By Ms Pip Buining, Junior School Teacher

The 41st Artshow at Radford is around the corner, and we are very excited to see the artworks by members of the Radford College staff, students and wider community.

One of the artworks that will be featured this year is Rainbow String by First Nations artist, Jodie Munday, myself and 2024 Kindergarten Arts students.

Rainbow String (2024)

(Lomandra grass, wood, grass, sticks, bark, string, wool, wire and feathers)

What a deeply rewarding journey it has been to collaborate with Pip Buining and the 2024 Kindergarten cohort. The deep respect and listening from the students during the whole process was truly beautiful. Watching the students’ knowledge and curiosity of Aboriginal Culture grow along with the growth in themselves as both a team, and individually, is a memory I will hold dear to my heart for years to come. Marrumbang Yindyamarra. Kindness, love, respect. – Jodie Munday

In 2024, Kindergarten Arts created a collaborative artwork with Ms Jodie Munday (Wiradjuri Artist-in-Residence) and Ms Pip Buining (Kindergarten Arts Teacher). Inspired by the lyrebird and its use of found materials to weave its nest, we wandered on Gossan Hill to mindfully gather materials to create the artwork: a communal nest – a place of belonging.

Lomandra, a native grass growing in the gully, was dyed using gathered fallen bark, and then plaited to form the warp. Whilst the weft was woven from natural and man-made materials. Students wove the work across the year, finishing with celebratory gold and silver. Feathers gathered all year long fringe the work, completing an inquiry from the beginning of the year on their form and function, their collaborative ability to enable flight.

The creative process engaged students in invaluable cultural learning, supporting their connection to country on Gossan Hill. Students worked collaboratively as they learnt new techniques and processes in art, and developed critical thinking through research, discussion, responding and reflecting.

Student artist's statement:

This is a speshal (sic) artwec (sic).

We weaved this all together. We did this by listening and doing. We worked together. We gathered things. We walked in the bush. We found feathers. We used the string going over and under. It’s about the stories we read, Lilah and Leonard the Lyrebirds (by Jodie McLeod). When we finished the weaving, we voted to name it Rainbow String. And that’s the whole story.