Queanbeyan High School SRC committee members, clockwise from left, Grayce Cooper, Ben Cowe, Ty Phelps, Hayley Phelps and Maddison Godden have spent months working on mosaics to feature in the Crawford Street Lifestyle Precinct.
THE Queanbeyan High School SRC is busy breaking tiles and gluing them back onto boards in artful arrangements. The six students, in consultation with artist Kim Grant, are making three of 10 feature mosaics for the Crawford Street Lifestyle Precinct.
School captain Maddison Godden said the committee was eager to be part of the mosaic project when the Queanbeyan City Council asked them. They were originally asked to submit one mosaic but another two were requested. ‘‘We wanted to see what could do as a school for our community,’’ Miss Godden said. ‘‘They provided us with the material and we had a professional artist help us design it.’’
The students brainstormed with Ms Grant to come up with the designs and have dedicated Monday afternoons for the past three months to the project. ‘‘We had a brief to meet three themes – youth, education and sport,’’ Miss Godden said. ‘‘We talked about what we thought represented it visually and Kim would draw up the design and we would say yes or no if there was anything we would change.’’
The education mosaic shows a school, an open book and a sun bursting in the background, the sport one has black silhouettes of a footballer, cricketer, soccer player and roller derby skater and the last one, youth shows musical notes, a chessboard and flowers and plants to represent growth.
The students will officially hand over the mosaics to mayor Tim Overall on Friday, June 15 and glue them onto the Crawford Street Lifestyle Precinct the following week. ‘‘Seeing the finished product has given us a sense of accomplishment, that you’ve done something for the community and for yourself,’’ Miss Godden said.
It is expected the artworks will be installed on seats and be a fixture on the street for at least 50 years. ‘‘I can’t wait in 50 years’ time to take my grandchildren to see the mosaics and say ‘Look, I made these in school’,’’ Miss Godden said. ‘‘We can’t wait for them to be out for the community to see and appreciate.’’ The precinct will be opened on Saturday, June 30.