Parramatta Marist students light up Parramatta Lanes Festival

12 Oct 2018

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Getting 35 Year 9 and 10 boys to spend 5 hours over 4 days of their school holidays doing school work is a pretty big feat! Not for our elective Visual Arts boys, as they became the highlight of the annual Parramatta Lanes festival.

Celebrating art - music - food, the festival transforms the heart of our 2nd CBD into a hub of outdoor food and entertainment destinations as well as spaces for art installations and performance works. This year the students from Parramatta Marist had the opportunity to showcase a series of 4 kinetic sculptures as part of the event. The students works were selected through a rigorous process whereby they were chosen amongst thousands of entrants into the festival. The festival draws up to 200,000 people and this year was no exception!

As a true PBL project, the students partnered with an external creative agency Amigo and Amigo whereby their designs and concepts were brought to life in three dimensions. Working collaboratively, the students and designers conceptualised, fabricated and resolved the works which drew inspiration from Parramatta’s unique character.

The students have realised their visions into moving, three dimensional artworks that were created, performed and given life to by the students. The boys and their works drew huge crowds over the course of the festival with young and old stopping the roving works for a selfie or two, as well as having a dance off in the middle of Centenary Square. The students and their efforts also afforded them an opportunity on national media via the Today Show, Channel 7 and Channel 9 News.

This visual arts project was a real world collaboration between the students at Marist and the design team at Amigo and Amigo, who have showcased works on national and international levels. This creative collaboration created four kinetic sculptures as a response to Parramatta’s unique character.

Taking influence from their local environment of Parramatta, the students have realised their visions into moving, three dimensional artworks that are created, performed and given life to by the students and designers.

2018 Parramatta Lanes

The Sculptures:

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Serenity

A hybrid serpentine creature which intertwines the forces of nature, the symbolism of animals and of a snake and eel. Its roots run deep to the culture true to the heart of Parramatta.

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Parra Batta

Parra Batta highlights the significance of the Grey-headed flying fox, combining the importance of conservation of our local species alongside the industrialisation and growth of Parramatta as a city through a steampunk aesthetic.

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Frills and Ruffles

Frills and Ruffles is a lizard, whose neck is a pendant of luminescent skyscrapers and tall buildings that radiate with alternating colours and patterns. Frills and Ruffles is the ever changing landscape that is Parramatta and symbolises progress and change.

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Fowl Play

Fowl Play is an owl combined with a butterfly. The work focuses on the Parramatta wildlife, in particular the endangered Powerful Owl.

We would like to congratulate the students on their phenomenal effort, dedication and passion. It is great to see such creative talents in these young men and to be exhibited professionally in an event like Parramatta Lanes is to be commended.

We would also like to give special thanks to Mr Bortoluzzi for his tireless efforts and for agreeing to undertake such a huge project! A big thank you to all the teachers who also supported the students by helping out during the festival - Ms. Rizk, Ms. Parnis, Mr. Jurd, Ms. Mitchell, Mr. Phillips, Ms. Jones, Ms. Brunton, Mr. Houseman and our school Principal Mr. Pauschmann who roamed with the boys throughout the entire first night. Also a big thanks to Simone from Amigos and the staff at Parramatta City Council.

Now the big question is... where in the school do we store a 4 metre eel sculpture???