Art-i-facts

NAIDOC Week Art: For our Elders

The themes of NAIDOC week this year is For Our Elders. 

This year we have been reflecting on the legacy of the Elders who established MECS. NAIDOC prompts us to remember and appreciate the legacy of the Elders of the Wurundjeri people who were custodians of this land long before our school was established. 

The term elder may have been fairly new to lower primary aged students, so we spent some time thinking about who their immediate Elders are and how they have influenced their lives. We discussed how Elders have established rules and laws to keep us safe and make things fair, how Elders teach us things to protect us and how to have the food, clothing and shelter we need and how to get along with others and ways to have fun and celebrate in community. Importantly they have taught us how to care for what has been entrusted to us. 

For our whole school NAIDOC assembly, the children expressed this thinking by

writing or drawing (on the back of their decorated hands) about ways in which an elder has helped them. They included things like being taught how to cook, tie shoe laces and how to live. 

Each student and teacher in both Primary and Secondary school was invited to decorate a hand shape to be displayed in the form of an Aboriginal flag. This was displayed next to the stage.

Primary students were encouraged to include patterns inspired by the work of Indigenous artist Bronwyn Bancroft, as seen in these images from her anthology,  'The Art in Country'. 

I highly recommend this book for anyone who loves art and poetry. It is a sumptuous feast of beautiful imagery. 

We hope you enjoy seeing the hands displayed at our assembly.

 Jan Ormrod & Alyce Vanderjagt

Primary Art Teachers

What is happening in Secondary Art

Semester 2 is well underway in the Secondary Art space and we are already seeing students generating ideas, practising their artistic skills and thinking in innovative and out-of-the-box ways.

At the heart of our program is the belief that we, as humans, are created in the image of a divine Creator. This truth forms the foundation of our approach to art education. We encourage our students to see themselves as reflections of the ultimate Creator, possessing the incredible power to bring beauty, inspiration, and thought-provoking ideas to life through their creative expressions.

Year 7 & 8 Art: A Place in my Art

In our Year 7 and 8 classes, we learn about art within the context of a big, beautiful idea that aims to help our students grow not only as artists, but as intelligent and empathic human beings too. This semester's big idea is the concept of 'place'.

Throughout this semester we will think about place considering Indigenous Australian wisdom and biblical perspectives, and our young artists will expand their understanding of the world around them. Through their art, they are exploring how places hold stories, emotions, and memories, transcending time and culture as well as considering the role we have as stewards of the home God has provided us with. 

Year 9/10 Electives: Drawing and Arts Practice Project

Our Year 9/10 students have had the opportunity to participate in two semester-long visual arts electives.

This semester we have offered a dedicated Drawing elective which is focussing on the skills, techniques and processes successful artists use to be able to draw anything! The quality of work being produced even as students practice these skills is impressive and I am so excited to see their work develop further!

We also offer an 'Arts Practice Project' elective which provids students the opportunity to self-direct their learning in an area of particular interest. Currently, students are using different media such as painting, drawing, textile art, photography or sculpture as the launchpad into this project. The standard of work produced in this elective is consistently incredible as students are so motivated and enthusiastic when working in an area of personal interest.

VCE ART: Creative Practice

This year our Year 11 and 12 students have had the chance to undertake the 'Creative Practice' course. This brand-new study design has replaced the old 'VCE Art' course and focuses on both the theoretic and practical sides of art and inspires students to create artworks based on the themes and ideas presented in both contemporary and traditional artworks. 

Olivia Dyer

Secondary Art Teacher