On April 1st, YO Bendigo worked with the City of Greater Bendigo, Bendigo Venues & Events and Bendigo Art Gallery to hold the 2nd Koorie Youth Art Day. Six students from Crusoe College attended the special event designed for young First Nations students with an interest in the arts and creative industries.
The day started off in the sunshine of the Dudley House gardens, with a morning tea and introductions.
We then kicked off the first activity, an artist talk held at the billboard at the back of The Capital Theatre, which is currently being occupied by artwork from Wiradjuri and Kurni artist and BSSC alumni Keira Long. Her artwork features a portrait and tribute to the late Uncle Jack Charles, Bunurong and Wiradjuri Elder, actor and activist.
The talk was led by Aunty Janet Bromley, local Yorta Yorta artist. Janet is a weaver and maker, using traditional methods of gathering and weaving, she makes art with recycled clothing, plastic waste, found objects and bush materials to tell stories exploring cultural heritage, identity, displacement and past life experiences. During her artist talk with the students, Janet shared her journey into art and spoke about both Uncle Jack and Keira.
Janet recently retired to focus her time on her own art but was previously the First Nations Arts Officer at Bendigo Venues & Events, with part of her role serving as the curator of Djaa Djuwima, which was the next exciting stop of the day!
Djaa Djuwima is the City’s dedicated and permanent First Nations art gallery. Djaa Djuwima means to ‘show, share Country’ in Dja Dja Wurrung language.
The current First Nations Arts Officer, Palawa artist Michellie Charvat, took us on a tour of the gallery. Michellie has worked in arts and education industries and had insightful advise for us. She also creates art of her own, with her works and public murals displayed and exhibited across the region. Michellie shared her journey and experiences into a creative career and imparted the students with the advise of taking up any networking opportunities and attending all community and arts events.
When we visited, Djaa Djuwima was transitioning from it’s previous Fibre exhibition to Dhelk Djakitj (which is now open!!), meaning ‘nourishing food’ in Dja Dja Wurrung language. This meant that the gallery was in ‘bump in’ with busy technicians creating displays, adjusting lighting and finding the perfect place for each artwork, providing an insight into the behind-the-scenes work that goes into exhibitions. We were also introduced to Liz, the team leader of Bendigo Venue & Event’s technical services, who answered all our questions about the work that goes into preparing artworks for exhibition.
Liz recommended that any young people interested in learning more to apply for a traineeship in her team which is advertised every 12 months.
After our exciting trip to Djaa Djuwima, we made the hike up View St to visit the Bendigo Art Gallery. Aunty Janet rejoined us to support the Bendigo Art Gallery’s Education Officer, Libby to show us around. We learnt about accessing the space, and how the programming works, and Janet highlighted the diversity in materials between artworks and how they reflected the Country of the artists who made them.
After the tour at the art gallery was done, everyone then headed back to Dudley house for a lovely lunch that was prepared by Peppergreen farm and had lots of delicious options to choose from. Plus we got some hot chips!
After lunch Janet ran a making session and showed us all how to weave. It was a great hands-on experience to finish off the day and made room for us all to yarn together as we kept our hands busy.
To end this fantastic day there was some time spent reflecting on what was learnt from the day. Participants were also challenged at the start of the day to complete a cultural ‘scavenger hunt’ where they had to look out for culture reflected in the landscape and spaces we visited throughout the day. During the end of day debrief, those who managed to find all the items were rewarded with chocolate and other prizes.
The students who filled out the feedback forms rated their experience very high and found they now know a lot more about First Nations art. Some students also said they now understand pathways into creative careers better. Overall, the feedback from students was very positive and they gained a lot from this experience.