Inspired by things they love about the night, local students have their pieces on show at the Moama Lights. Photos: Nikala Dixon
Photo by
Nikala Dixon
Students from schools in Echuca-Moama have made their artistic debuts at this year’s Moama Lights.
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The ‘Gobo Walk’ section features artworks by students from Moama Anglican Grammar, Echuca East Primary School, Moama Public School, Echuca Twin Rivers Primary School and St Mary’s School Echuca.
“Something that Mandylights prides itself on is trying to connect with the local community,” Mandylights chief operating officer Carly Reid said.
This year, the theme given to budding artists was inspired by the surrounding environment and the concept of night.
A range of concepts were drawn up, with many drawing on the natural environment.
Photo by
Nikala Dixon
“For the fourth year in a row, we’ve worked with a number of schools to get them to look at the Horseshoe Lagoon, then we asked them to share what they loved about the night,” Ms Reid said.
“Their imaginations then brought to life what you see projected on to the ground.
“So we just said to them, ‘any kind of artwork, anything that you enjoy about the night, or that you think is special ... or even just what you see in your dreams, we want to see that put down on paper’.”
There were hundreds of submissions of designs to choose from, with about 90 chosen to be showcased.
The next step for the Mandylights team is to transform the paper artworks into projections using what's called a glass gobo.
“We translate those artworks from paper on to a glass gobo,” Ms Reid said.
“We copy (the artworks) straight from the page on to the piece of equipment that allows us to project that on to the ground.”
The second section of the light show, the ‘Gobo Walk’, features the art pieces.
Photo by
Nikala Dixon
Some of the student designs were inspired by the night sky, native flora and fauna, space-scapes and other imaginative themes.
In past years, Mandylights collaborated with schools to decorate animal figures displayed on the site.
“We try to incorporate things to make it really specific to the local community,” Ms Reid said.
“It’s really important to make sure it’s not just about making the location beautiful, it’s really about connecting to that local experience.
“It’s highlighting and showing those unknown or underused locations ... to show the locals their own home in a very different kind of view.”
Moama Lights is running until Sunday, July 28, at Moama’s Horseshoe Lagoon.
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