By Violet Li
Devon Meadows Primary School students created a new mural last week, in a wish to represent the school through arts.
About 90 students spent two days working with artists Brigitte Dawson and Melissa Turner of Melbourne’s Murals to create a mural based on the school’s values.
The green nature-orientated mural has now stayed on a wall against the school’s garden.
“It’s a collaborative process,” teacher Meg Meyer, who is also the organiser of the installation event, said.
“The artists talked to the students and the students spoke about what’s important to our school and how they wanted to represent the school through arts.”
The design was ultimately based on the land the school resides, which is filled with local flora and fauna, and the artists also used inspiration from student voices.
“It used to be a very much swampy area,” Meg said.
“We’ve got a small indigenous group at the school as well. And they have a group. They come together every Friday, and they do a yarn circle.
“And then those students come together, and they sing this song. And the song’s really beautiful, but it includes lots of animals. They go through all of the animals that are native to that space. It’s quite beautiful.
“That was our inspiration for the design of the mural.”
Meg said the artists did a good job coordinating with the students about what they thought should be realistic depictions of the mural.
“The students want the mural to look real. They want to feel like they’re walking into that pathway that goes into bushland, as that’s what the land in Devon Meadows was originally like,” she said.
“It’s quite beautiful because it connects to their history.”
Students were excited about the whole process, and now they want another one, Meg shared.
If there’s a next one, it would be more indigenous with more traditional symbols, she said.
