This year's Wyndham Learning Festival includes unique bags featuring artwork from two local creatives Ashlee Brown and Thavishi Bandara.
Running from 1 September until 7 September, the Wyndham Learning Festival, led by the Wyndham Community & Education Centre and supported by Wyndham City, will showcase many new learning events that will inspire, challenge, and interest learners in Wyndham.
The theme this year is Our Thriving Creative Community and supporting two local creatives connects directly with this theme.
The Wyndham Learning Festival committee considered all the entries in the Way Out West 2022 photography competition and selected Ashlee and Thavishi's respective work to be featured on the 5,000 festival bags.
Ashlee, a 26-year-old resident of Werribee and a mother of three young children, has a deep connection with the Werribee River. Her image Down by The River was one of two selected to be featured on the festival bags.
The Werribee River is a source of comfort and inspiration for Ashlee, who has a passion for photography, which she enjoys alongside her roles as a hands-on mother and model.
Thavishi's image of One small step for man. One giant leap for mother nature was the second image selected.
The 15-year-old creative has always been fascinated by various forms of art.
Drawing on past inspiration, she decided to incorporate her own boots, threaded with purple lace, and adorned with flowers from her garden. To enhance the visual impact, she splashed water around the scene, ultimately capturing a stunning image on her father's iPhone.
The Wyndham Learning Festival bags will be printed with the image on one side, and the Festival logo on the other and are reusable and a great way to feature two local artists and a lovely visual memento for festival attendees to keep.
The Wyndham Learning Festival 2023 encompasses a huge array of new events and activities for the community to learn and try something new.
The program highlight this year is the signature event Celebrate the Magic of Storytelling with Mem Fox launching the Festival on Friday 1 September from 5.30pm at Wyndham's Cultural centre with the opportunity to discover the magic of literature and creativity and celebrating 40 years of the whimsical Possum Magic book.
