19 students in Years 3 to 6 participated in Light Shadow, a Creative Arts Extra-Curricular program held throughout Term 1 exploring themes relating to design and creativity.
Over eight weeks, students experimented with creating light sculptures from reclaimed and upcycled materials, drawing inspiration from shadow sculpture, lantern design and light installation. The aim of the program was to connect students with their inner creative voices, allow space for those voices to be heard, and then to learn the skills required to transform their ideas into reality.
Educator and Artist, Mr Daniel Silver led the program, encouraging students to experiment with materials and aesthetic and to engage in continued self reflection to learn from their processes, failures and successes. Mr Silver said, “Things never turn out exactly the way you imagine them, and to open, accept and embrace that is a really beautiful learning journey for the girls to experience.”
Holly Houssarini, Cicely Lomas and Kate Salmon from Year 6 based their major work on the influence of Chinese culture in Australia. They used different materials to symbolically represent their image of the cultural exchange taking place. In the centre of their work, a sculpted hand made from clay held of bowl of blue and green rice resembling the Earth and a single candle flame to represent unity.
Ella Cherrington and Zara Fite from Year 5 worked together to construct and illuminate an Orca Whale. During the program they discovered a shared passion for Orca Whales and a new friendship was created alongside their artwork. Throughout the process, the pair faced many design challenges and opportunities for problem-solving while attempting to form plastic, popping many balloons and having to work overtime to get the project finished.
All of the works were on display at Light and Shadow, an exhibition held at Wenona on Wednesday 6 April, 2016. With the help of Mr Silver, the students took responsibility for curating the exhibition space, arranging the various installations and discussing their work with attendees. Dressed in black, the students adorned themselves with LED lights as part of the exhibition, emphasising the performative aspect of their experience.
Zara’s father, Mr David Fite, said, “It was great to see the creativity and to see the ingenuity in trying to bring to life what they wanted to do.” Ella’s mother, Mrs Sophie Cherrington, spoke of their newly formed appreciation for Orca Whales, stating, “The girls didn’t know they [both] had a love for Orcas and the marine environment and they found that out as part of the process.”