Regional Youth Holiday Break Program funded by Cobar Shire Council and the NSW Government, is nearing completion. Pictured are Cobar Shire’s Youth Development and Community Services Coordinator Brytt Moore with mural participants Zara
Patterson and Tillie Cain and artist Seigrid Peters
A large, colourful wall mural at the Cobar Youth & Community Centre (the Youthie) is currently under construction with completion expected early next week.
Artist Seigrid Peters is creating the mural with the help of some local kids, and is very happy with how it has turned out.
“It’s not quite finished yet, but it’s close,” Seigrid told The Cobar Weekly on Monday.
The mural in one of a number of activities the Youthie is running as part of the Regional Youth Holiday Break Program.
“It’s been funded by Cobar Shire Council and NSW Government as part of a school holiday program for 12-17 year olds which involved four sessions over four days,” Seigrid said.
The mural is her own design along with some input from the participants.
Cobar Shire Council’s Youth Development and Community Services Coordinator Brytt Moore reached out to Seigrid to create a mural for the Youthie stadium.
“When Brytt first asked me to do it I said it has to be something that includes what happens at the Youthie, and it’s got to be community focused, Cobar focused.
“As I was planning it, the design just all came together.
“It symbolizes kids growing up in our community and the community in general growing together. There’s lots of plants and symbols throughout the artwork that are bright and colorful to represent the positivity of community.”
She said there’s many elements of Cobar in the mural, a mine headframe, “Cobar red” plants and it’s also reflective of the sport that’s played in the stadium where the mural is located—netball, basketball and soccer.
“But mostly, it’s for the people that grow up here. That’s kind of where the idea all started.”
“Then I was looking for a quote that would go well with what it means to make a start, especially if kids come here and they start a sport for the first time (or adults too).
“And it doesn’t just have to be sport, it could be anything, like myself with mural painting.
“You’ve got to start somewhere, then you can extend on it.”
The quote is yet to be finished on the mural but when finished will read: ‘You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great’.
The youth participants involved in the mural had choices of colours from a colour scheme that Seigrid had chosen for the whole mural.
“I showed them what we were doing and asked their opinion on different colours and what colours they think go together.
“They could choose which section they wanted to work on. They had a bit of creative control and spent the 2.5 hour session just working on it the whole time.”
As part of the process, participants learnt how to properly construct a mural painting.
“The picture came first and I taught the kids that when building a mural you’ve got to start from the back and work towards the front.
“So the background was the first thing and then as we moved forward we did people and then plants over the top. It was a step-by-step process with the kids learning a bit about building a mural and what it takes.
“They learnt stuff like different brushstrokes and how to paint a wall with cracks in it and over the grooves of the bricks—that’s a tricky aspect to painting.
“They’ve learnt a few different things about painting and also I guess about the resilience it actually takes to sit there for 2.5 hours.
“I can paint for 8-10 hours but 2.5 hours for somebody that has never done it before is a pretty big thing.”
