d493329c Artist Ross Potter with Year 8 students Sophie Billingham, Lola Coutts, Larissa Cook & Estelle Celesti-Crosby.
Camera Icond493329c Artist Ross Potter with Year 8 students Sophie Billingham, Lola Coutts, Larissa Cook & Estelle Celesti-Crosby. Credit: Supplied/Jon Hewson

Murdoch: Freo artist works with Kennedy Baptist College students on Carnaby’s Black Cockatoo art

Aaron CorlettMelville Gazette

MORE than 80 Kennedy Baptist College students have worked together with Fremantle illustrator Ross Potter to celebrate the endangered Carnaby’s Black Cockatoo, a species that has called the school’s campus home for centuries.

The collaborative art project is being produced at the Murdoch-based school campus, which is nestled within a native bush setting, adjacent to Bibra Lake, part of the Beeliar Wetland, a significant food source and roosting area for the cockatoo on the Swan coastal plain.

Duke of York visits Murdoch Uni

PerthNow Digital Edition.
Your local paper, whenever you want it.

Get in front of tomorrow's news for FREE

Journalism for the curious Australian across politics, business, culture and opinion.

READ NOW

Murdoch University Melville FC vollie recognised

Labor fails to steal WA seats

Kennedy Baptist College principal Mark Ashby said Year 8 art students had been working together with Mr Potter, and the school’s talented Visual Arts team, to produce a 2.7m by 1.2m “Patch Collaborative Artwork” featuring the cockatoo.

“Our students are well aware that sadly, the gradual destruction of their natural habitat has seen the number of Carnaby’s Cockatoos in WA decrease by at least 50 per cent over the past 45 years,” he said.

d493329a Artist Ross Potter with Year 8 students Sophie Billington, Lola Coutts, Larissa Cook & Estelle Celesti-Crosby. Jon Hewson
Camera Icond493329a Artist Ross Potter with Year 8 students Sophie Billington, Lola Coutts, Larissa Cook & Estelle Celesti-Crosby. Jon Hewson Credit: Supplied/Jon Hewson

“They wanted to express their awareness and bring attention to the issue by including and acknowledging these majestic birds in their school; and art work.

“Ross Potter is known for his large scale and highly detailed works with graphite on paper and was originally inspired by the old buildings in Fremantle, but has since moved on to more nature-inspired pieces.

“This exciting school project will see 84 students working with Mr Potter to each recreate a section of an image using tonal shading of graphite pencils to contribute to a large-scale communal artwork that will be unveiled at our Community Open Day on August 24.”