Devon Meadows Primary School student Samantha tempts Bluebell with a daisy.
By Sarah Schwager
MOOVE over Picasso.
The kids at Devon Meadows Primary School are giving the artist a run for his money.
A cow decorated by the children will feature alongside 20 other decorated bovines in the Love and War Picasso exhibition at the Royal Melbourne Show.
The primary school was one of 20 in the state to be given the chance to decorate a cow as part of a Dairy Australia competition.
Devon Meadows Primary School teacher Gail Foster said the school’s cow Bluebell, “because she’s got a blue bell”, was painted with pictures of children and toddlers promoting the dairy campaign.
The school was given two weeks to decorate the cow after its slogan ‘Dairy good for all Australia’s growing kids’ short-listed it in the competition.
Mrs Foster said about 40 children from grades four to six painted Bluebell.
She said the paintings were all original work chosen from drawings the students had done of babies, toddlers, grade preps and sixes, as well as dairy products, such as a tub of yoghurt.
Mrs Foster said it had been a lot of work to get the cow finished in time but the end product was worth it, complete with colourful sequins on Bluebell’s head.
“We won’t go down to the Royal Melbourne Show as a group because it will be school holidays, but some of the kids will go,” she said.
“We definitely want to see the competition.”
The Love and War Picasso exhibition will feature 250 pieces at the show, which runs from 21 September to 1 October.
The school that produces the most ‘mooving’ work of art will win a $1000 Myer voucher to spend on new equipment for its canteen or school.
The winning cow will be announced at the Royal Melbourne Show on World School Milk Day on 27 September in the town square at 1.30pm.
