Lightning Ridge playgroup, part of our Mobile Children’s Service in North West New South Wales, became the area's first ‘pop up’ art gallery when it hosted a visit by an artist from the Northern Territory.
Indigenous artist, Corrina, was visiting family in nearby Goodooga, when she got chatting to one of the Family Workers from the playgroup and agreed to come on a visit to the centre and give a painting lesson to the mums and children.
Corrina talked to the children about the painting she was working on, explaining that it was titled, ‘a bush tucker dreaming woman gathering bush tucker’ and showed them how she created the painting by illustrating the techniques she was using. Corrina also told the children about the story behind the painting and shared her knowledge with them.
Robyn Johnson, one of the Family Workers at the centre, was impressed by how attentive the young children were to the work of the artist, “Corrina was a quietly spoken woman and she had an aura about her that drew the children to her. Normally, our three and four-year old kids can be quite boisterous, but they sat quietly, entranced by Corrina’s painting.”
“They also loved trying out their own dot paintings and they have continued to experiment with art and with different colours and love making up their own paintings to represent different stories.”
At the end of Corrina’s visit, the children had their turn to perform for her and they sang nursery rhymes to Corrina. They were thrilled when she was able sing the same nursery rhymes to them in her own lingo.
Corrina received such a welcome at the playgroup, that her niece commented, “You are just like a movie star because they all want their photos taken with you.”
