“Everyone is an artist here,” said Mary Preece, the education manager at Bundanon’s Boyd Education Centre, on the banks of the Shoalhaven River.

Ms Preece was talking to students and staff from CareSouth’s Aunties and Uncles program.

The A&U crew were at Arthur Boyd’s historic Riversdale property for a school holiday art workshop and Ms Preece was teaching them one of the cornerstones of creativity – that there is no right or wrong answer in art. It was exactly what the 14 students from the Aunties and Uncles program needed to hear to bring out their inner artist.

Ms Preece believes nature-based education programs like the one run at Riversdale gives students an opportunity to “get into a more right brain frame of mind” and away from IT.

“So many kids these days don’t have the security and confidence of being in nature,” said Ms Preece, who, along with her fellow educator Jim Birkett helped nurture that confidence by leading students on a trek through the bush.

The Riversdale Education Centre gives people from all ages and backgrounds the opportunity to enjoy the legacy left by Boyd, a famous Australian artist who believed “you can’t own a landscape”. And if his million-dollar painting hanging on the wall of Riversdale wasn’t enough to inspire the group, the spectacular bush setting certainly was.

With chirping birds as background noise and nature as their muse, the students used pen and paper to sketch trees, rocks, vines, leaves and creek beds. Once their blank canvas’s had been transformed into amazing interpretations of the bush that surrounded them, they fashioned a goanna sculpture from rocks, sticks and leaf litter on the forest floor.

The sculpture session was a team-building exercise and gave students a chance to get to know each other and work together to bring to life the various parts of the goanna. Students also had a chance to engage in some good-old fashioned play – rolling or running down the property’s lush green hills and exploring wombat burrows.

“Seeing all our brilliant young people come together and just be kids, it was beautiful to watch,” said A&U Illawarra regional coordinator Vickie Blackwell.

“It’s nice how they can all come together,” said Nowra Aunties and Uncles regional coordinator Michelle Barham. “Children don’t judge they’ve just come here to enjoy a day out.”

When Ms Barham asked Ms Preece to facilitate a school holiday art workshop for Aunties and Uncles she jumped at the chance. Ms Preece was once a volunteer carer in the program and she knew first-hand how much students would benefit from the experience.

“I was an Aunty for a little while,” said Ms Preece. “That has given me some insight into the program, I know how important it is. Getting together and sharing these experiences is so important for these kids. It gives them a safe space, a creative space with room to move within the environment and they get lots of positive feedback for their work.”

“There are so many benefits to art, it helps these students develop self confidence and communicate how they see the world. The structured workshop gives them some boundaries but helps them find their own way. There’s no fixed right or wrong with art and that’s great for self-esteem. When a person leaves here happy and wants to show their artwork to a parent, carer or their family that’s success I think,” said Ms Preece.

After lunch students and staff used watercolours to paint their work and made graphite leaf etchings using plants collected on the forest floor.

When Ms Preece demonstrated painting techniques Ms Barham noticed a hush fall over the room.

“A highlight for me was when the coloured paint came out, there was so much excitement in the room it was all about the artwork, all other conversation stopped,” said Ms Barham.

A key outcome for the Aunties and Uncles coordinators from Nowra, the Illawarra and Milton-Ulladulla was to give children from across the three regions the opportunity to get to know each other. For Kim Bool, the manager of CareSouth’s ACT/Southern Region, the art workshop was an opportunity to see first-hand A&U’s positive impact on children in the program. Ms Bool and her team are looking at expanding Aunties and Uncles into the ACT.

“The way that (inclusive activities like the art workshop) can help develop and grow these kids as an individual is wonderful,” said Ms Bool. “This is an opportunity they might not otherwise get.”

A&U volunteer carer Katrina Roche, who participated in the workshop with the two young children she supports, found the activity helped strengthen the bond she has developed with the children she now considers a part of her family.

“I’ve really bonded with them,” said Ms Roche about her time as an A&U volunteer carer. “I really love them, they become another part of your family. Aunties and Uncles is a very rewarding experience for all parties. It is about having the room in your heart not in your home. Children are such precious treasures and the more support you can give a family the better.”

But the last word belongs to some of the students themselves.
“I liked the rainforest walk because it was adventurous. It made me better at drawing and it gave me an opportunity to do imaginative drawings. I like this area I can’t stop looking at the river,” said 11-year-old Ryan.
Gianna, who is 10, said: “I liked drawing trees because it was nature and it made me feel happy.”
For Lily, 10: “Going into the bush and drawing was good because it was peaceful. I drew the river”.
“The rock with the carving was the best,” said Lachlan, 10. “I was really happy because I found Aboriginal things.”
Nine-year-old Jayden said: “I liked the goanna (sculpture) that we did.”

When several artists “went out of the lines” while painting their artwork, 12-year-old Karl reminded them that: “You don’t have to be perfect”.
But everyone agreed that the Bundanon art retreat came close.

And finally a big thank you to the CareSouth staff who helped facilitate the Bundanon art workshop:

Aunties and Uncle regional coordinators for Nowra Michelle Barham and Noga Bertram

Aunties and Uncles regional coordinator for the Illawarra Vickie Blackwell

Aunties and Uncles regional coordinator for Milton-Ulladulla Mark Potts

CareSouth’s ACT/Southern Region manager Kim Bool

CareSouth’s Family Connections manager for the Illawarra Jo Rafferty