Peace Wall at Bribie Island Community Arts Centre
A brief summary of our journey in creating the Peace Wall
Larysa Fabok, Joyce Newell, Glenys Donges, and Friends
The Beginning: 18 December 2018
Larysa paid with the Art Centre $150 for the rights to paint a mural on this wall (inside the back gate opposite the Boardroom). The wall had been marked out with masking tape in the hope of getting artists to paint a section of the wall during the 30th Anniversary Celebrations earlier in December 2018, but no one took up the opportunity. Joyce joined Larysa from the beginning of the project, Glenys helped throughout, and several friends made valued contributions.
The agreement with BICAS is that the wall will be repainted in a year if anyone is interested in doing it. As we discovered, painting such a mural is a great artistic adventure for all involved, and provided much interaction to the many people passing by. We all feel very privileged to have been able to contribute to the Art Centre in this way.
The following photos are only a small sample of our working times at the Wall - a very rough estimate of time onsite discussing plans and painting would be 80 woman hours over at least 20 days over 5 months. The paint we used is exterior house paint supplied by BICAS, which proved quite suitable for working on the rough stucco finish. We limited our pallet to the few basic colours supplied and any colours we could get by mixing these colours (including the faux black).
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| 18 December 2018 | | | |
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Larysa developed an overall plan which we used as a guide. This plan celebrates her personal journey into the Art Centre . It expanded and evolved as we worked together and discussed our progress. The left hand section of the mural represents the many art groups that are active at the Centre, the central section Larysa's journey of self discovery, and the right section the labyrinth backed by sound patterns as the Labyrinth Group is working to introduce playful sound into this area.
With Christmas intervening, we didn't get started until the end of January when we roughed out the first details that Larysa planned, using the the original tape sections to determine the placement of the central tree.
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| 29 January 2019 |
A couple of weeks later we added the first areas of colour to define areas for Art Centre groups on the left-hand side and a sound pattern for the labyrinth on the right-hand side.
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| 12 February 2019 |
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| 12 February 2019 |
Again the vicissitudes of life including a very hot March, and a 5 week trip to New Zealand for Joyce, intervened, and we didn't resume work until April.
We next added detail to the right section - wood for the Woodies, and the beginning of a quilt, an open book (representing both Jung's Red Book and an Artist's Book Larysa has made in response to the Red Book), and the labyrinth path became rainbow-coloured.
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| 8 April 2019 |
This continued the following week, when our sprite "Lucky", the mascot of the labyrinth, appeared, dancing along the labyrinth path. Glenys added a lustrous turtle which she saw in a dream prompted by Jung's Red Book.
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| 15 April 2019 |
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| 22 April 2019 |
By 26 April, the basic structure of the mural was in place with both the different sections of the right-hand side and the rainbow-coloured labyrinth outlined in black.
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| 26 April 2019 |
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| 20 May 2019 |
The last month was a busy and an intense time for us all while we added lots of detail and filled in many white areas. The Singing Tree burst into song, and became covered with flowers and butterflies. Bilbies started hopping along the bottom. The Rainbow Serpent was given his head to lead us to our exultant song - Hallelujah!!!
We declared 21 June, the Winter Solstice as finishing day - and celebrated it with a meditation at the labyrinth, and a parade to the Mural led by Larysa playing her flute.
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| 3 June 2019 |
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| Finished 21 June 2019 |
Brief description of detail of the wall.
Left panel clockwise from left hand corner: Octopus mosaic for Mosaic Group; piano and music (Hallelujah!) for Musical Events; iceberg 'photo' for Photography Group, jewelery collage for Contemporary Arts Group, Tasmanian scene quilt for quilters and fabric workers, rocks and gems for the Gem Club, and timber for the Woodworkers. The dark outlines represent the Leadlighters, and stamped leaves, and other patterns, the Printmakers. The central turtle represents the Potters, and, mythically: The turtle is the king of the shelled creatures. It is a sacred
representation of the universe: its domed shell is the vault of the sky;
its belly is the earth; and it swims in the sea. The markings on the
upper shell are thought to correspond to the constellations and are
'yang'; and those round the base of the shell represent the earth and
are 'yin'.
The central panel has a flamboyant flower and butterfly covered singing tree (or world tree) with a skirt of mushrooms (Amanita muscaria), rooted to the earth and an open book representing a book of life and wisdom, Jung's Red Book and an Artist's Book Larysa has made in response to the Red Book.
The right panel is a joyous representation of both Lucky's Labyrinth, and a rainbow serpent (representing life and its mysteries), intertwined with sound and music. It is also a celebration of the role of creativity and play in all our lives. The bilbies along the bottom, (and the whistling kite in the upper right corner) are playful additions by Joyce.
"Hallelujah" represents our joy in creating such a bright, beautiful mural, our time together while creating it and interacting with so many passers by - and most importantly, the Art Centre which is a hub of creative and friendship for so many people.
Enjoy!!!
