By Mikayla Van Loon
Yarra Hills Secondary College in Mount Evelyn hosted its annual community art show on Friday and Saturday 20-21 October, displaying the talent of students and year’s worth of work.
Bringing together techniques of pottery, photography, painting, graphic design and sculpture, art show coordinator David Lloyd said it was a show of individuality and personality.
“Pulling all the kids together in all different year groups and trying to show the individuality the kids have because the whole idea of us is not to teach them one thing but to let them be themselves,” he said.
“So we’re trying to be as inclusive as we can and to point them in all different directions.”
Not only does the annual art show display the work of high school students but that of students from both Birmingham and Mt Evelyn primary schools.
“Our school sends staff to those schools to do an art extension program,” campus principal Leighton O’Donnell said.
“We are a STEAM school and we work with our primary schools about what their curriculum looks like and how we can match it into a Year 7, all the way to Year 12, program.”
Mr Lloyd said one of the best displays of everyone working together to create something unique was a mural, pieced together by individual artworks.
“The mural is really good because it speaks a little bit about all the variety in the room and about how many kids are involved because it was Year 8s to 12s and few teachers, it got everybody involved,” he said.
“What we do best is allow kids to be themselves and to explore their own creativity. We deliver a curriculum, but we also, alongside curriculum, we actually teach kids how to be kids and how to do things.”
Awards were presented on the opening night to students for the best artworks, as well as for encouragement and effort.
The winning artworks will also be put on display for the broader Mount Evelyn community to see at the street party on 29 October.
“We take some of the art pieces that actually win and we’re putting them up as part of the community street party,” Mr O’Donnell said.
“So we’ll have our other STEAM things as well as our artwork there. We’ll open our flight simulator and more robotics and then put the art side to it so we can really showcase what we really stand for.”
