Cardboard replica of Canberra Baptist Church becomes community lockdown project for people to paint

Inspired by a similar project by Palmerston's Kirrily Burnett who built the capital's iconic bus stop out of cardboard for people to paint on their daily walks, Canberra Baptist Church decided to make their own sidewalk art project.

"It's nice to reach out to people. And it's hard at the moment because the normal ways that you reach out to people and the normal activities that are running are not taking place," Canberra Baptist Church minister Belinda Groves said.

"Even if it's just making your eyes smile over the top of your mask, it's nice to try and support each other through quite an anxious time."

While it was Reverend Groves' idea to bring the cardboard creation to life, it was Cecelia Aull, the manager of the church's Currie Crescent Community Centre, who was the creative behind the project. She spent a week pulling cardboard resources and making the construction.

"I figured if I could make a structurally sound cube, then from there, I could work on everything else," Ms Aull said.

"It's reinforced with some stakes that I took from the community garden, with permission ... so that it has something to lean on, particularly because the roof was quite heavy.

"Once I got the basic outline, it has been just a matter of putting extra details on. Probably the hardest part was knowing when to stop."

The cardboard church has been in pride of place outside the building it is based on since Tuesday, with a set of paints (and hand sanitiser) next to it.

The plan is for it to be there for people to paint for at least the next week if not the rest of the school holidays - depending on the weather.

READ MORE:

Ms Aull said she'd added the Kingston church to the route of her morning walk so that she could see the daily transformation of the cardboard replica.

"We're all sort of building a mural together," she said.

This is not the first time Canberra Baptist Church has done something out of the ordinary. In June, the church was draped in a 100-metre scarf - made out of secondhand bedsheets - to highlight Australia's changing climate and the need for climate action.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: