Dog Days

Too Much Colour (Darren Hutchens and Lawry Halden)

Title: Dog Days

Artist/s: Too Much Colour (Lawry Halden and Darren Hutchens)

Year: 2021

Site: Woodbridge Station

Location Detail: Artwork is applied to the underpass and walls of the pedestrian ramp at the station entry - eastern end of the station.

Medium: Acrylic paint

Description:

Eleven students from Governor Stirling Senior High School helped design and paint a vibrant mural on the underpass, alongside artists Lawry Halden and Darren Hutchens from Too Much Colour.

The year 8 and 9 students involved in this initiative are part of Alternative Personalised Program in Schools (APPS). Program Coordinator Simon Arabar explains, “These kids are recognised as benefiting from a personalised approach; small group numbers and one-on-one time and attention. It’s not so much about education from the curriculum perspective, it’s about education from real life.”

Halden and Hutchens met with the students beforehand to develop their proposed concept “Dog Days”. The concept celebrates local dogs of the Woodbridge area, including the dogs belonging to the students, and local dogs the artists saw during walks in the area.

The students spent two half days helping to paint the mural, with many of them painting their own dogs on to the wall. “It’s been great to have the young people bring their dogs in to it, which gives them ownership of the site,” says Halden.

“It’s a simple thing to do, but it is part of a bigger thing that’s going to have such a great impact on the local community.”