The Castaways Sculpture Awards Exhibition is a celebration of sustainability and creativity as artists use a variety of recycled and repurposed materials to create a wide range of sculptures which are exhibited on the Rockingham Beach Foreshore and Boardwalk every year in October. This was a wonderful way to discover the delights of Rockingham Foreshore and Beach! This visit was in 2019 but we have been every year since.
Schools are also involved through the Up-Cycle Art Project which involves students visiting a Landfill Facility to learn about sustainability and recycling. A professional artist then works in residence with the students to create sculptures made from recycled materials. The School's Exhibition is displayed in Churchill Park.
Our Fashionable Future by Ridge View Secondary College.
Students created an artwork using reclaimed textiles as a way to give unwanted clothing a new purpose while raising awareness of the issue that many people in their age group bought half the clothing they own in the last 6 months.
Dragon Patio Heater by Rockingham PCYC
Created as part of the PCYC Weld to Life learning and development.
The Refugees by Rockingham Montessori School
Penguins are being displaced from their home on Penguin Island as with rising water temperature the whitebait they eat can only be found further south in the cooler waters and they have to travel further or face starvation.
Generation Contamination by Warnbro Community High School
This work depicts Earth's changing climate as a result of human consumption and it's effect on future generations. It is a call to action created from materials causing the current crisis. The mannequin represents our dependence on plastics.
URV - Unidentified Recycling Vehicle by Hillman Primary School
Captain Stink and the URV saw Planet Earth loaded with rubbish from careless inhabitants. The URV hovered over Earth and sucked up the rubbish with maximum suck. In no time the Earth was rubbish free and Captain Stink returned to his planet to recycle the rubbish.
Bird by Tuart Rise Primary School
Birds created from recycled plastic bottles appear inside the 3D cubes.
The Plastic Ocean Turtle by Trinity College
Students were inspired by a video of a turtle with a straw in it's nose.
Magnificent Musical Octopus Garden by Comet Bay Primary School
A piano sourced from the local tip inspired the creation of an Octopus Garden using recycled materials.
Wave of Waste by Living Waters Lutheran College
This work depicts an enormous wave of waste threatening the survival of our oceans. It is predicted that by 2050 there will be more plastic in the sea than fish.
Who gets to choose where we live? by Safety Bay Primary School
This work is about taking choices away from animals. Using textile techniques they have created an island where the man-made and natural are opposed.
The Nursery by SMYL Community College
A glowing sphere represents life, earth, egg, seed, sun, moon and stars. The hollow represents old growth forests, bark and fungus and the importance of the ecosystem to life. The sparkly inside symbolises the enchantment found in forests, imagination and myth. Symbols burnt into the wood refer to untold memories, ancient fears and dreams, popular traditions going up in the fires of deforestation.
Recycled City by Hale School
This reflects the possibility of what the cities of the future could become. A Green city where we reuse our waste to create cities and homes. Where there is no landfill and we are conscious of the effects on our future environment.
Mr Luke Within by South Coast Baptist College
Pollution often starts with people. The artist and easel represent the role of visual art in creating awareness for the need to repurpose and recycle materials. The artist is filled with recycled materials and the easel holds a reflective screen from an old computer. The viewer is invited to look at their reflection on the screen and recognise the solution is to Look Within.
Underwater Garbage Mowing by Rockingham Montessori School
This work examines the use of plastics in our lives, challenges us to question our choices and to reduce our impact on the earth and the oceans. The shark mower is a metaphor for the menacing enemy of plastic pollution and the peril it poses to our oceans and it's inhabitants.
Trash Birds by Endeavour Education Support Centre
Reflecting litter in our open public spaces which makes it's way into our waterways and affects native life.
Doorway of Hope....Our Last Chance by Baldivis Primary School
A coral reef doorway acts as a symbolic reminder of hope, transition, transformation and change. To move forward we all need to take responsibility to recycle, reduce, reuse and cut plastic from our lives so our oceans stay healthy.
Tangled Web by Rockingham Beach Primary School
Drift nets lost and abandoned at sea become ghost nets capturing any creature crossing their path and causing insurmountable damage to the sea floor and fragile habitats such as coral reefs. This work highlights the need for a sustainable fishing industry.
A Mermaid's Tear by Rockingham Lakes Primary School
Coralie the Mermaid is a guardian of the ocean but her task is becoming overwhelming as she sobs tears of nurdles and clutches her baby sea creatures.
Ocean Man by John Tonkin Education Support Centre
The purple barnacle is usually found in clusters on rocks and jetty piles. The larvae stage of the barnacle swims in search of something to attach to and grow. Hanging on no matter what just like a best friend.
Castaways also includes a maquette and small sculpture exhibition held indoors.
Castaways is an event for people of all ages and abilities and beach matting is provided to improve accessibility. Tactile Tours are offered by DADAA.
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In the spirit of reconciliation Out and About- Family Nature Connection acknowledges the traditional owners of the Wadjak boodjar (Perth land) and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.