Young artists leave their mark

Raglan Old School Arts Centre holiday programme artists left their mark in paint to commemorate ANZAC Day.

The youngsters, aged from five to nine, painted a poppy mural at the centre in a process that took place during the two-week programme.

Leaving an indelible mark at the Old School, the children started rolling and dabbing the landscape over several days in the first week and finished the poppy details in the second week.

Holiday programme supervisor Jill Freeman says as well as learning some large-scale art techniques they also touched on the history of the ANZACs.

“Most had some knowledge of the ANZAC history and it gave them a sense of purpose in their art.”

ROSAC arts facilitator Jacqueline Anderson says the mural is the beginning of a series of themed murals to be painted by holiday programme students in the future.

“It’s something we’ve wanted to do in a long time and the mural puts a smile on my face every time I turn up to work, as I hope it will do for our community and visitors to the centre.”

She says the process started with generous donations of paint by Murdo Shaw and his team from Wattyl/Valspar Paints and preparation work by the community workers.

“A project like this is always a labour of love and wouldn’t be possible without the support of all those involved,” Jacqueline says.