Call for kids to co-create new public artwork

The new collaborative artwork will be made up of dozens of colourful butterflies that refract light throughout the space. Pics: SUPPLIED, SKUNK CONTROL

By Gabriella Payne

The Cardinia Shire Council are calling on school aged children to channel their inner artist and get involved in creating a new public art sculpture, set to be made up of dozens of eye-catching butterflies.

Local families are invited to bring their kids along to a series of free art workshops at the Cardinia Cultural Centre, where they will have the chance to help design the unique butterfly sculpture with artist Nick Athanasiou from interactive art company, Skunk Control.

The kaleidoscopic artwork is set to be displayed in the new Rix Road Integrated Child and Family Centre and will be a stunning collaborative centrepiece for all to enjoy.

The design will incorporate both light and movement, and will be made up of 23 multi-coloured butterflies that glimmer and refract light and colour throughout the space.

The artwork draws inspiration from local butterfly species found throughout Cardinia Shire’s heathland areas, including Jalmenus Evagoras (aka, the Imperial Hairstreak or Imperial Blue) and Oreixenica Correae, (aka the Correa Brown) – and there’s no doubt the artwork is set to be a showstopper.

The artistic visionaries behind the sculpture, Skunk Control, specialise in creating engaging works that draw on elements of technology and design, as well as their backgrounds in engineering, science and education to delight their audiences.

The Cardinia Shire Mayor, Brett Owen, encouraged all budding young artists to get involved in the project.

“We’re inviting local children to help select the colours used in the final artwork and make their very own butterfly using the same special optical filters used by the artists,” Cr Owen explained.

“This is a great opportunity for children to get involved in the Rix Road project and have input into what the final sculpture will look like.”

“We’re a growth area and we have a lot of kids in our community, so it’s important we listen to them and get them involved.

It will be fantastic for children to turn up to the new centre and be able to say ‘I helped make that’. It will give them a real sense of ownership and agency,” he said.

“This is a great opportunity for local kids to get involved, not just in an artistic sense but to also investigate the science behind colour and light.”

“On a personal note, I can’t think of a more welcoming or cheerful way to enter a building than to see a kaleidoscope of butterflies.”

The two free art workshops are set to be held on Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 August, pending the easing of Covid lockdown restrictions.

Following the workshop, the completed butterflies will be gathered by the artist and the most popular colour scheme proposed will be used for the art installation.

These workshops will be held in line with Cardinia Shire Council’s CovidSafe plan and numbers are strictly limited.

For more information and to register your interest, visit https://bit.ly/childrens-art-workshop or call the Cardinia Cultural Centre team on 1300 787 624.