Journey through art at Melton West Primary School

02/02/17 mural. Students Amelia and Riley helped paint a mural for the school. Photo by Kristian Scott

A colourful, Dreamtime-inspired mural adorns the walls of two portable classrooms at Melton West Primary School.

Grades 5 and 6 students last year worked with Aboriginal artist Jo Layton to create the piece, which infused Aboriginal design concepts with students’ cultural identities.

The mural is part of the Royal Children’s Hospital’s Festival of Healthy Living, which focuses on engaging young people in the arts, school art teacher Sally Shoebridge said.

“The students sketched, etched, designed and finally made a tile out of recycled cardboard that was printed on the mural,” Ms Shoebridge said. “The mural itself depicted a journey, in this case through primary school, with the river and Aboriginal art representing the journey, and the tiles representing the student’s’ identity.”