Turning their ideas into wearable creations, students from Collie Senior High School participated in Collie’s first art program run by the Smith Family in collaboration with art organisation Awesome Arts.
The four day program brought together different year levels who were all given the opportunity to learn about wearable art from two expert artists.
Students also had an excursion to the Collie Art Gallery before designing, creating and executing their wearable pieces for the finale showcase at the South West Regional TAFE Collie Campus last Thursday.
The Smith Family corporate partnership manager David Heath said he was pleased the program finally made its way to Collie.
"We run the arts program all around Western Australia, we're currently running 11 at the moment and this is the first one that has made its way to Collie," he said.
The program was funded by Premier Coal and the Coal Miners Welfare Board.
Premier Coal training advisor Steve Plaskett said they helped to fund the program because it was part of being involved in the community.
"We've been partners with the Smith Family for awhile and and we've got two trainees at the moment on site, so this is just an extension of what Premier Coal is doing out there with the Smith Family charity and being part of the Collie community,” he said.
The Smith Family program coordinator Diane Blout said students chose what area they wanted to focus on and decided on wearable art.
“I've been very impressed by the students. The artists have been wonderful. It's been inspiring to watch the kids, from the first moment they walked in they were all a little bit shy but they've all just blended together and worked really hard,” she said.
Wearable and visual artists Jodie Davidson and Alex Maciver said the students all worked “collaboratively” and “confidently.”
Narsiah Mumme said she joined the program because she enjoys art at school and thought it would be a good experience to do something with wearable art.
"I wanted to create a sun hat, something that I could complete and that wasn't too difficult. I'm happy with the end product,” she said.
Brydie Hanns said she enjoyed the program and was happy with her piece.
"We were told to be inspired by nature so my piece was inspired by the jelly fish," she said.