Much-loved Melbourne artist, Beci Orpin, has brought her interactive and tactile creative approach to Yarra Ranges Regional Museum with dream room.
This new exhibition celebrates the absurdity, joy and wonder of children’s rooms and the wildness of their imaginations, making it the perfect school holiday’s day out.
Kids’ rooms are filled with stuff that ultimately signifies their growing interests, identity and learnings from the world around them. This interactive exhibition pays homage to the chaotic and messy nature of (most) kids’ rooms.
Orpin invites kids of all ages, as well as adults with a child-like sensibility to play, learn and explore dream room. Speaking with Broadsheet about wanting art to be widely accessible, Orpin said “Galleries are commonly like ‘Don’t touch, don’t speak, don’t interact’. Whereas I want these spaces to be the opposite of that. ‘Like, yes, you can touch. Yes, you can make a small amount of noise’. It’s about experiencing things, but also hopefully educating at the same time.”
dream room extends on Yarra Ranges Regional Museum’s relationship with Orpin, established through the development of an exciting new early years Creative Learning Program which has just officially launched. Available online, the program shares four distinct and significant stories of the Yarra Ranges region and invites primary school aged children, families and the community to partake in writing, drawing and making activities led by Orpin and other Victorian based creatives.
Yarra Ranges Council Mayor Jim Child, encouraged families to get along to see and enjoy the exhibition.
“We are thrilled to make Beci Orpin’s art available to families of Yarra Ranges and Melbourne’s Eastern region. Ensuring our communities have access to the highest quality creative and cultural experiences is part of what makes Yarra Ranges a great place to live. We look forward to the Museum being full of play, creativity and inspiring the dreams of the next generation,” he said.
Oprin’s career has spanned 25 years, seeing the multidisciplinary artist, designer and illustrator become known as the ‘Queen of colour and play’.
dream room will be on show at Yarra Ranges Regional Museum until 2 February. Entry to the exhibition is free.
