With a Squatter’s Residency at The Foundations Portland on the agenda for Jessica Ann Leffley, a Central West based Wiradjuri artist, the opportunity arose to lead two workshops at St Josephs Catholic Primary School in Portland this August 2026. With generosity and no doubt much flapping behind the scenes, she turned up prepped with materials and Bird Girl Creations cut-out-bird-template-pieces to start the students soaring from the get-go.
Students from years 3 and 4 created a vast array of wedgetail eagles first up in the morning. No amount of colour and colour mixing was spared for these birds in the making. With Jessica having written her book ‘I is for Ibis’, there was talk around the tables of her guessing each of their names with just their first initials. Everyone wanted in with the fun of interacting with Jessica pondering the possibilities. It took almost all of the workshop session to reveal everyone’s names in amongst guidance from Jessica on how to experiment and be creative. In encouraging each students inner artist to blossom with the great mood set in the room, the students were able to absorb direction and respond individually to the task. With focus from the group and extra templates brought along from Jess, most students completed a second bird by the time their name was revealed and the time was up.
Students from years 5 and 6 spent time creating a flock of yellow tailed black cockatoos, the ones they see fly above the school regularly. Their imaginations were encouraged by Jess – with her chirping “I don’t want to see you create a bird, just like mine – that would be boring”. One student squawked “mine’s got an Akubra on” and another “where’s the hot pink – it’s for my cockatoo”.
Each bird is a delightful result of student creativity being explored in set parameters. All students experimented with and applied paint, some also added extra paper and some even adorned their works with pom poms to create their individual birds, where no two ended up looking alike. With a question about which way feathers go and how to paint them, learning opportunities were tackled with hands on demonstrations from Jessica. Enabling the class to think about layering, where one feather rests on top of another and the one below it, Jessica used the example of the hairs on each of their eyebrows. When stroking your eyebrows from the centre of the face to the side of the face the eyebrow hairs layer smoothly and are soft to touch. Roughing them the other direction causes the hair to become messy and out of place.
Apparently, there are 21 species of cockatoos in the world, 14 of which make Australia home. These and more facts from Jess were shared with the classes including the Wiradjuri names for these birds, Maliyaan for the wedge tailed eagle and Yuyang for the yellow-tailed black cockatoo. With Jessica’s background as a Librarian, High School Art Teacher and Primary School Teacher, she shared with the students the idea and joy of being a lifelong learner.
St Josephs Catholic Primary School is taking advantage of The Foundations Artist-in-Residence program working with Arts OutWest to bring some of the celebrated artists from this residency to lead workshops in their school in 2026.
Upcoming Exhibition:
The birds created in these workshops will form an exhibition at the Portland Larder.
Exhibition Period: Wednesday 16 to Saturday 26 September 2026
Exhibition Celebration (and closing): Saturday 26 September 2026, 10 am – 12 midday
Exhibition Venue: Portland Larder, 6 Wolgan Street, Portland, NSW
Links:
Jessica Ann Leffley
https://www.birdgirlcreations.com/workshops
St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School, Portland
https://www.stjosephsportland.catholic.edu.au
The Squatter’s Residency, The Foundations, Portland
