Sun, sand, sea, kids and aluminium art!

Sun, sand, sea, kids and aluminium art!

Students from Perth, Peel and the South-West spent a day in a „classroom with arguably the best view in WA this week, when they attended the Sculpture by the Sea 'Alcoa School Education Program' at Cottesloe Beach.
This year more than 2200 students are taking part in the „Alcoa School Education Program, participating in hands-on workshops with artists who are exhibiting in what is now Perths largest outdoor art exhibition.
As a major partner of Sculpture by the Sea, Alcoa of Australia invited 350 students from a number of schools around its WA operations to take part in the workshops.

Alcoa of Australia Managing Director, Alan Cransberg, said: “Its a fantastic day out of their usual learning environment. If previous years are anything to go by, the kids have so much fun interacting with the sculptures and creating their own, that they probably forget theyre actually doing a lot of important learning in the process.” Alcoas metal, aluminium - in the form of aluminium wire and foil - is one of the materials the children will use to create their mini-masterpieces. Aluminium, described as the „miracle metal for its versatility and endless recyclability, also features in 10 sculptures this year. “We do a whole bunch of stuff with schools around our operations and our partnership with Sculpture by the Sea is another way we connect with kids - its wonderful to give so many kids this unique opportunity and hopefully theyll learn a thing or two about our miracle metal too,” he said.

“Our kids are the heart of our communities, our future, and as a father of four I certainly believe experiences like this enrich young lives.” Medina Primary School Teacher, Helen Garth, said: “Thanks to Alcoa, numerous students from Medina have been to see this amazing exhibition over the past few years. Most of them find the workshops engrossing and they are blown away by the exhibits.”
“This is an outing that would otherwise not be available to these students. Since we no longer have art as a specialist subject at our school, Sculpture by the Sea provides an opportunity for art appreciation on a large scale.”
Pinjarra Primary School Year 6/7 Teacher Mary Phillips said: "The students and teachers had a fantastic time - they especially enjoyed making a cast of their own hands with international artist Amy Podmore."

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“I learnt that I could make a cast of my hand and turn it into a cool sculpture," said Pinjarra Primary School Student Jedda Salmon. Fellow student, Kyle Darby, said: "I enjoyed looking at all the different sculptures by all the artists from other countries, I didn't realise art could cost so much."
In addition to the artist workshops, a further 6000 students are expected to learn more about the arts during excursions to Cottesloe, as their teachers utilise the online teaching resources available as part of the wider „Alcoa School Education Program.

2011 marks the seventh year of Alcoas partnership with Sculpture by the Sea - the company has been involved since the outdoor exhibition first came to Perth in 2005.

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