University of Wollongong (UOW) Early Start Discovery Space and South Coast cultural organisation Bundanon have collaborated on new play-based art experiences for children and their adults that consider water in our environment.
In collaboration with Bundanon, and drawing on the expertise in creative arts pedagogies of their dedicated and passionate learning team, play based creative experiences have been designed with the Discovery Space team that will spark the curiosity and expand the creativity of young minds visiting in October and November.
Families will embark on a water-themed adventure within the Discovery Space, where prompt cards will guide visitors to explore different water-related installations throughout the space, from mesmerising water bubble tubes to the calming rain tank in the Circle Garden.
Children will then be invited to unleash their artistic talents with a variety of water-based art materials, including watercolour paper, paintbrushes, watercolour blocks, crayons, markers, oil pastels, and more.
At Bundanon, children will join in songs and water play followed by art making drawing on memories of water experiences in response to prompts such as “draw a happy water memory” or “draw water you can see at Bundanon”.
This collaboration is an outcome of UOW’s longstanding partnership with Bundanon.
Events at UOW Early Start Discovery Space
The Pod
30 October – 26 November
The Early Start Discovery Space has recently relaunched The Pod – an unstructured, open-ended play context where children can digitally access new experiences for rich and diverse play. Throughout October and November the space will include children’s responses to the question, ‘How does water move?”. This will prompt children to think of their own water experiences when they participate with artmaking experiences.
creARTivity
30 October – 26 November
When families arrive at the Discovery Space they will be given prompt cards encouraging them to visit places where children can experience playing with and observing water, before making their way to creARTivity to make their own amazing artworks inspired by water.
On Country art making
8 & 10 November
Families will meet staff at the Discovery Space and participate in a community walk on the UOW campus, observing creeks, pond, and bridges over waters ways. Children will the use watercolour paints to represent their experience.
Community collaborative artwork
22 November
Children will be invited to creARtivity to participate in communal art making by creating individual panels using chromatography paper, coloured water washes, trays and pipettes that will combine as one communal artwork.
Events at Bundanon, Illaroo
Bundanon Mini
16 November, 10am-11.30am
21 December, 10am-11.30am
18 January, 10am-11.30am
The Bundanon Mini activities connect with the organisation’s summer exhibition, Miwatj Yolŋu – Sunrise People, which explores storytelling, ecology and materiality in the works of Yolŋu artists. Like Bundanon’s location in the Shoalhaven, Yirrkala is a place where fresh and saltwater meet, and its lands and waterways inform diverse creative practices. Start by exploring the exhibition, then engage with some art making experiences with Bundanon’s learning team.
These 30 minute ‘making’ experience with Bundanon’s Learning team will utilise water soluble crayons and pencils, oil pastels, water colour blocks, frozen diluted acrylic inks and Bundanon water from tanks, bores or river to offer a new way for young children to engage with their experiences of the Art Museum.
