Wine, cheese and jelly beans

Artwork from 135 pairs of tiny, creative hands will be opened in an exhibition titled Wine n Cheese and Jelly beans at the University of Southern Queensland (USQ) Child and Family Unit (CAFU) on Saturday 3 November 2007.

The exhibition features works from 0 – 5 year olds composed over the past ten weeks at the CAFU.

USQ Artist Damien Kamholtz was invited to be an artist in residence at the CAFU, creating artworks and giving children the opportunity to participate and create with him.

'The children can access any of the materials at any time. There's no restriction on medium or creativity," Mr Kamholtz said.

No art lessons were given to children, instead Mr Kamholtz sat in the room and the children decided if they wanted to sit with him and take part.

'It's a much more organic process,' he said.

'The children choose if they come over. Many of them have taken this home and regenerated it so it has a life of its own.'

The motivation behind the project was to ensure pre-service teachers from the first year of the early childhood program can see how they can work with artists and others to develop young children's early symbolic representational abilities.

Anglene Montafia from the CAFU said a number of different mediums were used over the ten weeks, allowing the children to explore various art forms.

'Once a week the children were presented with different idea of what portraiture could incorporate," Mrs Montafia said.

'One day Damien was drawing skulls and had actual skulls here. Another day he was using mirrors and the children drew themselves. Another day he had abstract pieces.

'We also gave the children photographs of people they had never seen before, the Dean of Education and lecturers and asked the children to join in making a portrait of each person,' she said.

'The theme was generated by the children themselves. They were talking about their bodies, their eyes, cheeks and hands.'

The exhibition on Saturday will allow family and friends to observe the works and see the progression of each artist over the ten weeks.

'The exhibition is an invitation from Damien, myself and Early Childhood Lecturer Leisa Holzhiemer to thank the children and show the families what they have achieved.

'It will allow us to tell them we appreciate all of their input, creativity and how exciting it all was.'

Wine n Cheese and Jelly beans runs from 2pm to 4pm on Saturday 3 November 2007 in USQ's CAFU. For more information contact Angelene Montafia on (07) 4631 2990 or email montafia@usq.edu.au

Media Contact: Jane Urquhart USQ Media +61 7 4631 2559