School Program, Family Program and Adult Program Story by Megan Daley The opening night of the Narelle Oliver exhibition and the Story Arts Festival, on the 2nd of September, was a night to be remembered. It was an honour to have so many members of Narelle Oliver’s family in attendance, including her husband Greg, children Jesse and Liam and her father, who travelled from Toowoomba to be there and celebrate Narelle’s work. A packed room of adults and children enjoyed music, drinks, snacks and art…so much beautiful art. Narelle’s artwork stole the show and it was a privelage to be able to see the orignials from ‘I Want to Be in a Book’ and so many more of her works. The studio space was poignant, but gives a beautiful insight into how Narelle worked and the space in which she worked. Cecil AKA Lee Fullarton was in fine form and helped the Mayor of Ipswich to present students from Blair State School and Bethany Lutheran College with certificates of thanks for the artwork they produced in conjuction with the exhibition. The student artwork was beamed onto buildings in D’Arcy Doyle Place and there was much excited screaming as students saw their artwork brought to life through animation and then being beamed, large scale, across the Ipswich CBD. The Narelle Oliver Exhibition will be on display until 30th September.
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School Program Story by Maria Parenti-Baldey When Brisbane author Yvonne Mes introduced herself, she had some 100 year 3, 4 and 5 students putting their hands up wanting the glamorous life of a Picture Book author — a three story mansion with giant playground, red Ferrari and private jet. One young man was so convinced, he wanted to meet her bodyguard. As Mes let them down gently, she explained to create her glamorous story, she had to use her ‘imagination’. She had nurtured her ‘imagination’ through story telling and reading lots of books. She would read about 80 picture books a week. She loved being transported somewhere else through stories. When writing a story, the students learned to always ask the ‘What if? question. ‘What if you fell over or your underwear fell down? What happens next? And then what would happen… and then what would happen next… and then?’ The students learned that Mes’s Sidney Nolan is part of an Australian picture book series. During her research, she tried to find a connection between Sidney Nolan - painter, and Ned Kelly - bushranger. She showed students how the illustrator left little clue ideas in the illustrations after studying Nolan’s paintings. Some of the symbolic clues showed the three stripes on Nolan’s forehead as war paint, his paint pallet represented a shield — making him a warrior artist. Mes’s book is also on Virgin’s airlines’ inflight audio and I anticipate will become an Australian favourite in the classroom. www.yvonnemes.com
Maria Parenti-Baldey, primary teacher, writer, amateur photographer and blogger. www.bigsisterblogs.com School, Adult and Family Program Story by Tyrion Perkins The exhibition of an illustrator’s work is always a highlight of the Story Arts Festival in Ipswich, but this year it took on new meaning as Narelle Oliver passed away during the planning stages in October last year. Jenny Stubbs, organiser of Story Arts, had first talked with Narelle about the exhibition in 2015. Jenny suggested focusing on her book “Rock Pool Secrets” that was due to come out in 2017, but Narelle said she was working on a new book that would include some of her artwork from past works. Thus the exhibition focused on “I want to be in a book.” When you walk into Ipswich Community Gallery, the character Cecil guides you through the exhibition of Narelle’s original artwork from the book, complete with handmade notes. He was a little outline drawing that sat on Narelle’s wall for many years, watching her make book after book. One day, she felt, he wanted to join in and be in a book himself. Thus, the book (and exhibition) shows his adventures as he has a go entering many of her other books, but eventually gets to have his own. You can take part with interactive elements by downloading an app to your phone or tablet. When you hover it over small pictures on the wall, Cecil starts to move about. This Augmented Reality component was created by Activate Entertainment, led by Tyronne Curtis. Watch Cecil move around the room, swim, and even blast off in a rocket. The exhibition was curated by Lee FullARTon who had first met Narelle in a festival ten years ago. They did an artist in residency together at Riverview State School with Darryl Bellingham. She has a lot of affection for Narelle and it was a work of love to put together the exhibition. Narelle’s husband, Greg, daughter Jessie Oliver and friend Megan Daley helped put together a replica of Narelle’s studio, complete with actual furniture, tools, and bits of artwork.
