Loddon Shire Mental Health Art Competition

How do you paint a picture of something you can’t see?

That was the challenge offered to secondary schools in Loddon Shire recently when the Loddon Healthy Minds Network announced it was staging its first-ever art competition.

The aim of the exercise was to put on a show of artworks reflecting the message of mental health and wellbeing.

Funding for the project was provided through the Floods Community Recovery Fund, jointly sponsored by the Australian and Victorian governments.

Teachers and students from Boort District School and Wedderburn College took up the opportunity and the results will be on display next month at two four-day exhibitions in those towns.

Boort District School art teacher Nathan Sims said his Year 10 group had taken up the project with a positive approach.

“We discussed mental illness within the group and talked about how the floods in Boort affected them,” Mr Sims said.

“I’ve encouraged the students to express their responses in a positive way and they’ve done that.

“We’ll have seven pieces going in to the display – all on canvas bar one, which is a linocut.”

Wedderburn College art teacher Lauren Bannister said last week the project had been challenging, but one which had yielded some encouraging results.

“I’ve been working for the past month with my Year 9 and 10 classes and with my Studio Arts students in Year 11 on a brief to focus on mental wellness,” Ms Bannister said.

“We also had a student teacher from La Trobe University, Alice Pickles, with us for a month, who was a great help.

“The Year 9-10 classes have created a poster looking at the kinds of services available for people wanting to support their own mental wellness, such as online help, beyondblue and useful books.

“The Year 11s have produced a large watercolour painting depicting the floods and their impacts on our community.

“We found it a bit challenging at first talking about mental health – it’s not the sort of thing you normally do in art classes – but when we did a workshop on those issues it proved helpful.

“We hope we will have 25-30 artworks in the end.”

Several prizes are on offer for the young artists, including a painting easel donated by local artist John Burge.

The Boort exhibition will be presented at the Memorial Hall Supper Room, with the official opening planned for Tuesday 9 October at 6pm.

A light supper will be provided, but acceptances are needed by Monday 1 October.

The display will then remain open until the following Friday from 10am to 3pm. Entry is by gold coin donation to benefit the Boort Regional Arts Group.

The launch of the Wedderburn exhibition is planned for Tuesday 16 October at the Coach House Gallery at 3pm.

A light afternoon tea will be provided and, again, RSVPs are needed.

The Wedderburn display will then remain open until Friday 19 October from 10am to 3pm daily. Entry is a gold coin donation for Loddon Arts Inc.

To register your name for either event, please phone the Shire Offices on 5494 1200 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..