Students paint for aboriginal exhibition

Gosford Regional Art Gallery will hold an exhibition called Darkinjung Community: Standing Strong by the Central Coast Indigenous community from June 20 to August 3.

The exhibition will include artistic responses from local Aboriginal artists, local school students, and the general community and a published history of the Darkinjung Community.

Kindergarten and years 3, 5, and 6 children "of ATSIC identification" at Ettalong Public School have been preparing for the exhibition.

These children are involved in producing a mural in collaboration with, and with assistance from, local Aboriginal painter, Michael Young, and a few interested mothers.

The mural will be partly traditional Aboriginal scene and partly contemporary landscape scene.

Years 7-9 students at Brisbane Water Secondary College, Umina Campus, have also been preparing for the exhibition.

These students are also involved in producing a mural in collaboration with, and with assistance from, local Aboriginal painter, Madeline Anderson.

The murals will become the schools' property at the exhibition's conclusion.

The exhibition is seen as a chance to communicate issues, history and identity to the wider local community for a better understanding of the indigenous culture.

For more information on the exhibition, contact Bev White on 4325 0056.

Con Orfanos, press release, May 20