AN array of colourful paintings from children as young as two years old lined the walls of the Mallee District Aboriginal Services (MDAS) Hall in Swan Hill last Friday.
Over the summer holidays, several painting sessions were run by MDAS staff for children from playgroup to high school to create works for MDAS’ first youth art exhibition.
MDAS staff Donna Burnett co-ordinated the sessions which taught children how to paint and understand cultural symbols as well as incorporate them into their artwork.
“We’ve had lots of positive feedback for parents and the children have really enjoyed themselves,” Ms Burnett said.
“I think everyone has walked away having a lot of fun, and there were children that didn’t want to leave at the end of the day.”
Ms Burnett said children were encouraged to express themselves as much as possible while learning about Aboriginal culture.
“It wasn’t about taking art lessons, it was more about creating our own art and our own interpretations of our art.”
“I told them that we all interpret our own work and each others’ work differently, and that’s OK.”
“Some of children already came with thoughts of what they wanted to paint and others yarned and thought about their ideas together.”
MDAS staff Krystal Gadsby said children of all ages attended the sessions together and older children naturally mentored the younger ones.
“A few of the older children were already knowledgeable about symbols, so they were able to mentor and guide the younger children through the sessions,” she said.
“Things like this are also helping them build those leadership skills for the future.
Ms Gadsby said she hopes MDAS can run another Youth Art Exhibition in the future.
“This the first time we’ve done something like this and I hope we can do it again,” she said.
“It was really rewarding seeing the children learning and doing something they love.”
“We just look forward to see them creating and expressing themselves, which is quite important.”
