Children used for aerial artwork

American aerial artist Mr Daniel Dancer has created a unique artwork for the Peninsula using local primary school children.

Mr Dancer said he had been hired by Gosford Council to create a giant pelican made out of the children and teachers from three Peninsula Schools to commemorate the opening of the redeveloped Woy Woy Oval.

"The cool thing is that the kids and their teachers become the art; from the air each one becomes a pixel," Mr Dancer said.

He said he was pleased to discover that Woy Woy had a long-standing tradition of aerial art, having created its own aerial art around 100 years ago in the form of the war memorial park in Brick Wharf Rd.

When viewed from the sky, the memorial park depicts the Australian flag.

All the major animals of the world, from grizzly bears to crocodiles have been subjects for Mr Dancer's aerial artworks.

His biggest undertaking to date was in Holland when 300 schools collaborated to include 5000 children in the aerial depiction of the local windmill with tulips as its blades.

Mr Dancer said his enterprise Artforthesky ran residency programs in United States schools to teach children about climate change.

"As a child I had a fascination with birds and flight and my aerial art has a strong environmental ethic about the importance of developing a new relationship with the sky," he said.

Mr Dancer had first visited the Central Coast in 2007 when he created art for the shy in the form of a giant whale on the Skillion at Terrigal.

During his visit to Woy Woy, he also created a video incorporating the school children and local pelicans which can be seen online at artforthesky.com.

Interview, 3 Mar 2016

Daniel Dancer, Artforthesky

Reporter: Jackie Pearson