Internationally renowned artist Rone has partnered with Newcomb Secondary College and Geelong Gallery to produce a collaborative mural to harness the power of the arts to improve young peoples’ health and wellbeing.
About 450 students at Newcomb Secondary College responded to the question ‘Using visual expression through our mural, how can we create a school space where people feel confident to thrive, connect and grow?’.
During a co-design workshop, students selected their school colours, school initials NSC, and school emblem (a seahorse) to be represented in the design.
Students also explored imagery of water as the school is located close to Port Phillip Bay, Bellarine Peninsula and Lake Connewarre. The mural design also incorporates a ‘fungi person’ and a flower pattern to represent growth.
The project is part of VicHealth’s Jumpstart! Round 1 initiative in which Geelong Gallery received $27,200 to provide young people in the Geelong region with greater access to arts programs and contemporary artists.
“Providing these young people with an opportunity to take a leading role in all decision-making processes and supporting them to collaborate and work with their peers, and to plan and co-design this public mural has been an incredibly fulfilling experience,” collaborating artist Rone said.
“The outcome of the mural is just a small component of the hidden benefits of a project like this.”
Newcomb Secondary College art teacher Ben Davis said the class painting sessions “often started with excitement, a little confusion and some nervous trepidation”.
“This quickly gave way to a collective buzz and then – shortly after – a calm would descend as 25 students were painting and focused simultaneously,” he said.
“The result is here before us. Together we have moved from the seed of an idea to the completion of our mural.”
Year 7 student Ethan said the project was “really fun”.
“Like a big puzzle for the whole school and I got to fix up Rone’s mess,” he said.
Fellow Year 7 student Zander said he was taking his time to do his best work “because it is going to be here forever”.
