Student art show opens at Coorong Gallery
Works by school students from around the district will be on display at Tailem Bend all summer.
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It’s said that art enables students to find themselves and lose themselves at the same time.
Given the personal insights from students exhibiting at this year’s Coorong Student Art Show, most have done just that.
Among them was Meningie Area School student Winter Rose.
Within weeks of arriving from New Zealand, she had hand-crafted and is now exhibiting her sentimental family serving board, featuring her late father’s legendary racehorse One Strike.
“We all loved One Strike, in fact the whole of the east coast of New Zealand loved him, so I wanted to take this opportunity to honour my dad’s passing and his passion for his horse, forever,” Winter said.
Another student, Charlie Nankivell-Watkins, crafted a special wooden bunny as a gift for her little sister, Georgie, as a personal tribute to Georgie’s birthdate spirit animal.
“It’s been a lot of fun preparing our artworks and we’ve learnt a lot about each other and also ourselves,” Charlie said.
“I’ve really enjoyed seeing where all the council decisions are being made for us.”
Students from all over the district arrived en masse for the opening of the exhibition last Thursday, and were pleasantly surprised to be able to observe their artworks in the council chambers from the comfort of their councillors’ high-back leather chairs.
Featuring inspirational creations from the district’s talented students, the exhibition hopes to encourage other youth to participate in art and find ways to express themselves in whichever way they desire.
The focus of the yearly exhibition is to encourage cultural awareness, improve personal academic performance and individuals motor skills, assist with visual learning, problem solving and decision making – and, most of all, encourage collaboration between students and schools.
Supportive local artists believe that helping students learn through and about the arts, enriches their experience of studying and can prepare students for life after school.
The Coorong Student Art Show focusses on encouraging self-expression and creativity to help students build confidence as well as a sense of individual identity.
The Coorong Student Art Show will be open to the public at the Coorong Gallery, 95-101 Railway Terrace, Tailem Bend until February 1, 2024.
Viewing times are Monday to Friday, 9am-4.30pm, subject to the availability of the council chambers and excluding the council’s Christmas closure.
