Rick Ball says-
I believe education is about their nervous system, gifted by all their ancestors. I encourage students of all ages to explore what they CAN do, and to ignore what they can’t, as that is someone else’s business. What they can do with this gift has drawn extraordinary responses from Sydney’s established art community, and overseas.470
Paakantji elder and language teacher Kayleen Kirwin ‘commented in an interview for a documentary that ‘the art works are linking them back to their country.’471
Peter McMurray and Lumina Films produced a short film about the painting of the piano. It opens with Rick Ball the talking about his students, and how they are instinctively producing art in their cultural and regional traditions that date back many thousands of years.
The Painted Piano Clip |
Video: The Painted Piano.mov |
Audio visual table 6.6 |
Menindee school’s music teacher Helen Bub-Connor produced a performance piece entitled Menindee Bop. This piece was composed for the Menindee students to perform at OUR MUSIC, which was also the first concert appearance of their Painted Piano. The piece features myself and four young keyboard players, a student percussion group complete with tennis balls, and the Menindee Community Choir. The painting of the piano panels at Menindee Central School took place over a series of three days. As with many high school buildings, the music and art rooms were adjoined. The door between the two rooms was left open and as the art students painted and the music students rehearsed the beginnings of Menindee Bop.
470Lumina Visual Film documentary , yet to be released. http://www.luminavisual.com/
471 ibid