Visual Arts

Welcome Back To All

Term 2 is already a buzz, full of frenzy in the Visual Art rooms with new tasks starting while SAT’s for Year 12 Studio Art are due soon. The art room was open for a couple of days over the break for senior access and it proved to be a very productive time.

Artist in Residence

Every year Aitken College in association with the Visual Arts department hosts an Artist in Residence. We are very fortunate to have Shay Downer with us this year. Shay is a local artist and will be the first to exhibit in the new Library and Learning Centre currently under construction in Sunbury. Shay started this week and her residency will focus on portraiture. Shay hooked my Year 11 class early, breaking down the features within a portrait, looking at relationships and proportion. She then introduced the students to a variety of charcoal mediums and pencil rubbers. Her technique includes skillfully rubbing back a drawing, creating highlights and reworking the image, layering the medium to create complex tonal ranges. Our talented students were engrossed in the process for two hours, challenged by the process and images provided. Shay will continue to work with students in Year 10, 11 & 12 this term, repeating her workshop with Year 10 students in Semester 2.

Year 11 VCD

Below you will find some very clever responses to a Year 11 VCD task. Students in Mrs McKay’s class have been creating images for a concertina booklet. Each image needed to represent a specific design element (tone, line, texture, colour, point, form, shape, type) or design principle (figure/ground dominance, contrast, hierarchy, scale, proportion, cropping, pattern, balance). In addition, students were also required to use a range of different media. Students enjoyed the freedom of creating their own images using media such as copic markers, collage, computers, paint and pencil. I hope you enjoy seeing the work in progress.

Year 10 Photography

The Year 10 Photography students are slowly but surely learning that the taking of a good photograph requires more than a ‘point and shoot’ mentality. As the subject is introduced in Year 10, we must start with the basics, learning how to set and use a complex piece of equipment that has multiple attachments, settings and endless possibilities in the hands of a creative and keen eye. Beyond this, students also learn how to manipulate their own and borrowed imagery in Photoshop. While the end of year exhibition is the best place to see our amazing students work, here is a sneak peak of a few pieces from Ms Grbac’s class.

Mrs Linda Camilleri

Head of Faculty Visual Arts