Grant-funded art workshops growing artistic potential in Nambucca Valley students

After applying for an arts education grant last year, the Valley received $5,500 to go towards the workshops – which are being held at different locations around the Shire – and an exhibition at the Nambucca Community and Arts Centre (NCAC) later this year.

Last week, Macksville Public and High, and Scotts Head Public kids got a chance to explore their self-expression, while this week was Nambucca’s turn.

Next week Bowraville gets the nod, and the following week will be hosted at Medlow Public, with Stuarts Point and Eungai coming along for the ride.

The Valley 10 – our 10 public schools – are each selecting five students to participate in the day-long workshops.

“We haven’t done anything like this in the Valley before,” Ms Landers said.

“The Valley 10 principals all regularly come together to work on big educational ideas for our own schools, but then we sort of go back to our own schools and are a bit secluded.

“This is helping to bring everyone together. And it’s really nice to have an opportunity for my kids to engage with other students in the Valley.

Specialist art teacher Lisa Zanderigo has put her hand up to lead the workshops, and is keen to introduce the students to a range of techniques and ideas they might not necessarily be familiar with.

Our young artists will be using acrylics to paint landscapes on canvases which reflect different aspects of the Nambucca Valley.

They’ll be introduced to a variety of brush and colour blending skills, and will be inculcating ideas like the grid principle and the rule of thirds to explore proportion and design principles.

“And we’re trying to foster freedom of expression,” Ms Zanderigo said.

“We’re wanting to encourage students to not replicate a carbon copy of the inspiration images, but use their own imagination and style.”

Once the images are complete they’ll be hung in an exhibition at NCAC which is being planned for the weeks of Saturday, November 24 to December 13, with an opening night on the 24^th.

Nambucca Valley Arts Council (NVAC) exhibition coordinator Peta Coe said the council had been waiting for an opportunity like this to come along for over a year.

“We’ve been particularly wanting to get high school students involved in NVAC – and we’re hoping this might generate more interest from young entrants in our Biennial Art Exhibition,” she said.

While the details of the exhibition are still coming together, Peta, and president Celia Ramsay are hoping to bring students from other non-visual arts disciplines into the mix too.