General News
VCE Art Excursion Inspires Creativity Beyond the Classroom
On Wednesday 11 February, our VCE Art Making & Exhibiting and Art Creative Practice students from the Cranbourne and Clyde North campuses embarked on an exciting excursion to three outstanding local arts venues: McClelland Sculpture Park + Gallery, Oak Hill Gallery, and Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery (MPRG). For many students, this was their very first visit to a public art gallery, making the day a memorable milestone in their artistic journey.
Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery (MPRG)
Our day began at MPRG, where students explored Unfolding, a major exhibition celebrating the diversity and dynamism of works on paper by First Nations artists. Featuring prints, drawings and paintings on paper from the Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery (MPRG) permanent collection. The visit included a valuable talk from the curator, who explained how exhibitions are planned, how artworks are selected, and the collaborative relationship between artists and galleries. Students gained first-hand insight into curatorial practice, which is an important link to their VCE studies, particularly in understanding how artworks are presented and interpreted in professional contexts.
Many students commented on how different it felt to experience artworks in person rather than on a screen. They noted being able to see texture, scale, and material choices up close, helping them better understand how artists communicate ideas through visual language.
Oak Hill Gallery
A short walk from MPRG took us to the charming Oak Hill Gallery, where students encountered another selection of works by local artists. This smaller, community-focused gallery offered a contrasting experience and sparked discussion about the different types of exhibition spaces, from regional institutions to artist-run and local galleries.
Students were particularly interested in seeing how artworks were arranged within more intimate spaces and how this influenced the viewer’s experience. Several students shared that the visit gave them ideas for how they might display their own works in future exhibitions.
McClelland Sculpture Park + Gallery
The final stop was McClelland Sculpture Park + Gallery in Langwarrin, where students explored both the Inaugural Maquette exhibition and the expansive outdoor sculpture park. Surrounded by natural bushland, the large-scale sculptures prompted students to think about the relationship between art, environment, and audience, which are key considerations within the VCE curriculum.
Experiencing sculpture at full scale allowed students to appreciate how materials, engineering, and site-specific placement contribute to meaning. Many students reflected that seeing artworks integrated into the landscape encouraged them to think more ambitiously about their own artmaking possibilities.
A highlight of the day was the much-loved Frankie the gnome sculpture, which we couldn’t resist capturing a group photo with Frankie before heading home.
Seeing artworks in person is an essential part of VCE Visual Arts education. Excursions such as this, provide direct inspiration for students’ folios, helping them generate ideas for materials, techniques, and presentation, strengthen understanding of how artists develop and resolve ideas in professional practice, build knowledge of curatorial decisions, exhibition design, and audience engagement, and encourage students to think critically about scale, texture, and materiality, qualities that cannot be fully understood through digital images alone.
Students returned energised and full of ideas, with many already discussing how the visit would influence their upcoming work. We are proud of the thoughtful way our students engaged with each venue and grateful to the galleries for providing such enriching learning experiences. The excursion was a wonderful reminder that creativity flourishes when students step beyond the classroom and encounter art in the world around them.
Mrs Carla Edgerton
Art Teacher - Cranbourne Campus
Congratulations to Cody Taura (Yr 12 class of 2025) for having his work selected to be exhibited in the Casey 'Emergent' Graduate Exhibition. Please take a look if you are at Bunjil Place over the next couple of weeks.
Mrs Viv Hayes
Art Coach - Clyde North Campus