Vasse Primary School students have undertaken an underwater themed public art project painting the walls of the Broadwater Shopping Village.
Artist Robin Bigwood was tasked with the project and did not want to undertake the mural himself so he sought the help of talented school students.
“I used to be the art teacher at Dunsborough Primary School and have been retired for a couple of years, someone from the shopping centre put forward my name to do this mural,” he said.
“I thought it would be interesting to get school children involved because there is a real charm in children’s art.
“They have done a great job there is a lot of imagination in their work - some of it is realistic and some of it is imaginative – the combination is fantastic.”
Year 5 student Chloe Smith said she was really excited to be part of the project as she loves art and it was the first time she had an opportunity to participate in public artwork.
“What I love about painting is that every kid has a different way of drawing, some people are good at it and some people think they are bad but every kid’s style is unique, you can only live up to the style you do,” she said.
“The children in our class are very artistic and they even though they sometimes think their artwork is not good, it always will be and in the shopping centre people will be able to see their artwork for years to come.
“Hopefully more people will come to the shopping centre to see the paintings.”
For her part of the mural, Chloe drew inspiration from the Busselton Jetty because it was the main attraction in Busselton and the thing that drew tourists to the town.
“The Busselton Jetty has been through a cyclone and still survived, it also has a lot of unique things about it that no other jetty has,” she said.
Student Kyah Dunkerton said her class was chosen to paint the mural and she had painted sea anemones and starfish on the walls.
“I was excited to be part of this project as I had helped paint another mural a couple of weeks ago at Vasse,” she said.