Today was a special day. The whole day was dedicated to community. We opened up our little school to others in hope that we could give generously to each other. Students from Mercy Catholic College visited us for the day as part of their service learning. They brought clothing and food for us, as well as company and support. In returned we shared our archibull project with them. There was three goals for today: 1. To try and get the cow as close to being finished as possible. 2. To complete the majority of our multimedia / animation entry. 3. To build community in as many ways as possible. TLC students and Mercy students split into two groups. The first group gathered around the cow to keep adding to our art. The Mercy girls asked so many questions about what we had been learning and the intention of our cow. We took the time to share with them some of our newly found knowledge. The cow brought both groups together in rich conversation and helped to break the ice and make new friendships. By the end of the day the cow was really taking shape... so closed to being finished now. (Can you pick the mistake in the rainbow above?? We will fix it before submission!) The second group of TLC and Mercy students had the AMAZING privilege to work with rapper and spray artist Losty on our multimedia / animation entry. Losty is a friend of our school, mentoring and supporting our students whenever we need him. He gave up his time to work with us on this special project. Losty reinforced some previous spray art techniques he had taught us and we shared these techniques with the Mercy girls. I know it isn't clear what this has to do with our animation, but we promise we will tell you soon. The final product will make sense... but in the meantime here is a sneak peak! A massive shout out to Losty for his support in this project. We then all sat down and shared lunch with each other. The shared project connected us and we made friends and memories that will be with us for many years to come. This is what one of the Mercy girls, Imogen, wrote for their school newsletter. "The Lakes College Outreach was a day full of love, acceptance, laughter and community as we were welcomed into the 'Youth off the Streets' school in Blue Haven, an alternative school for teenagers who are disadvantaged or at risk. Full of excitement and nerves the day started in a circle, where we introduced ourselves to the teenagers of Lakes College and vise versa. We cooked a delicious breakfast of smashed avocado, toast, bacon and eggs and fruit. A little nervous and uneasy we shared a few laughs and conversations as we ate breakfast. The day remained challenging and a little confronting, however it was an experience that has shaped us and will continue to impact us. It was challenging to start conversations at start and confronting to hear of all the different circumstances that each kid had or is going through. As the day progressed, friendships formed, laughter was heard from afar and trust was built. The sounds of thoughtful and friendly conversations filled the air, as we spray painted a mural, hung out and worked on an art project. The wonder of community was displayed as we shared a lovely meal together outside. Many hands came together to prepare the food and set/ decorate the table so that we could enjoy a moment of fellowship and unity. Right in that moment we were all the same, no matter the circumstances we all faced, in that moment we were all in our most human state, smiling, eating, laughing and talking. In that moment we all belonged. The day ended where we started, in a circle. We each expressed something we were grateful for that day. Tears we shed, smiles were widened and once again laughter filled the room. Our hearts were full. Us Mercy girls left the college with opened eyes, softened hearts and a passion to see beyond people right to their core. We are grateful and blessed that we got the opportunity to be involved in such a rich experience. " This is what this project has, and continues to do for us and those that are part of the community we continue to build in and around our school. (Note: This is only part of the team. We have a few shy students who didn't want their photo snapped!)
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We are slowly making progress on lil' t-bone. We didn't realise how time consuming and large this project really was! Passers by our classroom (which is based in the local community centre) stop by and ask us what we are doing. Kids exclaim "Look at the cow mummy" and we hear the occasional "Look there's a cow. No bull!" We are proud at the progress we are making. However, it is important to note that not everything has gone to plan. For example, we experimented with cracking medium to use on the back of our cow. We wanted the paint to crack like the dry land in rural Australia. We youtube and experimented on the fibre glass we had cut out of our cow... BUT when we actually did it on the cow it didn't work. So we had to come up with a plan B and in the end we drew the cracks on by hand. Additionally the inside of the cow still proves to be an issue. We will explain the purpose of the hole in the cow in a later blog. However, our urgent problem is how to cover it. We took a sheet of patchwork material and covered it with pledges. One aspect of the cow is our pledge to make different choices about the way we think about food, the way we deal with food waste, how we speak up about environmental issues, and support our farming community. Here are some of out pledges. But there was a problem... when we put it inside the cow, it was too dark and we couldn't read them. We experimented with lights which looked cool, but didn't really make a difference. It is funky, but not what we are going for. So... Plan C. Plan C included cow hide and a bucket with the pledges to be written on the bucket. Still not quite what we want. Back to the drawing board! Watch this space to see what Plan D looks like! (We have to figure it out ourselves first!
Here are some more shots of our team work and ongoing progress on the cow.... oh and us sitting down and sharing another delicious meal together. In addition to painting our cow, we have been working on many features and additional textures that will help our cow tell a story and be eye-catching to those passing by. Catriona and Chelsea have taken responsibility for our peg people. These people will represent a healthy community living unaware of what farmers have had to do to provide them with the food on their table and many of their other day to day products. (More on this later.) We also have a little person representing a lone farmer. Catriona worked hard on painting his overalls and making sure he looked perfect. But... although we LOVED what Catriona was doing, we wanted to bring these characters to life even more. At Youth Off The Streets we have some amazing volunteers that give up there time to support us in many ways. We asked one of our volunteers, Kathy, to help us out. She went away with a brief and came back with the MOST AMAZING clothing for our healthy community. She even crocheted an akubra hat for our farmer! We loved trying on the different outfits and working out the best combinations. We cannot wait to add them to our final design. We have also begun to layer our cow with many other textures. Aaliyah and Kelly have been working on creating the Great Dividing Range. The Great Dividing Range is the mountain range parcelling the coast line of Eastern Australia. It is also a significant symbol for our cow. The Great Dividing Range signifies the divide between coastal and inland Australia and the divide between city and rural communities. It will separate the two ends of our cow. We are also working on many other small features for our cow which we will elaborate later on in the blog.
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AuthorThe amazing students from The Lakes College, Youth Off The Streets Archives
September 2018
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