Geelong school
students will have their creative artworks displayed at a premier cultural
institution as part of an expanded series of nature-based events.
The City-ledAlphabet Bird Project will showcase the talents of Greater Geelong’s Year Four
students through a week-long exhibition at the National Wool Museum.
The exhibition
aims to highlight 26 threatened waterway and wetland birds in the Geelong
region, and educate young people and their families about our local environment.
The Alphabet
Bird Project is a key component of the Geelong Nature Forum, which will run
from 28 March to 3 April 2020.
In its second
year, the expanded Geelong Nature Forum will highlight the region’s natural
wonders through a curated series of nature-based activities, presentations and
displays.
The forum’s
theme is Where The Rivers Run, providing a focus on the
animal and plant life of the Geelong region’s rivers, creeks and wetlands.
The
multi-dimensional program will include:
– Talks and presentations;
– Manned displays by local
community environment groups;
– Field-based expeditions, to
encourage people to explore natural places;
– Nature-based school holiday
activities, at venues including the Geelong Botanic Gardens; and
– The school students’ exhibition
at the National Wool Museum.
The Alphabet
Bird Project’s supporting educational material will tie in with the Australian
Curriculum in Science and Visual Arts subject areas for the Year Four level.
The material
has been designed by Geelong scientist and artist Mary-Jane Walker, who will be
artist-in-residence at the National Wool Museum from February 2020.
An arts
graduate who holds a doctorate in Molecular Genetics, Dr Walker uses creative
arts to explore issues and actions surrounding climate change and our inbuilt
need to connect with nature.
Her own
exhibition, Now you See Us, will explore the 84 threatened bird species
of the Greater Geelong region through hyper-realistic paper taxidermy
sculptures of the birds.
The Alphabet
Bird Project is supported by the Geelong Field Naturalists Club and the City of
Greater Geelong.
Almost 1100
students, from more than 20 schools, have confirmed their involvement in the
project.
The schools
will have all of their artwork returned at the end of the exhibition and will receive
a bird-attracting tree to plant as recognition of their participation.