Also on display are some of her lino prints, and Lee showed students the painstaking process of carving one out. You can also flip through books of many recognisable art from her other books. Lee spent the week of Story Arts leading school students through the exhibition, and asked each what memory they would take with them? They said “The artwork,” “books,” “the studio,” and “how amazing Narelle must have been.” The exhibition also includes animations outside the gallery at 6.00-7.00pm each evening. These are drawn by students from Bethany Lutheran Primary School and Blair State School, and animated with elements of Narelle’s own work by Miles Blow and Jules Pitts. The exhibition will continue until the end of September with children’s workshops on 20th, 21th, and adults on 24th September. To book into the workshops go to idtl.net.au. You can even get to know the exhibition in detail, as Lee is also looking for volunteers to help for a day or even half a day. Shifts are 10am-1.30pm and 1.30pm-4.00pm. Email Jenny at [email protected] if you would like to help. School Program Story by Maria Parenti-Baldey Suspense… Danger… Comedy… Horror… Jack Heath, best selling author of 500 Minutes of Danger. He held his audience captive, until his final word was met with an uproarious applause. When Heath asked who had read his books, he received a resounding thumbs up. He acknowledged his readers and launched into inspiring our future writers. ‘Each story takes about 100 hours to write and 200 hours of editing. The editing is the most important bit. And you’ve got to be willing to write the kind of thing you want to read.’ Heath wrote short stories because it forced him to boil stories down to the most basic ingredients. Stories have two main components — suspense and surprise. Eg., A man was walking down the street… He doesn’t see the banana peel… He walks closer… and closer… to the banana peel — suspense. At the last second, he steps over the banana peel and falls down a manhole…Aaaahhh — surprise. With his horror story he used an extension of this technique — suspense, suspense, suspense and then surprise. Heath liked to start stories with a check list. What were 10 horrible ways to die? He listed problems (P), solutions (S) and complications (C) - where things needed to go wrong unexpectedly. Eg., plane to crash (P), parachute (S), rats had eaten holes in the parachute (C). Heath said, the most entertaining way of telling a story was to start with the problem — Opening line from ‘300 Minutes of Danger’ —‘You’ve been poisoned’. Then he used a ‘broken version’ leading into this opening line. He told the students a series of boring… events… yawn… leading up to the same line. ‘If you start at the beginning of a story you have to work forwards, but if you start in the middle of a story you can work forward and backwards.’ Also, Heath enjoyed the power of similes which allowed readers to not only picture something, but to feel and react — The pill was about the size of a maggot. It was like standing on a giant birthday cake. To show the contrasting impact of smilies, students were asked to picture two scenes. 1. The man fell down the stairs and hit the ground very, very, very, very hard. 2. The man fell down the stairs and hit the ground like a dead rhinoceros. Add Heath’s dramatic resonance and you have 240 students leaving the auditorium laughing. jackheath.com.au Maria Parenti-Baldey, primary teacher, writer, amateur photographer and blogger. www.bigsisterblogs.com School Program Story by Maria Parenti-Baldey ‘What’s your dream?’ Falkner asked year 5 students. Marine biologist, Hollywood actress, lawyer and a room full of nasty criminals made the list. Falkner confessed to the biologist, he didn’t really eat dolphins. Dreams were something you struggled and strived to achieve. It takes years of study to become a marine biologist, lawyer or an author. Falkner reached his dream after 30 years of perseverance, releasing his first book The Flea Thing, about a boy, 12, who had an unusual dream. Students listened as Falkner revealed his story layer-by-layer, until he stopped… . ‘Aaahh,’ chorused year 5. To distract them, Falkner pulled out his story ideas goggles and cast the first magic words authors used to develop their story. ‘What if?’ All around us were hundreds of ‘cool’ ideas. Even right before us, said Falkner as he eyed the students, then glanced at their teachers and whispered, ‘What if… your teachers aren’t really human? Falkner's second magic ingredient was ‘Research’ where authors looked-out for story ideas. Often they ‘stumbled across cool stuff they didn’t know before’. Falkner had used ‘research’ to find his next character for his second book, The Real Thing. In short - three scientists with secret Coca Cola formula, kidnapped, boy flown across globe as a taste tester to somehow save formula. Once again storyteller Falkner stopped short leaving students hanging… . ‘Aaaahhh,’ they chorused louder. The last magic element was ‘Emotion’ where people wanted to read stories that made them feel something. Think about real life incidents when writing, ’Start with something that makes you feel something.’ Falkner shared a powerful emotional experience from 40 years ago, which had students holding their breath and clenching their hands. To reiterate, Falkner reminded students that ’Books Change Lives’ when least expected and in unpredictable ways. One book that changed Falkner’s life has allowed him to write full-time — the international best seller and movie, ’The Tomorrow Code’ followed by ‘Brain Jack’. http://www.brianfalkner.co.nz Maria Parenti-Baldey, primary teacher, writer, amateur photographer and blogger. www.bigsisterblogs.comwf
School Program Story by Maria Parenti- Baldey Author and public servant with a legal background, Cori Brooke wears a cool hat for every story. In her Early Childhood shortlisted, ‘All I Want for Christmas is Rain’ the Preppies guessed right — a farmer’s hat. Ninety Preps and a sprinkle of 1/2s, also learned how Brooke's Picture Book endpapers tell you about the story. Because of the drought, the first endpaper was splotchy brown for… ‘Dirt!’. And the last endpaper was splotchy green for… ‘Grass!’ symbolising young Jane’s wish for rain. Also no words on the page meant the story was being told through the Illustrator’s pictures. Students saw the illustrators first pencil drawing of a scene. Starts with an Sss… it’s called a… ‘Sketch!’ The second drawing showed the illustrator working out colours for characters and setting. Next, students had their chance to write the first line of a story. Brooke said, ‘The first line has to draw your reader in.’ She used a story cube - starting with Once upon a time… and the word ‘parachute’. The little-ones were vocalising ideas as they worked in groups with their teacher. Starting with Once upon a time… we found a yellow and orange parachute and it was magical. Once… there was a pig and a pigeon and a parachute landed in front of them. Once… we went swimming in the pool and a parachute landed. Brooke gave them high praise for their imaginative story starts for such a young age. Brooke also encouraged students to write and draw their own book, like she had in year 2/3. She held up her first hand-created self-published book ‘The Dream’ from ‘a time when there was no computers’. She wrote her first draft by hand, which continued today in an A4 notebook before putting it into the computer. Writing by hand allowed her story to flow, make notes in margin and add drawings. Before she read ‘Fearless Dad’ she asked the kids, ‘What do I need first before I read this… ‘A HAT!’ coribrooke.com.au School Program Story by Maria Parenti-Baldey Author and engineer Andrew King used this catch-cry to his young year 1 to 2 audience. King said engineers liked to draw and design. They were like big kids, just like the students. He encouraged students to think and imagine. To build planes, bridges, buildings, cars and playgrounds using cardboard boxes. To get outside, get dirty and see what the environment was like. Before publishing ‘Engibear Builds A Playground’, they drew bear characters and a playground at home. Then they talked and combined it altogether to write a fun story. King said a child’s mind could travel ‘to infinity and beyond’ when using their imagination. When travel brochures promoted ‘escaping’ on holidays, by driving, riding in a train etc.,. so too could our imagination travel to the beach or fairytale castle without going there. He showed students a slide of his son’s writing and drawing. He said although his writing was early-stage, his son’s brain was already doing amazing things because he could ‘think’. Pointing to the students, he said, ’Your brains can also do amazing things by thinking.’ King's Engineer books encouraged students to delve into the world of engineers. ‘If you can draw it, then you can build it.’ Like a Minecraft city or the city of Munnagong in the Engibear series. Or the engineering feats in Englina’s Train where the Maglev Train, with its magnetic levitation would one day be able to travel from Ipswich to the Gold Coast in 8-12 minutes, instead of 1.5 hours. However, King said of dreaming, drawing, designing and creating, ’You’ve got to be willing to try. Never give up. Try, try again.’ School Program Story by Danielle Freeland On Monday, Shamini Flint had us wide eyed at the Old Courthouse in Ipswich yesterday. She regaled us with tales of school in Malysia in the 1970’s where you would get hit on the knuckles if you made a mistake and made to run around the oval in your underwear if you forgot your sports uniform. Despite, or because, of these challenges and conflict with her parents, she grew up in a tumultuous environment. To escape the drama, she used to get up in the middle of the night and watch soccer on TV by herself on a black and white TV. This was the beginning of a love affair with sport. Shamini learned everything there was to know about soccer even though she never even had a ball to practice with. After a while, she decided she was going to be the greatest soccer player in the world. The fly in the ointment was she didn’t have a ball. She asked her parents, but they said girls don’t play soccer. She asked her Grandma for a ball but she said she couldn’t believe Shamini was her granddaughter. She was then told to do the things the other girls did which was to learn cooking and sewing. Unlike most authors, Shamini prefers to write mainly from experience – even if it is a little exaggerated at times. She says it is a great therapy to relive some of the tortured moments of her childhood and to exact revenge on those that tormented her. In fact, she’s written 48 books in 13 years. Her love of sports drove her to write many of these with sports themes. She did eventually buy a soccer ball and she insisted her two kids play sports. Her book, Ten, is about her desire to be a soccer player and starting a girls’ soccer team. School Program Story by Danielle Freeland At Ipswich’s Old Courthouse today, Richard Newsome met with Bethany Lutheran 6A and Ipswich Junior Grammar 6A and 6B classes. The group held their breath as he showed us a photo of himself at the age 10. He then explained that this was the age he first developed his love of writing. It all started when his teacher gave him a notebook and said he wanted him to fill it with a story. He said he still prefers to write on paper because he likes the way the graphite pencil feels sliding across the page. We were lucky enough to find out a couple of his trade secrets. He told us he never rubs anything out, but prefers to cross out what he doesn’t want or stick on a post-it-note. Sometimes, he goes back to those crossed out sections and uses them later. He also told us about how he writes a novel. First, he fills a notebook. Then, when it’s full, he types it up. The job’s still not done, however, he reviews it page by page before giving it to an editor. When he’s happy with it, he hands it to an editor who makes even more changes. He said of the 1798 pages he’s written only two haven’t had any editorial marks on them. Richard also let us in on another secret. He said if you follow these three steps it will solve all your NAPLAN story writing problems. He said to have a great story every time you need to make sure your characters do these three simple things:
He also talked about ideas and said they can come from anywhere – so look out for them. Richard Newsome has written many books since his first debut - The Billionaire’s Curse which are being read around the world. His favourite colour is Green. His favourite food is Cheese. You can find out more interesting facts like these on his blog at http://www.richardnewsome.com/ School Program Story by Danielle Freeland At Ipswich RSL today, David Lowe gave a dynamic presentation to 3L from West Moreton Anglican College and Amberley District State School 4/5 DE classes. He dazzled us with his dad jokes, a rhyming quiz and a Treasure hunt. Humour was the order of the day mingled with facts. I learned how to tell how old a whale is. I don’t need to go to a whale-weigh station. I just need to look in his ear to see how much wax is in the whale’s ear. I also learned Dave is a completely brilliant story teller whose books have been translated into Hungarian, French, Brazilian, Portuguese, Dutch, Greek and German. When Dave was young he really, really wanted a pet. He ended up with . . . a little brother. Then, he had two kids to bug his parents for a pet. His parents gave in and they had two pets, Janey and Paddy. Unfortunately, late one night, his Dad left the cage door open and they went on a long holiday. He begged his parents for a pet once again, but all he got was . . . another baby brother. Eventually, after more pleading, his parents gave in and he was given a hamster called Flavour. This little guy was really only good at four things: sleeping, running on the wheel, nibbling on food and poohing. Flavour inspired Dave to write his inspiration for his series Stinky and Jinks featuring Stinky - a genius hamster, who likes carrots. There are six books in the series including: My Hamster’s got Talent, and My Hamster’s a Spy. He has a great website where you can find out more about Stinky and Jinks and his other books such as The Incredible Dadventure. Look out for fun printable activities on his home page at www.davelowebooks.com/ |
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