How art helps our country youth to tell their stories: drought, fire and Covid 19

Every year Stanthorpe Regional Art Gallery hosts the CRISPS Youth Art Prize. Always inspirational, but this year has been amazing. 

CRISPS Coaches, who sponsor the CRISPS Youth Art Prize, have been providing transport in the Granite Belt region since 1915. This year was an exceedingly difficult year for their business. 

When I approached the owner, Dale Crisp, and asked him if he was okay to sponsor, I did so with some trepidation. But his answer was indeed inspirational. He said, “We have been doing it for 29 years, I think we can do thirty!” When I asked Dale if he wanted a particular theme, he quipped, “Mary, I drive buses and you run a gallery”. So, we decided that the theme this year would be Earth, Air, Fire and Water. We had run this online whilst the gallery was closed to encourage our local artists, photographers, poets, and creatives to publish their response to the challenging times that the Granite Belt region had experienced and had a wonderful response.

The job of the Director often has great aspects, and visiting the 16 local schools every year to talk about CRISPS is one of them. I asked the students what had happened over the last few years and they shared their stories about, drought, fire, and now COVID 19. We talked about the many challenges our community had faced, but we still came to school, went to work, and got on with our lives. I also asked them if they ever heard young people on the TV or radio talking about this and they adamantly shook their heads. I offered them a challenge - that we wanted to hear their voices and to use art to tell their stories. They certainly rose to the challenge. 944 works from playgroup to year 12. 

Many of the volunteers were moved by the artworks. Often the young person’s art represented their personal experiences. Some families had been evacuated. Some had had to close their farms because there was no water to grow the produce. Some had had fire on their doorstep. The students painted and drew this.

This is quite a tricky exhibition to hang and of course to judge. In reality, every single student has won by exhibiting. We have had outstanding visitation to the gallery with lots of extended family coming to see this amazing exhibition. 

In today’s world when technology and the screen seem to dominate youth, this effort by our young people is indeed inspiring. Art is a way that an individual can be creative and feel that their artwork is important and valued. It is crucial to support creativity skills. It is a different way of expressing emotions. Art helps us to realise that we are all individuals and that we can express ourselves without words and tell our stories.

- Mary Findlay, Gallery Director