Artistic duo Maxim Chikanchi and Rozelle Tan recently finished an impressive mural at Yass Public School.
The mural features an image of a group of children walking toward the park, the railway bridge and the school motto – responsibility, respect, and participation.
It took the pair about four and a half days to finish, resulting in a vibrant, almost photo-realistic display on the prominent wall facing the front car park at the end of the Year 2 building.
The Yass Public School Parents and Carers Association have been discussing the project for a few years but had some difficulty finding an artist during the pandemic.
Local parent and P&C member Bec Duncan applied for a Council Community Grant through the Yass Valley Council.
P&C Treasurer Belinda Banfield said they had lined up an artist from the South Coast previously; however, due to Covid not allowing anyone onsite at the school, they had to keep postponing his visit.
“When things finally got back to normal, his calendar was too full to accept our job,” she said. “Luckily we found Max and Rozelle through an online artists job posting site and we’re very glad we did as they’ve done an amazing job.”
Although the husband and wife team, known professionally as @mcrt.studio, hail from Brisbane, the pair were in Canberra for the opening night of a recent exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, where one of their artworks is currently being displayed.
Rozelle said painting the school mural went quickly. “When we enjoy a mural, we tend to work on it faster just because we love what we’re doing,” she said.
“So this one is an artwork that we particularly enjoyed and loved creating.”
“You can just kind of get lost in the artwork while you’re creating it, and I think this was one of them,” Max added.
Yass Public ran a competition with students asking them to submit drafts, drawings, or ideas that could be incorporated in the mural.
“We got all those entries in a few months ago,” Belinda said. “Teachers and P&C had a look at them and decided on what we could incorporate.”
They handed the ideas over to Max and Rozelle, who created a series of designs to choose from.
“It’s such a beautiful piece of art. Max and Rozelle created a lovely design, and they incorporated elements from what the kids have done.”
The pair said although it was colder than they expected, they enjoyed their stay in Yass, particularly the chance to see the early morning frosts and sunrises.
“[There are] such beautiful colours in the scenery, and because we don’t get much frost up in Brissy, so just to wake up and to see that, it was so beautiful,” Rozelle said.
Brianna O’Rourke
