middle front) at the Cobar Youth and Community Centre on Monday.
A group of architecture students from the University of Sydney, along with some acclaimed international architects, have been visiting Cobar.
Professor Ashley Dunn, principal architect of DunnHillam Architecture + Urban Design, who created the designs for the Great Cobar Museum, Cobar’s Early Learning Centre and Ward Oval Pavilion, brought the group to Cobar.
Professor Dunn said the visit was part of the masters program of architecture from Sydney University.
“We’re running a design studio in collaboration with the Rothwell Gift, which is a gift left by the Rothwell family to Sydney University, which pays to bring acclaimed international architects to see the university, to interact with the students,” Professor Dunn said.
The group, which includes two Japanese architects, Momoyo Kaijima and Yoichi Tamai from Atelier Bow Wow, have been tasked with drawing Cobar’s main street and have created a picture which is about nine metres long.
As part of their visit under the Rothwell Gift program, the University of Sydney group also brought with them a printmaking press, which was designed and built at the university.
One of its designers and builders, Enya Moore, who previously worked and did a lot of printmaking in Ireland before moving to Australia, brought the FieldPress to Cobar for its first outing and facilitated two workshops on Sunday and Monday.
“There’s loads of different printmaking elements to it,” Enya explained.
“We have an old woodblock poster type and we have some proofing presses, stamps, and loads of different things that you can do as printmaking activities,” Enya said.
“We wanted to bring printmaking facilities out to different groups of people and make it more accessible to people who might not have access to a printmaking studio or an art studio.”
Enya said both children and adults enjoyed the Cobar workshops.
“Some of the kids were saying that they don’t have art lessons in school.
“So they were really excited,” she said.
Enya said their visit wasn’t just about bringing things to different communities.
“It’s about how you can work with people when you get there,” she said.
“We want to chat about things that are important to the community.”
Enya said engaging with communities is crucial for architects because ultimately it’s the community who will have to live with what they create.
“It’s really important to hear what people need in their buildings and their built environment. Also communities and the people that use these buildings have as much, or more, information about what’s required than the architects.
“I think that one of the most important things is that you’re listening to communities who can be using it.
“And in terms of printmaking, I think it’s getting increasingly important because of how much we use digital interfaces now.
“I think there is an idea that everything just kind of happens online.”
She said many kids and students miss out on hands-on opportunities.
“Actually doing things with your hands is really important and you learn through doing.”
Enya said she was pleased the workshops offered participants a chance to step away from the digital world and discover the creativity and learning that comes from making something with their own hands
