Students part of Noosa's 'Floating Land' art event
Published on 29 June, 2009
Bachelor of Learning Management students and CQUniversity Noosa staff members have been involved in Noosa's 'Floating Land' art event.
Lecturers Sue Davis and Kathy Bauer helped organise the team conducting lead-up workshops for children, across 2 Saturdays.
BLM final-year student Kira Mariez prepares for the event
Students were invited to practice their craft in a community context as they faciliated workshop activities including nature weaving, puppet making, clay painting and paper boat making.
Weaving Wizardry artist Kris Martin (who is also a BLM student) made a canoe out of bamboo and palm fronds, inviting children to help.
CLC tutor and part-time lecturer Ellen Appleby was among potters who created the paper kilns featured in the spectacular 'Firings on the Lake' event.
"This is a high profile local event which highlights the importance of creative processes for engaging the community and raising awareness about environmental issues," Ms Davis said.
"I felt our education students could benefit from working with children in an out-of-school context and to experience being part of such a significant event."
Kris Martin with the framework for his woven boat
Floating Land: Rising Seas & Changing Climate is an initiative of Noosa Regional Gallery. Floating Land began in 2001 as an outdoor sculpture event and has since grown to include writers, performance artists, musicians, photographers, academics and scientists. In 2009, artists have explored the theme of climate change and the impact of rising sea levels on coastal and island communities of the Pacific Ocean.
Floating Land has gained national and international recognition for nurturing art and environment themes. Artists from the Pacific Islands and New Zealand joined Australian and local artists to create and deliver messages that explore ‘Green Art'. As artwork sites are located in the bush and water and on the foreshores, artists are challenged to create work that uses transient materials that leave no mark on their environment.
Events and artworks of Floating Land, with an emphasis on their fit into the environment, are ‘discovered' in the stunning outdoor location of Lake Cootharaba in the UNESCO biosphere-listed Noosa on the Sunshine Coast. Fifteen minutes north of Noosa lies Boreen Point, the principle venue for the Floating Land artists and writers workshops, installations and performances, forums, storytelling, markets and food events.
BLM students with lecturers Kathy Bauer and Sue Davis
Visitors to Floating Land are encouraged to stop and watch the sculptors over the 10-day event, participate in the workshops, attend the forums, follow the daily photography exhibits, and to watch the spectacle that has become known as ‘Firings by the Lake' at sunset on stunning Lake Cootharaba.
