When Prep art teacher Karen Blair attended the book launch of the final picture book in Briony’s Kumiko and the Dragon trilogy earlier this year – she knew she was on to something. “Briony had made a sculpture of a dragon for the launch and I immediately thought that would appeal to the boys and approached Briony about the residency.  We made  a submission to the Parents' Association as part of its funding for artist in residence programmes, which they kindly granted,” Ms Blair said.

Briony, who is passionate about promoting the Arts to children in WA, said she was delighted to be involved in the project. “At first I was a bit nervous about working with so many boys and how they would respond but they really got into it,” Briony said.

The dragon was constructed using cane, wire and papier-mâché and then covered in hundreds of scales, which were individually decorated by the boys from Pre-Primary through to Year 6. “The boys helped the whole way through from start to finish. It was really good for them to think about the steps and to see it come to life over the eight days,” she said.

“It was so cute – throughout the project there were always faces pressed up against the windows outside to see what stage the dragon was at. As the layers on the dragon got bigger ¬– so too did the boys’ eyes.”

Briony said people would enjoy looking at the detail in each scale from drawings of muscle men and Darth Vader to tiny hearts and smiley faces on the tiniest scales. The dragon will be on display as part of the Prep School’s ‘Wild Arts’ Exhibition, located around the Prep School, from Monday 26 to Friday 30 September.

The Week of the Arts, which showcases the boys’ artistic, dramatic and musical endeavours, opens on Monday 26 September, at 6.00pm, in the Chapel Forecourt with performances by the Prep Rock Workshop Band, Piano Duet Club, Yahoos and iMove Physical Theatre Club.