The design theme was workshopped around historical stories about the local river and surrounds. I asked participants to focus on design elements such as colour, shape, pattern, feeling and texture to illustrate their responses to the stories provided. The reason I asked participants to focus on depicting their artworks through these design elements (rather than literal depictions of the stories provided), was because the funding body for the mural would like to see an abstract outcome. They particularly liked a previous mural that I undertook during my recent time in Thailand (shown below) so I'm sourcing input from participants that might feed into this brief. I'm imagining I can adapt this style for this new mural, to incorporate large blocks of colour and pattern, interweaved with elements taken from the participants' designs.
One 80 year-old resident described the area as a ‘hole’ in the river, where the river bends and turns west. The hole was always a good place to catch fish – school dew, mullet, whiting, mud crabs, prawns, etc. People would walk through the knee-high water from Duck St, along a gravel bed, scooping up prawns.
A group of residents who were children in the 1950s described their association with Rafting Grounds. As children they frequented the area, but would always seek permission from the lady whose property adjoined the paddock above the Rafting Grounds. This was a safety arrangement – to ensure no children drowned there. The children were terrified of a large grey horse in the paddock which charged at them as they crossed to go to the Rafting Grounds. They would often climb a mulberry tree to hide and wait for an opportune moment to cross.
Later next week, once the second design session is undertaken with a kindergarten, we will go through all of the designs to pluck out colour combinations, textures, patterns and concepts to weave into an overall mural design for the wall space. It's getting exciting!
