𝗧𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗔𝗿𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗮𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗴𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝘇𝗲𝘀 

Excitement, Disbelief, and surprise

Five MacKillop Art Exhibition winners share their response to winning awards

In a very proud moment for St Anne’s College, five of our very talented artists were awarded top prizes for their singular artworks on Friday night at the Official Opening and Awards Ceremony for this year’s MacKillop Art Exhibition.

Held at the majestic Sacred Heart Cathedral in Bendigo, the five students were a mixture of pride, delight and surprise upon hearing about their awards.

In taking a moment to celebrate their achievement as a group in the Atelier on Monday, the five talented artists reflected not only upon their respective wins, but also upon their artistic inspiration as well as the importance of being creative.

With the overarching theme of the exhibition being, Let the words you speak be full of Grace, the students not only wrote insightful and articulate art statements in response, but garnered the inspiration to create their artworks in ways as diverse and interesting

as the paintings themselves.

Proudly congratulating his award-winning students, Visual Arts Learning Mentor, 

Mark Almond said,

‘I am very proud of all of you as well as of the other students who entered the competition. You have all done exceptionally well. During the speeches there was a gentleman who talked about the importance of the artist's statements, which are just as significant as the artworks themselves. The connection that you all made with your art statements and the artworks were all on track and inspiring, which is why we’ve come away with such great success!’

Below are the artist's statements, which in conjunction with the artworks themselves, made such a strong impression on the judges.

The College Community would like to heartily congratulate the following students for their exceptional achievements.

Flavio Fontana (Year 11), who won the Spiritual Art Award Year 11-12 for his painting, Fioritura.

Rhiannon Almond (Year 9), who won the Spiritual Art Award Year 7-10 for her painting, Safe with You.

Sinead McCarroll (Year 9), who received a Highly Commended Intermediate Secondary Art Award for her painting, Fighting the Mind.

Hina Batool (Year 9), who received a Commended for the Spiritual Art Award Year 7-10 

for her painting, Save us Please.

Tyson Thompson (Year 2), who received a Highly Commended for the Lower Primary Art Award for his painting, Summer.

Rhiannon Almond (Year 9), for being shortlisted for The People’s Choice Award with her painting, Safe with You.

The People's Choice Award winner will be selected from artworks shortlisted by the judges and voted on by the people.

SUPPORT OUR RHIANNON & VOTE HERE!!!!

ceosand.catholic.edu.au/mae/peoples-choice

Voting will be open until Sunday 26 November 2023.

Winning Artist Statements

Artist: Sinead McCarroll

Title: Fighting the Mind

I used acrylic paints to create this artwork, it’s colourful and dark and it uses contrasting colours to convey a message. I think you can interpret this art however you want but I interpret it as the battles of mental health and what can go on in people's minds. I was inspired by an art museum and saw a lot of different paintings and decided I should give painting a go as I usually enjoy drawing more so, I thought exploring different medias of art would be nice. I chose this subject because I enjoy art. I think it’s a great expression of emotions and feelings. 

Artist : Hina Batool 

Title: Save Us Please

Lead and coloured pencils on paper.

My artwork has a pair of hands tied up in a rope and it's reaching out for a pigeon. The background is a bunch of flags in colour. The hands and bird are both in black and white and the background is in colour just because it creates a hierarchy. I used grey lead pencils and coloured pencils.

I created this peace in speaking out for oppressed people and the main message this gives is oppression. The two hands tied in a rope are the hands of every Muslim or every oppressed person in general, the hands are reaching for a white pigeon and white pigeons symbolise freedom and peace. The flags in the background represent the people in the worlds oppressed countries.

Artist: Flavio Fontana

Title: Fioritura

Acrylic on canvas

For this artwork I decided to choose the largest canvas available because I wanted it to have a strong impact on the viewer.

I decided to call my painting Fioritura which means Blooming in Italian, in line with the topic, Let the words you speak be full of grace. I thought that, only by being kind to others using our words, strong and lasting bonds can flourish.

To represent this year's theme I drew some multi-coloured flowers that are blooming and in the middle of the canvas I painted shaking hands representing union and bond.

I also took into consideration the colour; I tried to apply different colours to the canvas, but at the same time have a chromatic balance.

You were probably asking yourself,'why is the name of the artwork in Italian?' I came from Italy two months ago on an exchange program. I am glad to have the opportunity to share my art and my personality on the other side of the world, with people from a diverse cultural background.

Artist : Rhiannon Almond

Title :  Safe with You

Acrylic on canvas

This is my artwork, it is based on a recollection of this summer, when my family and I went for a day trip to the Redwood Forest. The Redwood trees were enormous and magnificent but I was scared because I felt so tiny. With my Poppy by my side speaking words of grace, I felt safe and like I could do anything.

Artist: Tyson Thompson

Title: Summer

NB : Younger students were not required to write an artist statement.