Splash of colour brightens St Catherine’s
Schools
While all was quiet at St Catherine’s School in Stirling during the July school holidays, a well-known South Australian artist added a lick of colour to the bathroom walls.
Adelaide Hills-based muralist and illustrator Cat Dean was engaged to decorate the primary school’s newly renovated toilets with a colourful mural.
“It’s quite peaceful in here, painting away,” she said.
St Catherine’s School student Olivia with her drawing.
The project involved more than just a few pretty brushstrokes. Cat worked closely with students during the design process, ensuring the mural reflects the school and community’s values.
“We’ve included words like inspire, sustainability, commitment, compassion,” Cat said.
She also ran workshops, during which she discussed her job as an artist and worked with students to explore colour theory and lettering.
“Engaging with Cat to do the student workshops was a great start to her designs,” said Genevieve Jong, leader of Learning (Wellbeing and Inclusion).
“The children were excited to meet a ‘real life artist’ and learn about the process from start to finish including the design brief to the finished product.
“They told Cat what they valued most in our school, like our natural surroundings and environment. Cat was able to capture student voice and agency authentically and apply this to the finalised mural designs.”
Even the resident crow appears in the final design, as does the school’s pet turtle.
“Cat taught us how to do some different fonts and writing and we saw that she was very good at her job,” said Year 5 student Toby.
St Catherine’s School student gets creative with artist Cat Dean.
“I really wanted her to include Kevin the crow on a ‘wanted poster’.”
As a freelance muralist, Cat has applied the creative touch to many a South Australian wall. Among them, Burnside Primary School, Modbury Primary School, Athelstone Primary School, St Anthony’s in Edwardstown and St Francis de Sales College in Mount Barker which her two daughters attend.
She also worked on a project at Adelaide Airport and painted the new mural at the Crafers ‘park and ride’.
“It’s important to show the kids my sketches because every project starts with scribbles on paper. I really emphasise that when I talk to the students.
“Hours and hours of work goes into the process from start to finish and you’ve got to make lots of mistakes before you get to your final design. It’s important to let them know that’s a good thing.”
To see more of Cat’s work, visit @catdean_artist
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