School News
St Gabriel’s Sala Exhibition 2021
Resilience, Peace and Hope for the Future
The decision to participate in the SALA Festival was guided by St Gabriel’s aim to provide authentic learning experiences and purposes for their students. St Gabriel’s is a small catholic primary school with approximately 240 students from R-6. We are a proud multicultural community with many students coming from different cultural backgrounds and 33 different languages represented within the school. The theme of 2021 SALA Festival is Resilience, Peace and Hope for the Future and particularly resonates with St Gabriel’s multicultural community and the events occurring around the world in the present time.
All artwork is connected to the theme: Resilience, Peace and Hope for the Future. The centrepiece artwork was created by Adrian Estrellente.
Adrian says:
"The piece of artwork I created incorporates the themes of resilience, peace and hope. In order to display these themes, elements such as the fence and the hand represent the individuals who are in crisis or live in burden."
"The hands escaping from the fence depicts the support that is often given to those in need."
"On the exterior of the fence, the heart, the vines and roses symbolise the world of peace and hope."
Through the artwork presented, viewers will experience different forms that resilience, peace and hope are found in our environment:
Resilience is found in the resilient Australian outback and fauna, the bleak Australian bushfire season, the fight for existence from endangered animals, the impacts of war, the clever strategic problem solving of little ants and our ancestors’ stories of migration.
Peace is present in our Japanese garden, the gentle flight of the dove a universal symbol of peace, the sense of calm from the presence of trees, the beautiful bloom of the cherry blossom as spring approaches and the tranquil stillness of a starry night sky.
Hope is a way of thinking that pushes us to action. When people have hope, they’re more likely to act, needing to fulfil their goals and envision a future different than their current reality. With hope students become better problem solvers. Hope is the future and today’s students are tomorrow’s future.
SALA is a unique South Australian Art Festival that recognises living artists. The success of St Gabriel’s first SALA in 2019, which we not only won one of five prestigious credit union school awards but also saw the huge benefits for our students as they excelled in art, encouraged St Gabriel’s to make this a biannual event where students could showcase their art and creativity. Sean Hill, Principal of St Gabriel’s, spoke on the night saying “SALA is not only an opportunity for students to showcase their talents, but a wonderful way to connect with our local community and celebrate the learning and teaching at St Gabriel’s”
