Celebrate Lunar New Year by exploring exciting art and exhibitions in Springvale.
Lantern Village - Multicultural Place
Discover the lantern village in Multicultural Place, a temporary installation that features illuminated illustrations. Students from various schools in Springvale were invited to create artwork that celebrated Lunar New Year, and what made is a special time of year for them.
From wishing trees to dragons, dumplings to moon cakes there was plenty of creativity!
Special thanks to the students and staff at:
- Spring Valley Primary School – Valley and West campus
- St Joseph’s Primary School
- Heatherhill Primary School
- Springvale Rise – Springvale and Heights campus
Selected artwork will also be displayed in Mitchell Hall, Springvale Community Hub from 13 January – 13 February.
Kim Lam (Dangerlam) - the creative force behind the Lunar New Year branding
Commissioned to celebrate the diversity within Springvale, artist Kim Lam created a whimsical and joyful series of illustrations that celebrate the unique cultural vibrancy of the centre.
Q and A with Kim
Can you describe the work you have created for LNY 2025?
A lion dance parade marches by, turning heads wherever they go. The big lion head bobs, little feet prance, and you catch a flash of the dancers beneath the puppet. Everyone is in a good mood, and everyone is welcome to join in! Each community creature is an animal from the Chinese Zodiac but upon closer inspection there’s also a lettuce in the vanguard. Nestled amongst the lettuce’s leaves is a red pocket (also called a hóngbāo / 红包 in Chinese or lì xì in Vietnamese), which is offered into the lion’s mouth during the Lunar New Year lion dance for good luck.
What inspired this piece/idea?
I wanted to celebrate the shared feeling of joy and belonging that comes with being in community. I often think about this quote by one of my favourite artists, Kaylene Whiskey, which inspired the mood of my artwork and captures the community feeling perfectly:
'Uwangkara tjungu, mulapa rikina!' (Everyone together, looking so good!)
What is your most important artist tool? Is there something you can’t live without in your studio?
Although I love to collect, accumulate and consume all sorts of stationery, I am also a creature of habit and have been using the same notebook and pen for many years. I carry my Stalogy notebook and a Muji pen everywhere I go!
For optimal working conditions in my studio, I must have good lighting (soft, upwards and erring toward warm), a cup of tea, and a little furry friend nearby (my chihuahua Snorri or big cat π) to bounce early ideas off.
What are the top three influences which have shaped your artistic style?
(1) Children’s drawings: for their playful looseness and infinite imagination.
(2) The satisfaction you get from the texture of bouncy, squishy and cushy things like the perfect pillow or marshmallows. There’s a Finnish word for it—hyppytyynytyydytys! I like to emulate this feeling in my artwork.
(3) and a lot of happy accidents!
How will you celebrate LNY 2025?
Attending as many Lunar New Year festivals as I can across the different suburbs. Springvale, Box Hill, St Albans and Chinatown in the city are on my wishlist. And eating Bánh Tét! These are Vietnamese New Year sticky rice loaves stuffed with green beans and pork belly, wrapped in banana leaves and string. My mum buys them from various Vietnamese grocery stores every year and gives me a few loaves to enjoy fresh, and a few to freeze for later.
Follow Kim’s work on Instagram, @dangerlam
