Artists brighten courts
Roebourne residents have painted the town red as well as blue, green, purple and yellow.
Everyone from toddlers to grandparents have been down at the Roebourne Basketball Courts with a brush in hand since last week for a $78,000 facelift of the ablution blocks, shade pylons and skate park.
Creative organisation Big hART is facilitating the project on behalf of the Cleansweep Taskforce and the Red Dirt Driving Academy, who have used an additional $15,000 community grant for a road safety message to be painted on walls at the court facing the main road.
Big hART producer Laura Harris said the community had been engaged in the design process that went for about four months last year.
"Now we're in the painting phase … we have women from the Yinjaa-Barni Art Group and the Roebourne Art Group painting pillars and teaching some of their grandchildren painting techniques," she said.
Some of the Neomad characters from Big hART's comic project make a return in the road safety mural.
Brisbane based artists Matthew Newkirk and Wade Schaare, known as Lucks, where brought in by Big hART to help with the project.
It was the first time either had been to WA, let alone a regional town like Roebourne, where Lucks said they were welcomed with open arms.
One of the large murals titled "Space Jam" has dot images of animals and basketball players over a dark background with colours akin to a colourful galaxy on a clear night.
Local artist Allery Sandy, like a lot of the other artists, has been spending long evenings at the courts with young relatives enjoying the night air and being outside.
She said the children would see what the artists were painting and try and do it themselves.
Sandy said she told the children "you can't paint like me, you have to paint like you".
The idea was to teach the children to find their own style but understand they also had a long way to go to match the skill of the established artist.
With a grin, Sandy said when the children got bigger then "they might paint like me".
The Cleansweep Taskforce sourced funds from WA Police, the Department of Corrective Services and Roebourne Advisory Group for the project.
