Students make their mark on Motor Works

Visitors to Senior School’s Motor Works precinct may have already noticed the brand new, boldly decorated exterior to the visual arts space. This is the result of a collaborative effort between members of our student-led Art Committee and one of our most recent artist-in-residence – Mongolian-Australian artist, Heesco.

The mural represents emblems of some of the Senior School Houses, an idea that came together during the students’ first session with Heesco. “When you first look at it, you might not realise that each element represents a different House, but then it clicks,” says Year 12 student Oscar Sutton, one of two secretaries of the 2022 Art Committee. “Working with Heesco we learned about sketching, blocking, and how much fine detail you can create by just using spray paint.”

Heesco initially spent a few weeks with Art Committee members last year, collectively planning and sketching the mural. However, following this, a bout of COVID related off-campus learning meant that the painting of the artwork had to wait until 2022.

“Once we started painting, the mural came together in just a couple of days, which I thought was impressive,” Oscar says. “It’s rewarding to work with young people and to see the potential of their skills,” says Heesco, who is well known for his murals on streetscapes and on structures as large as silos and major city buildings. “I told them: If you want to start making work like this, you just have a grab a brush.”

“I love the way this kind of work brings art into contact with so many different types of people, and how it turns the street into a gallery,” Heesco adds.

“The members of the Art Committee really wanted to be part of the process of making a mark on the School itself,” explains Head of Creative and Performing Arts and Committee mentor, Adam Cawood. “While the process was put on hold for a time, the end result shows that an Artist-in-Residence program doesn’t necessarily need to be long to provide a worthwhile learning experience for students.”