By Esther Lauaki
Creativity is at the heart of the newest program at Lakeview Senior College in Caroline Springs.
Year 12 students are carving out a “legacy” by creating a totem pole with the help of indigenous artist Simone Thomson as part of their creative industries VCAL program.
Teacher Melanie Brooks, who leads the program with Rachel Collins, said the project was a hands-on experience for the students.
“We started our creative industries program this year and decided that we wanted to bring in an indigeous artist to work with the students to teach them how culture is represented in art,” Ms Brooks said.
“It’s really important for us to model and respect our indigenous culture to our kids.
“Aboriginal art is a way of storytelling and connection to Dreamtime … we came up with the idea of creating a totem pole where each student could represent something from their own culture while incorporating indigenous art themes into their piece.”
Each student will “thread” their completed art piece on to the pole, which will be installed at the garden near the school office.
“It will be there forever and will be a representation of themselves that they will leave with the college,” Ms Brooks said.
“We’re hoping to add more poles to the garden for the students to leave a legacy.”
