A GROUP of local art students are holding an exhibition and auction to raise funds for Mornington Peninsula Koala Conservation and Southern Peninsula Community Support.
The exhibition will open at 4pm on 5 October at Mornington Library and run until 24 November.
The artwork was created by students aged seven to 16 from This Artful Life, Visual Art education offering classes and workshops on the peninsula.
Art educator Katrina Frazer teaches weekly term classes and has been working with the students on the upcoming exhibition titled ‘Our Mornington Peninsula’.
“The art is their interpretation of photographs they’ve taken,” said Frazer.
“They voted for which images they wanted to reproduce in different mediums to reflect the Mornington Peninsula, whether it was macro or micro natural landscapes.”
Six works, size A0, are available to view and purchase; all made from a culmination of the students’ work.
The works are made from a variety of mediums including oil paint, collage, watercolour, and wet felting.
The students worked collaboratively to produce sections of a larger image, ensuring they connected key compositional elements to bring together the final piece.
“I have quite a few new students, and some of them needed more support with social integration, so I wanted to get them working in partnership with each other,” said Frazer.
“I wanted to celebrate collective pieces for collective causes.”
Some of the landscapes depicted include Schnapper Point, a sunset over Arthurs Seat, and a manna gum at Balnarring Beach.
Frazer said the students voted on which organisations they wanted the proceeds to go towards.
SPCS Fundraising Coordinator Kera Zaltsberg said they help support women experiencing homelessness on the peninsula, providing essential items and safety, to anyone sleeping rough.
“Every piece purchased contributes to real, on-the-ground support in our community.”
Funds raised through this exhibition will support women on the Mornington Peninsula who are experiencing homelessness or sleeping rough,” said Zaltsberg.
Mornington Peninsula Koala Conservation committee member Sue Scholey said their main goal is to create a koala wildlife corridor to connect existing sections of koala habitat and food trees on the peninsula.
“This involves planting in the existing koala corridors, thereby encouraging koalas out of urban areas and away from the many threats they face,” said Scholey.
“We seek to encourage and assist landholders to protect and enhance existing vegetation and highlight how everyone can better protect the peninsula’s koala population.”
Frazer, who moved to the peninsula two years ago, said she has been impressed by the connection local students have to the natural environment on the peninsula.
She said producing these art pieces has helped teach students the value of their work.
“They’re learning to give back to the community and to see the purpose and the power that art can have,” said Frazer.
“We talk about how art has social impact; art can make statements, whether it’s political or emotional. It’s about expressing ideas and opinions, and that can promote change for good.”
The auction will be via: thisartfullife.com.au and will close on 24 November.
First published in the Mornington News – 22 September 2026
