The Penguin Project

We are thrilled to be part of the Australian Antarctic Festival in Hobart this year, and extremely proud of the work our students have created.  If you would like to visit our display before the penguins leave Mackellar and travel to Hobart, you may do so this week.  The display is located in the library from Monday afternoon to Thursday afternoon.  Sincere thanks to Mrs Tanner and a few grade 5 and 6 students for creating the amazing display for our penguins.  I have attached videos and photographs to capture the passion and talent of our students.

Thank you to the students for their commitment to the project.  They followed a process of preparation with paint to apply their creative and artistic skills.  They showed confidence when experimenting with various brush techniques, pattern, line, contrast, space and colour, whilst incorporating range of interesting tools.

Organisers of the festival are creating a painted penguin rookery as part of the festival, 22nd to 25th August 2024.  It is expected that up to 15,000 colourful penguins from all corners of the world will be displayed as part of the festival. Schools participating in the project will have their “colony” on display under their name. The festival is run by the not-for-profit Mawson's Huts Foundation www.mawsons-huts.org.au which works to help conserve Australia’s Antarctic Heritage.

Along with other schools, we were invited to participate in the program. Each participating school was given 50 penguin cut-outs from MDF (medium density fibreboard). The penguins are 30cms high and students were asked to paint/decorate these in any way they imagine.