School Mural Program: Armadale Primary School

School Mural Program Scope: 25m long mural on external brick wall, customised Hands On Session for full school of 250 students + Creative Expression Session for 250 students to create their own artwork to take home.

Brief: The mural was to celebrate Armadale Primary's 140th year. Students were asked in class time what they felt would best represent the schools history, present and future. I used these ideas generated from students to create a story of Armadale Primary School using reoccurring themes of lots of colours, the schools iconic steeple building, the original school mascot of an Armadillo, students friendships & staff as well as the saying "our school maybe small, but our hearts are big".

The Program: I worked closely with Connie the Assistant Principal at Armadale Primary School to find the perfect wall space to create a mural for their school. To use the ideas generated from students to create a design that would suit the 25m long wall that would also provide the canvas for all 250 students to contribute to the schools mural through my unique Hands On Sessions.

The Hands On Sessions (unique Paint By Numbers workshops) were customised to ensure every student had the opportunity to contribute to the schools mural. Spread over a week I ran these sessions by breaking down the mural into sections that allowed each year level to feel valued in their contribution and get the most out of the Program to feel like they played a part in creating the mural. Preps through to Grade 6's all had suitable workshops to fit in with their ability level so they enjoyed the workshops.

The final part of the Program includes a Creative Expression Session (currently postponed until 2025 to fit into Art Week activities). This aspect of the Program will allow all the students to create their own piece of artwork, embrace their creative expression and play with paint markers, spray paints and paints to create their own art that captures the schools 140 year history and celebrate the Armadale Primary Community.

Assistance Principal Connie had this to say:

“The whole school loves the new mural! The students have loved spending the week with Kyle helping to paint the mural and seeing their ideas come to life! I've got so much positive feedback from staff and parents seeing how Kyle's art has really brightened up the school.… Kyle was fantastic to work with and really amazing with the students, even taking the time to be interviewed by some of our art students...”

The Design: 

The design was to share the story of the school over its 140 years of history. The ideas were generated by students in their class time and given to me to work with. The reoccurring themes the students highlighted were: representing Australia through native animals & plants, using lots of colours, incorporating the schools iconic Steeple building and the schools original mascot of an Armadillo, as well as lots of mentions of friendships and the teachers at the school. In addition a common saying the occurred through these ideas was "our school maybe small but our hearts are big".

To capture these ideas and create the story I used a Rainbow Lorikeet to capture the "colourful" aspects as well as incorporate native animals into the design. The Mana Gum leaves throughout the design, traditionally used in smoking & welcome ceremonies by First Nations people, symbolise the friendships and teachers at the school through a sense of Community.

The butterflies are native Victorian butterflies called Painted Lady's. These are symbolic of the "small school with big hearts" as the butterflies are small insects but play a big part in our native environment through pollenating flowers and helping growth.

I used the schools iconic Steeple building and the schools original School Number of 2639 to nod to the 140 years of operation in the community. Likewise adding the schools original mascot of the Armadale Armadillo into the design as a nod to the schools history.