HILLS artist and painter Belinda Eldridge recently completed a successful and innovative art residency at St Anthony’s Primary School in Greenmount.

The project, entitled Journey of Faith, involved Ms Eldridge working closely with students from pre-primary to Year 6 to create a collaborative artwork based on the school’s values.

“The 10-week residency commenced in August with nearly 100 children involved and 18 large framed murals produced,” Ms Eldridge said.

“My role was to help guide the students through the artistic and conceptual process, while fostering a powerful sense of community and responsibility.

“This is a story of faith, education and the positive outcomes of inter-generational mentorship.”

Deputy principal Erica Sanderson said that 2025 was a jubilee year for the Catholic Church and only occurred once every 25 years.

So, the school wanted to acknowledge this in different formats.

“The theme for this year’s jubilee is Pilgrims of Hope, and our idea was to take elements of our school’s history along with the charisms of our founding orders and the patrons of our four houses and create a pilgrimage walk within the school grounds,” Ms Sanderson said.

“We reached out to Belinda to engage her as our artist-in-residence to work with the students to create an array of murals.

“Each year level focused on a different aspect of our heritage and Belinda supported the students to create their own individual pieces.

“Belinda was then able to take the inspiration of these pieces of art to create a mural that captured those ideas.”

She said Belinda put together a design for each of the year levels from pre-primary to Year 5 that the students took turns to paint.

“The pilgrimage was used for the first time at our house day celebrations and staff and students alike took joy in what had been accomplished,” Ms Sanderson said.

Ms Eldridge said the students collaborated in teams to produce the final projects, even creating a smaller one towards the end with their hand prints and the motto, ‘We continue to act justly, love tenderly and walk humbly’.

She added the school was also considering entering a state competition with Journey of Faith.

Ms Eldridge began painting professionally in 2016, starting with pet portraits and she now offers originals and commissions.

For more information go to the Belinda Eldridge art page.