Young and old and everyone in between came together in the old Nambucca fire station for an afternoon of celebration.
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Gardening has been the main catalyst of the 'Growing Together' space for the past few years, but more recently art has taken a prime position inside the station, thanks to the openness of Uniting Church's Graham Jones and the gardeners.
Nancy Sposato is the architect behind the Nambucca Heads Arts Studio which began with a holiday program for youth in October 2018.
"As an artist relatively new to the area Nambucca Heads Arts Studio grew out of my personal need to connect with other local creatives and to establish a space for creatively minded youth to follow their passions. As the studio has gathered momentum so have our aims as a space that nurtures local stories and culture," she said.
Since the program started 60 people of all ages have participated in the classes, with the fruits of their artistic labours now hung for all to see on the walls the old fire station.
"All of this happened because of this space," Nancy said at the afternoon tea.
This is a thankyou for being so very open to this becoming a creative space."
As a gesture of their appreciation, the Arts Studio gifted the gardeners a hand-made clay wind-chime and two pots, one filled with thyme.
"I like to think of this as a metaphor; with thyme this relationship will continue to grow," she said.
Garden coordinator Graham said this was the first time the gardeners had the chance to meet the artists in the space, and was thrilled by the interactions he was witnessing.
"We're really pleased to have this collaboration between young people, middle aged and old people - this garden was always meant to be inter-generational," he said.
"And art will help attract more people to this space."
He thanked the artists for their gift and marveled that a piece of the Arts Studio will now be represented in the garden itself. He also prompted that there might be more collaborations in future - perhaps some hardy labels for each garden bed.
Leonor Pell is one of the young artists at the Studio and said she couldn't imagine a world without art. She loves stepping into the fire station for her weekly classes.
"It's got a really good feeling to it, and it's a space where I can practise my art without feeling judged," she said.
She said she was looking forward to next year when classes started up again.