By Alana Mitchelson
NAR Nar Goon students have collaborated on an art project that has triggered a whole school discussion about the dairy industry.
St James Primary School students have painted a life-size fibreglass cow as part of the Picasso Cows program to raise awareness of health benefits from dairy products and the importance of the dairy industry.
St James teacher Bernie Hance said each student was asked to think about the environment for inspiration in creating individual artwork designs for the cow.
Once a design was selected, each student contributed towards painting the cow, with the undercoat painted by the juniors and the senior students later applying the finer details to the artwork.
“We decided to go with was a painting of the beautiful country environment surrounding our school,” Ms Hance said.
“The project led to a discussion about the dairy industry from different angles.
“We talked about how healthy cows need a healthy environment to live in, what cows need to eat to produce good milk and the digestive processes of cows’ four stomachs.
“We also brought maths into it and that cows produce about 25 litres a day and what that amount looks like.
“We taught the kids to make butter and ice-cream, and got them to recycle dairy product containers to make something creative.
“It was a lot of work but a lot of great learning.”
St James will install the cow in the school grounds under an oak tree as a permanent garden art sculpture.
