cement on one side, flipped and covered on the back.

The Ballarat City Council funded a ‘Meet the Artist’ session with Deborah Halpern at the Art Gallery of Ballarat which drew attention to our project and assisted in creating a support network.

Regional Arts Victoria funded a documentary of the process of creating the project, the ups and downs, capturing the students at work, the students engaged, and the students happy.
Each student from grade two to six painted a bisque tile with under glaze and clear glaze and the University of Ballarat kindly allowed us to fire the tiles in their large kiln. Students painted whatever they wanted to on the tiles. Each student’s tile was glued down on the sculpture and coloured wall tiles were cut and placed as a border.

In November, Barry James Cranes brought their engine crane and turned our sculpture over to enable us to finish the grouting. On December 3rd, we invited them back and they carried the sculpture into place with a large crane. They placed her down and she was home, once attached firmly to the base with concrete. We started tiling the base and finally completed it with black grout. By this stage, the committee were working with students two to three days a week, cutting and gluing.

Finally our evening came, the unveiling of Beautiful Angel. Beautiful Angel brought together our school and wider community, empowered students and celebrated the joys of art and its inspiring nature.

Emily Moody
Urquhart Park Primary School


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