Connection — School Mural in Hobart

Connection is a school mural in Hobart, created in 2025 for East Derwent Primary School. The mural was designed to encourage calm, wellbeing, and a sense of connection to the natural world within an educational environment.

Installed indoors, the artwork brings observation of nature into a shared school space, supporting moments of pause, attention, and quiet engagement throughout the school day.

Project Overview

  • Project type: School mural, 2025

  • Location: East Derwent Primary School, Hobart, Tasmania

  • Setting: Indoor educational environment

  • Commission: Tasmanian Government Art Site Scheme

  • Surface: Painted brick, interior panels, interior walls

  • Size: 25 m²

  • Medium: Hand-painted mural

Process & Materials

The mural was created as an indoor mural across multiple surfaces, requiring careful planning and adaptation to architectural features. All materials were selected to meet school safety and durability requirements.

  • Paint: Non-toxic Haymes paints

  • Finish: Anti-graffiti and UV-protective coating

These choices ensure the mural remains safe, durable, and visually stable within a school setting.

Interactive Elements

Looking closely, the mural begins to come alive. Birds and animals are playfully hidden throughout the artwork, encouraging exploration and engagement.

This interactive layer supports imagination, storytelling, and repeated engagement with the mural over time.

 

Concept & Wellbeing Focus

The mural explores how observing nature can awaken a sense of calm, support wellbeing, and encourage deeper self-awareness. A bright colour palette was chosen to reflect the diversity of Tasmania’s flora and fauna while creating an uplifting and welcoming atmosphere.

As a wellbeing mural, Connection is designed to feel supportive rather than stimulating — offering balance, rhythm, and visual clarity that students can return to daily.

Educational & Environmental Context

Inspired by close observation of the natural world, the mural invites children to slow down, notice details, and feel connected to the living environment around them. Rather than delivering information, the artwork encourages curiosity and personal discovery.

Floral elements throughout the mural are created using a Samchykivka-inspired visual language, adapted to support a sense of connectedness and continuity across the space.

Students can discover:

  • Tasmanian Devil

  • Wombat

  • Echidna

  • Kangaroo

And spot native birds including:

  • Blue Wren

  • Pink Robin

  • Cockatoos

  • Rosellas

  • Honeyeaters

If you want to get a quote for a mural you can use the form below to start the pricing process. Otherwise, if you like you can also give me a quick call and we can talk it through.

Mural Enquiry Form

I work closely with schools and communities to create murals that are safe, durable, and meaningful.

About the Artist

Anna Mykhalchuk is a Ukrainian-Australian folk artist and muralist based in Australia. Her practice includes school and educational murals that respond to place, wellbeing, and community through thoughtful visual language.

Reflection

Connection demonstrates how a school mural can support wellbeing without distraction. By combining calm visual rhythm with opportunities for discovery, the artwork becomes part of the learning environment rather than a separate feature.

The mural offers students a quiet visual companion — one that encourages awareness, curiosity, and connection to place.

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