At a time of rapid change to the New South Wales coast, it is satisfying to find a school in close touch with its beautiful environment. Warners Bay High School, located near Lake Macquarie, south of Newcastle, has brightened up its halls of learning with students undertaking major ceramic murals under the direction of art teacher, Mrs Lesley Armstrong-Stegh. In a story titled School Mosaic - A Masterpiece, Newcastle’s daily newspaper, The Herald, recognised the work being done by the school in its ceramics teaching program and provided encouragement to the students and teachers. Tuition in ceramics begins early at the school, with members of Years 7 carrying out at least one ceramic project in the year. The brief is enlarged for students in Years 9 and 10 - these young people having available an elective course made up of four periods a week, each lasting 40 minutes. The diverse range of the output of the elective includes coil pots, fantasy teapots, relief tiles, sculpture, and the public art project - the murals. The school’s first mural, completed in 1995, combined two elective Year 10 classes with two art teachers, Mrs Armstrong-Stegh and Mrs Adrienne Carmody. The object was to produce a major work focused on Lake Macquarie and reflecting the beautiful natural environment of the lake’s hundreds of miles of foreshore. When considering the selection of a site for the mural, the Principal, Ms Kerri Leigh-Gordon, encouraged the use of spaces in the office block, which is ideal because it is used by parents and visitors to the school.

Accordingly, the students were allocated a wall measuring ten by two metres and Mrs Armstrong-Stegh and Mrs Carmody split up the 45 students into groups, each with responsibility for a section of the wall. The result, which was praised by the local city council, is not a representational view of Lake Macquarie but a collection of individual ideas and observations about the school’s surroundings and environment.

A second ceramics project, undertaken recently was more challenging and embodied more than one initiative. It involved two additional murals, construction of a bird bath and rehabilitation of an old brick bubbler. The students took to the projects with a great deal of enthusiasm. This was not surprising considering that Mrs Armstrong-Stegh agreed every student’s imagination could flow freely and one mural could depict the work of old masters of art. Twenty-three Year 10 students developed a mural measuring six metres by two metres that includes works by Mambo artists, Bottocielli’s Birth of Venus, Dali’s Persistence of Memory, Monet’s Water Lillies, Escher’s Fish, Lichtenstein’s Campus Soup Cans and Hot Dogs, Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe, Picasso’s Les Desmoiselles d’Avignon, Van Gogh’s Starry Night, to list just a few of the parts. After forming research groups, the students used rolled slabs of clay cut into the required shapes to construct the recreations of the works and then, using a mosaic background, mounted the pieces on the wall. Eighteen Year 11 students carried out the second project - made up of several parts.

First, a group concentrated on constructing a birdbath and four associated sculptures. In detail, the birdbath consists of a base of clay coils and slabs, a mermaid holding a bowl, emitting water into a second bowl, which is supported by a pedestal formed by fish. The four surrounding sculptures represent an opening flower. Second, a group undertook to transform a bubbler into something that would be both colourful and a source of fun for their fellow students. The aim of the exercise has been achieved, thanks to a design that employs pieces of clay arranged in a bright Mambo theme.

The projects have not only fostered the art of ceramics with students at Warners Bay High School, but they have also received significant support from the Warners Bay community and the P&C. Mrs Armstrong-Stegh said the school’s P&C approved the mural designs and was gladly forthcoming with money, after she estimated the cost of clay, equipment, glazes, underglazes, tools, glue, villaboard, grout and so forth. Requiring old and broken tiles to use in the background of the murals, the school asked local tile shops for donations, and there was a windfall when one business donated beautiful, bright new tiles worth $500. As long as the P&C was willing to provide the funds Mrs Armstrong-Stegh thinks that work will be continued on mosaic murals and ceramic sculptures at Warners Bay High School.

The third ceramics project contains, among other things, Warners Bay High School’s badge and a large totem pole. Situated outside the Deputy Principal’s office - a spot well-known by recalcitrant students - the assignment produced tribal faces that stare at students who get sent to the Deputy’s office. Mrs Armstrong-Stegh said she believed the ceramics students were greatly inspired by the team-based strategy to learning. Initially, the groups were given individual areas of wall to design. In discussion with the teacher, the students developed their ideas using Visual Process Diaries. “We then sat down and talked about the various pros and cons, how suitable the concepts were for the school’s environment and the practicalities of making the clay pieces”, Mrs Armstrong-Stegh said. Although the first project - the Lake mural - was visually arresting and highly praised, the students found they still had had a lot to learn. For example, the work should not be grouted in very hot weather because the grout ‘went off’ too quickly. An attempt was made to unify the projects by incorporating the school’s colours (deep blue, deep green and yellow) in the backgrounds of the murals. Mrs Armstrong-Stegh said central to the operation was the desire to brighten up main areas of the school. By boasting a significant collection of colourful, busy works of ceramic art, the school had transformed once drab, ugly walls. “Students are often seen discussing the murals and many ask me when and how they can participate”. Parents of students have told her how refreshing it is to see the changes that have been made.

The ceramic students pride in their work, involvement in the enhancement of the school environment, and the admiration of their peers, has helped developing a “positive spirit in the school”. Some departments at the school want Mrs Armstrong-Stegh’s team to undertake individual projects for them. The Library has requested a work display with books, magazines and atlases. In the words of John Cliff, Newcastle ceramicist and mural artist, “the talent, imagination and expertise of the Warners Bay High School pupils is extraordinary and it is hard to believe that they have created such large and visually complex projects”.

John Armstrong. Photos: BrendanMurphy