WEARABLE ARTS VISION IN EDUCATION

SHEARWATER'S WEARABLE ARTS VISION IN EDUCATION


WAVE stands for “Wearable Arts Vision in Education” and is Shearwater’s – the Mullumbimby Steiner School – lively, imaginative and artistic Wearable Arts Performance Event which takes place in Mullumbimby, NSW, each October / November.

WAVE blends theatrics and choreography, seeking through the magic of dance, music, drama, lighting, costume and pageantry to bring the focus on the performer – the human being as a measure of all things.
Add to these the craft arts of fabric design, felting, weaving, printing, jewellery making, body decoration... and you'll possibly agree that WAVE offers an art form synthesizing all the arts!



Shearwater Wearable Arts Performance Event has become deeply embedded in the School’s Learning Program. The event acting not only as a catalyst and stimulus to students but serving as a realisable focus for their creative self-expression.
Some 80% of our High School students and staff are voluntarily involved with art piece production, acting, dance, modelling, choreography, wardrobe, make-up and it’s obviously popular with our students is the Entertainment Industry, Certificate III VET course, which focuses on the Event to teach its stage management, lighting, sound, stage and set construction, OH&S, security and front of house modules. These students, with the direction of their teachers, mainly run this successful Event. But WAVE reaches most students, one way or another: for example, one of the Industrial Design students constructed a revolving stage for the show as his Major Work in that subject and other event-integrated courses include Visual Art, Visual Design, Drama, Dance, Music, Design and Technology, Photography, Film-making and Digital Imaging.
The show is an inspiring event that this year drew a paying audience of some 3000 over three performances. The magic of these evenings is palpable and stimulates the maximum participation and sense of belonging. It brings out the best in all involved: cooperative teamwork, dedication, sacrifice, commitment, veneration, respect (for self and others), a striving for excellence, peer support and love of life.
All these transform themselves into living realities through the creative agencies of this new, incipient art form. And, to let Rudolf Steiner conclude: “A moral foundation is laid when the individual is guided to the source whence he must draw the impulses which supply him/her with forces leading to ethical activity.”