Year 12 Artist turns bathroom into a vibrant canvas

St Clare’s principal, Dr Ann Cleary, with Year 12 student Lolita, who hopes her brilliantly coloured parrot mural will inspire other students to embrace their creativity.

A humble bathroom plasterboard has been transformed into a riot of dazzling colour, thanks to the artistic talents of a St Clare’s student.

Lolita Ruckert spent more than 50 hours painting the large-scale parrot, which she hopes will inspire others to express their creativity.

“I knew that I wanted to paint an Australian parrot, as it holds many colours and expressions,” the Year 12 student explained.

“I haven’t ever done anything on this scale before, but I had the ambition to create something for my school, so that made it achievable.”

Principal Ann Cleary said a minor renovation two years ago had left a bare wall in front of the cleaner’s closet.

“I had thought for some time that I’d love a community art piece in what is a community space,” she said.

“I thought it would be fantastic if we could have a permanent piece of Lolita’s art at school and beautify what is, really, a very ordinary space.”

Dr Cleary said Lolita was known as an artist in the school community and had exhibited at an art show earlier in the year.

“Lolita is also a very generous person and is know to be highly reliable and an independent worker,” she said.

“I hope that students take a moment to enjoy the artwork as they enter and exit the space.  I want them to recognise the effort put in by one of their own and show respect to the piece.  Maybe the work will inspire another student to propose more ‘street art’ around the College or beyond!”

Dr Cleary said when she first saw the finished mural, all she could say, was “Wow!”

“Lolita created a digital image first, which I loved at first sight,” she said.

“With a few very minor tweaks of colour to represent all the House colours at St Clare’s, Lolita then overlayed her digital image with a photograph of the wall.  I knew what to expect, but the reality of seeing the giant parrot, its glistening eye and the movement of the wings was amazing.”

Lolita said she had been doing art from a very young age, and it quickly became a way to express herself.

“I made it my goal to learn how to create art that captures the attention of others,” she said.

“The mural took about 55 hours to paint and complete, and the process involved remixing paints due to drying and accidentally getting a few colours wrong and staying back till 6pm almost every day; but the main thing was reminding myself that I could do this and that I just had to trust the process. Overall, this art piece was delightful and long-lasting.”

Dr Cleary said it was wonderful to celebrate and showcase the talents of students.

“Some things are more intangible, but a giant parrot is hard to ignore!”