UPSTART meets Rolling Canvas

The UPSTART teens class was invited to participate in this year’s ‘Rolling Canvas’ exhibition, hosted by Mornington Youth Services, in conjunction with the Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery. Young (and not so young) artists across the Peninsula, were asked to paint a skateboard deck (minus wheels!) The event was part of the 2023 Drift art, music and celebration festival held across the Mornington Peninsula.

Our Big Upstarts (12-16 years) worked hard on the project for several weeks, even giving up some of their Easter holiday to complete their work. We were absolutely thrilled when Bill Caldwell, a doyen of Peninsula Arts and a member of the prestigious Twenty Melbourne Painters Society, kindly agreed to join in with the project, creating a beautiful seascape on his rolling canvas.

It was wonderful to see many of our young and established artists together in the same exhibition.

The exhibition took place during April on a cold wet Friday evening in Balnarring. 250 people braved the dreadful weather and came to the show to view the 55 boards on display – 18 of which were designed by the Upstarts. Sean and his team from ‘youth services’ Mornington put on a smashing event with food, drinks, short films, DJ and light show. It was wonderful to see many of our young and established artists together in the same exhibition.

The boards will now tour round the Peninsula for a few weeks, before coming back to Peninsula Arts where we will showcase them so that all our members and visitors can enjoy the talents of our younger artists.