Blackwood Primary School
Blackwood Primary School is located in the Adelaide Hills region of South Australia, with an enrolment of 300 students.
The student body includes students from the following cultural and linguistic groups British Isles, South Africa, Indonesia, India, Russia, New Guinea, Germany, Greece, Iran, Lebanon, Slovakia and Bengal. Blackwood Primary is a Category 7 school.
The school is located close to the site of Colebrook Reserve, the former site of Colebrook Home for Aboriginal children of the ‘stolen generation’. Many of the home’s residents attended Blackwood Primary School up until the closure of the home in the 1970s. Last year two classes from Blackwood’s upper primary were involved in a history project of Colebrook Home and Reserve. Our Artists in Schools project evolved from the interest generated by the history project. The project has changed from our original concept to now consist of a large painting (3m x 2.5m) to be displayed in the school foyer and the Garden for Reflection located within the school grounds.
PROJECT COORDINATOR: Pauline Welsh
ARTIST: Linda Turner
PROJECT: ‘Reflection’ – an Aboriginal visual arts and culture project
Aims:
The aims of the school for this project were to create a lasting piece of artwork that reflected the connection our school has with Colebrook Reserve and the previous home for Aboriginal children located at the site. We also wished to extend our students’ knowledge of art techniques used by Aboriginal artists and to give them an understanding of the processes involved in creating a piece of art from the initial conception to the finished product.
The Artist:
Linda is an experienced visual artist with a very personal link to this project. Her father was a resident at Colebrook Children’s Home for most of his childhood – ‘this is a fantastic opportunity to work closely with the school not only for the students and community’s benefit but as a memorial for our family…’ Linda has worked as an HPI for school groups, exhibited and been an Artist in Residence for the Living Kaurna Cultural Centre (City of Marion).
The Process:
- Met with artist and discussed feasibility and logistics of the project.
- Linda worked with groups of 15–16 students, from 5 classes, for half a day at a time on four occasions over a 5-week period.
- Students were divided into groups to work on different aspects of the artwork.
- Once all the individual paintings were finished, pieces were selected to go in the final artwork. Pieces that were not selected for the main artwork will be used displayed either as part of a history of the project or in their own right.
- The garden was built by a contractor over a 3-week period.
- Students were involved in planting bush tucker plants in the garden beds around the shield-shaped wall.
- The artwork will be mounted in sections for ease of transport should we need to move it for exhibition elsewhere.
Outcomes:
As a school community we now have a central area to remind students of our connection with Colebrook Reserve and the residents of the home who were students at our school. This art project has awakened students’ interest in Aboriginal culture and art and in the history of their school.
Highlights:
As a school community we now have a central area to remind students of our connection with Colebrook Reserve and the residents of the home who were students at our school.
‘This art project has awakened students’ interest in Aboriginal culture and art and in the history of their school.’ Project Coordinator
216 students participated in this project
