Artist’s work livens up city’s streets

Over the past few years you may have noticed some incredible murals pop up around Geraldton.

At the west end of Marine Terrace, in what’s known as the CreativeHub, a giant octopus is perched above the Arts and Cultural Development Council art gallery.

The octopus is one of many murals painted by artist Jordan Andreotta, who is known for his minimal colour scheme and simple, yet captivating, designs.

“I’ve loved art ever since I was a child,” he said.

“As long as I can remember I was always drawing, and in high school art was my favourite subject.

“I always knew I wanted to work in a career related to art, and at university I was tossing up between design and architecture but stuck with traditional art.”

Graduating from Curtin University in 2006, Andreotta moved to Geraldton in 2010 to work as an arts teacher at Nagle Catholic College.

Teaching students in Years 7-12, Andreotta has loved sharing his passion for art with local children, getting them involved in some of his projects.

He believes art is a crucial part of the education system as it offers students the chance to express themselves creatively.

“Art is great for building up your own confidence and individuality, which you don’t get to do in a lot of other subjects,” he said.

“It’s also a powerful tool for communication, and gets students to think about issues on a global scale – things that don’t directly relate to them.”

While Andreotta’s art can be found throughout Geraldton, his work was exhibited in London and Tokyo earlier this year.

His artwork has also been featured on Channel 9’s Matt and Kim to the Rescue, and in a Geraldton episode of Channel 7’s House Rules.

Although his art style is strikingly beautiful, Andreotta admits he wouldn’t have had those opportunities without social media’s help.

“From my own experiences, a big part of being an artist and wanting to get your stuff out there is using social media,” he said.

“If you can’t use it you can’t reach that bigger audience, but as long as you can harness that medium, you can use it to your advantage.

“I find a lot of people that come across my work tend to do that through social media, a lot more than through having a website.”

To see more of Andreotta’s work, visit here.