Art Show

On Friday 18 October, we held our annual College Art Show.  Dr Tuite opened our show as we welcomed students and families as well as special guests, including Ms Susan Lynch from the office of local member Dr Anthony Lynham MP, and Ms Sinead Greinke as our feature artist.  Sinead shared with us her career pathway since graduating in 2007, as well as a selection of her paintings focusing on coastal scenes.  Musical entertainment was brought to us by Mark Mirhan from Padua.  Year 12 Art students Maren L’Huillier and Georgia McGillivray hosted the show.  We also featured works from teachers on staff and Art X students.

We thank all community members for their support of this evening and all helpers who contributed to setting up and taking down, and serving food and drinks on the night.  I know the Art students were very proud of their achievements and were excited about revealing their work to a wider audience.

Sinead Greinke selected her favourite works for the Judge’s Choice Awards.  Congratulations to these students:

Year 7 – Georgia Blake,  Watercolour Exploration, painting of flowers

Year 8 – Giselle Shaw,  Self Portrait,  painting

Year 9 – Cara Dineen, Lost Thing, mixed media

Year 10 – Bianca Long, Natural Environment, gelli plate print

Year 11 – Ella Roberston, Art as Code, mixed media on fabric

Year 12 – Lauren Kroll, Honeywork, mixed media painting

The People’s Choice Awards will be announced at Awards Night.

Lorella Masci

Learning Area Advisor - The Arts

Keynote Address

This is Sinead's keynote address at the Art Show.  I hope this will serve as inspiration to many of you.

Yesterday morning, when I dropped off my pieces for the Art Show, was the first time I’ve been back to Mt A since I graduated in 2007.  And admittedly I felt a little ancient – but it was great to see how the College has grown and changed.

Looking back on my time at Mt A I have so many fond memories, but my absolute favourites were a double period of Visual Art.  My school friends and I still reminisce about the great times we had in Art – chatting and working away on our projects.  The Art Room was a special creative space that I haven’t quite succeeded in replicating yet.

When the end of Year 12 rolled around and the days of Visual Art and high school in general were over, I had very few things figured out.  But I did know that art was something I wanted to be a part of for the rest of my life.  

So I continued to paint, sculpt, and build after school, accepting commissions and exploring different media along the way.  About four months after graduating I decided I needed some help.  I was content with the journey my art was taking but I had no idea how to put my work out there.  So I enrolled in a Bachelor of Business and majored in Marketing.  I also managed to squeeze in a few graphic design electives, which at the time was for fun but have ended up being fundamental to my career.

I completed my degree and started working in marketing and events, where I applied my creativity to comms and styling.  I took a short break from work to travel, reluctantly came back, and landed myself a role as a public servant with the Department of Communities.

This role had no creative element whatsoever and, whilst very interesting and rewarding, I struggled to remain engaged.  One day an opportunity presented itself.  My director was looking to contract a graphic designer to overhaul some of our documents.  She wanted to take the messaging and make it visual, simple – something people would engage with and remember.  I mentioned my experience in graphic design (although limited at the time) and volunteered to take on the job.  And they let me.

My colleagues weren’t all that confident.  I had never mentioned my artistic side as it had no relevance to my role.  Needless to say, they were surprised but very happy with the finished product.  And they were excited – most of the people I worked with were writers, strategists, and data analysts, so to have someone in their midst with my skills filled a gap. 

Word got out around the water cooler and all of a sudden I was being given design work from my team, other teams, other areas of the department – until design became a big part of my role.  I started coaching my colleagues on simple ways to present information.  People started to recognise the power of presentation and visuals to communicate ideas and complex messages to staff, executives, and the broader community.  So much so that I was poached for the last two roles I have held with government, specifically to undertake this work.

After work I was painting, drawing, building, sometimes until the early hours of the morning to finish commissions of people's beloved vehicles, motorcycles, pets, first homes, abstracts - whatever it was, I gave it a go because I was still searching for a style of my own that I could really connect with.

A few years ago I discovered resin.  Resin was a medium I had seen many years ago but at the time didn’t know what it was.  One day at Bunnings I saw some.  I did a few experiments and that was that.  I moved on to artist grade products, started incorporating ink, high flow paint, pigments, and pen.  And I fell in love.  Not just with the finish, but also the way it flowed and laced and merged colours.

My style is still evolving and I’m still learning about the capabilities of the media I’m using, but I am having so much fun doing it.  Once I landed in my happy art bubble, my marketing degree kicked in and I started an Instagram account as a way of promoting myself.  What started as a few commissions here and there grew and grew.  Through Instagram I have been invited to exhibit in galleries and cafes, sell on online platforms, and collaborate with other artists. 

Juggling the two worlds - art and full-time work - has made my personal art journey slow, but I am finally in a position to take some time off to build my brand and see where it goes.  Of course I would be nowhere without my family and my partner.  They are the backbone of my side hustle - from drop-offs to galleries, art shows, handovers to clients, and running around what I’m sure sometimes feels like the whole state to pick up my preferred supplies.

To the students here tonight:  I see some exciting artistic talent waiting to be unleashed on the world.  If you, like I was, are still figuring things out but are solid on the fact that art will be a part of what you do, then I would suggest using that to guide you in what you do next.  And, also, when you get out there into the workforce, don’t be deterred by roles that aren’t necessarily creative because there are always opportunities that arise to let your talent shine through and pave a new pathway for yourself.  Ultimately, if you’re passionate about it and it makes you happy, then it’s important and you should pursue that.