“The ping pong tables have certainly added to a vibe of activity and colour in our wonderful lively space under the fig tree!” – Genevieve Montgomerie
Schools across Australia are engaging their students in the DIY Artwork process and in doing so, are providing an opportunity for students to gain a sense of pride and ownership over their learning space – in addition to creating a completely unique art piece for the school. The latest example comes from Mosman Park Primary school who has transformed their playground with two HERO tables.
Mosman Park Primary’s P+C identified ping pong as a way to encourage group activities and improve hand eye coordination during recess. With fold away tables already a popular past time for students in the playground, the POPP HERO tables offered a more permanent and low maintenance solution.
The school engaged local artist and parent Genevieve Montgomerie, with the help of other parents from the P+C, to head up a student-led art project to paint the tables and bring the students’ artwork to life.
The school set the artwork theme ‘between the river and sea’ (to reflect the location of the Primary school) and asked students to contribute to the artwork process by submitting their design ideas for the tables.
“The children love them, they have added colour, activity, permanent art and a reference to our people and our environment.”
– Genevieve Montgomerie
With 35 submissions to work from, Genevieve developed the artworks for each table combining elements from all the students’ designs. The end result is the creation of unique, site specific and colourful murals that not only reflect the school’s diversity and location, but has also given the students an immense sense of ownership and pride through their personal contribution to the process.
The reaction from the students has been overwhelmingly positive, and the tables have been in constant use since their installation.