Pure magic.
What you get when business and community come together.
“The art piece I’ve created with the students, represents different parts of the community coming together to support each other and how a community working together can achieve great things.”
It started with the idea of working with the local Collingwood College and Indigenous artist Arkie, to create another mural to cover an otherwise boring wall of the GJK Facility Services carpark.
GJK approached Collingwood College’s, Principal Sam Luck, and art teacher Angela Dionysopoulos, with the idea of Arkie sharing her knowledge and stories of Indigenous art with the students.
The idea around this was to educate the students from grades 5 & 6, about Indigenous culture which would then form part of their art curriculum. Arkie shared her story and meaning behind her artwork with the students, inspiring them with ideas of what their symbol could be. The students were then asked to create their own symbol, which they would then paint onto the large community mural.
Arkie explained to the students; “In my art, I use contemporary and abstract symbols to depict things in the environment around us and also things about myself. A lot of my work uses a circular symbol which can mean many things across different Indigenous Australian people. For my family, it means campsites and meeting places”.
During the following weeks, the students worked on their designs with the excitement of knowing they would soon be part of a larger artwork on display for everyone to see.
Arkie’s vision behind this mural?
“The art piece I’ve created with the students, represents different parts of the community coming together to support each other and how a community working together can achieve great things.”
The big day came when students came together to paint their symbol on the GJK carpark. The excitement and energy pursued over the next 2 days resulted in a fabulous and colourful mural for the whole community to enjoy. Even the Mayor Danae Bosler City of Yarra, supported the cause and got involved by painting her own symbol with the students.
Angela Dionysopoulos explained, “Our students had the opportunity to learn about Indigenous culture and work alongside a professional artist. The students felt proud to be part of this project, this was evident when they took the time and effort to take their parents to the site to see the mural. Our school spirit is built by the community and we place great importance towards having ongoing relationships with our local community groups and our local Council, City of Yarra. Thank you to everyone that was involved in this wonderful project.”
GJK Facility Services, Executive Chairman & CEO, Steve Taylor “This collaboration between GJK Facility Services, Collingwood College, Yarra City Council and local Indigenous artist, Arkie, is a prime example of how business can work with the community. We are proud to have initiated this idea and sponsored the project that enabled the Students of Collingwood College to learn about Indigenous culture through art, whilst being able to give back to the community. It is something that the students can be proud of and look back on for many years to come.”