Our little Mali the Elephant has spent the past three weeks at Melbourne Zoo along with 54 others her size which were decorated by students from Victorian schools. She was positioned on the South side of the Zoo’s historic Carousel. Not far away was a herd of 50 larger Malis decorated by professional artists. The herd seemed to be heading in the direction of the Asian Elephant enclosure where real Mali spends her days playing with her little brother Ongard and the rest of her family. Our decorated Mali model will soon be returned to us and spend her days being admired by the students and families of Taylors Lakes Primary School.
I was born in Bendigio, Victoria, Australia and attended a 13 student Rural School, Muskerry East Primary. I was a boarder at Girton CEGGS in Bendigo for my seconday Schooling.I trained at Bendigo and Coburg Teachers Colleges before beginning teaching in Melbourne in 1975. I taught a variety of Primary classes before beginning Art teaching in 1986. I am currently in my 26th year of teaching Visual Arts and my 24th year at Taylors Lakes Primary School which is in outer north-west Melbourne, Australia. I am married with three children and outside teaching am a keen member of Rotary International. Besides my passion for Art I have keen interests in photography, travel and in Learning Technologies.
October 20, 2012 at 2:18 pm
Hello Yvonne!
I am really enjoying your blog
I have been thinking about becoming a primary school art teacher. I have a Bachelors in drawing from the VCA and know I need to get a Dip Ed. I was really curious about what it’s LIKE being an art teacher. I have always been great with children but I’m not the most organised person, and I guess I have many trepidations. Any advice would be so appreciated! Thank you 
October 24, 2012 at 11:52 am
Hello Jelena,
Thank you for your Blog comments and questions. I am so pleased that you are considering being an Art Teacher. I find Art Teaching a wonderful challenge. I enjoy being able to be creative and having a lot of freedom within our planning to offer choices to students as we guide them along many different paths of discovery.
There are SO many great Art blogs around and via Twitter and through Pinterest I am discovering more wonderful educators and ideas almost daily. I’m not a very organized person. We right brained people struggle with that. I don’t think it’s a bad thing and we can train ourselves to cope in the whirlwind that is often the Art Room.
I would like to keep in touch with you to hear what you decide to do. Congratulations on all your hard work so far and maybe we can catch up some time when I return from my upcoming trip to the USA.
Very Best Wishes from Yvonne Osborn.
January 30, 2013 at 12:00 am
I went to Melbourne Zoo and saw the elephants. There was lots of effort put into it. The artists are really creative.
Bhavi.N
January 30, 2013 at 11:03 am
Thank you Bhavi. I’m so pleased that you saw the decorated elephants in the Melbourne Zoo setting. The artists showed incredible imagination and talent. I’m looking forward to finding a great place to display our “Mali” somewhere in our school. Can you think of a great place for her?
Best Wishes for all your 2013 classes from Mrs Osborn.