ARTiculate - Year 10 Independent Studio Practice Exhibition

Whilst putting together the poster for the Year 10 Art Exhibition I am completing both a word search and jigsaw puzzle. I want to ensure every student has a piece of work on the page and I am also trying to think of a word that captures the creative spirit of this remarkable group of artists. The Independent Studio Practice is about students finding their ‘voice’ as artists. 

At the beginning of the year they are required to write a proposal that encapsulates their vision, describes what they are wanting to communicate with their audience and what materials they will use to convey this. We have conversations to get to the heart of their concept. The students need to articulate, mostly in words, first what their images will be saying nine months later. The closing chapter to this story is their artist statement, where they once again need to articulate in words what they hope their art is saying on their behalf.

Throughout this process I have been so impressed with how articulate this cohort is, both in words and in their visual expressions of their concepts. They have been bold in making powerful environmental statements, whilst also luring you in with their aesthetic beauty. Emme Mulcahy’s subtle erasure of colour and detail in her endangered bird series is a good example of this, as are Amy Van Riet’s, Lucy Fairbrother and Amelia Mason’s quiet pleas for us to stop, observe and preserve nature before it is too late. Rosie McClean sculpted a stunning salmon and juxtaposed it against a tangle of fishing hooks, lines, nets and newsprint to draw attention to over-fishing. Ava Cuatt-Bett produced a body of ceramic pieces and abstract mixed media canvases as a meditation on our connection with nature, the land and the paths we take across it. 

Zoe Ford explored textiles through her richly detailed and textural sculptures that are deceptively simple and playful at first glance. Upon reading her artist statement and observing the objects more closely you come to realise Zoe has a powerful message about fast fashion. I had the privilege of observing her painstaking, meticulous approach to creating her own yarn from fabric waste and winding them into her ‘consumer turmours’, then moving onto watching her create a detailed grid of quilting on the large cube used to store the fabric waste. This body of work is an outstanding example of an artist understanding the importance of interrogating their own practice to ensure the medium is also the message. This is a highly sophisticated piece of process work that I wish I had filmed so people could see the thought, time and effort that went into it!

Some students chose to explore deeply personal themes such as Sage Riches detailed pen and ink series exploring nightmares, personal fears and how she has conquered them through her art. This series culminates in ‘The Victor’ who offers us all hope in the face of our phobias, fear of failure and environmental catastrophes. Zaphiya Irvine-Wieland also created a character to offer hope in the form of her “Biker” comic. Etta Taylor explored identity through their digital art and collage pieces. The depth of thought that went into creating rich and authentic lives for each of their characters was evident in the art works, but also articulated beautifully when Etta had the chance to describe them in more detail at the exhibition and in person.

Another student who explored identity and internal emotional states was Mia Martain, who created three richly layered mixed media works exploring her love of music, lyrics and graffiti. These pieces were a good example of how the more time you spend with an artwork, the deeper you look, the more you see and the more complex it gets. Much like a human, which was ultimately the message behind her work. 

Lola Helmers also explored both a personal and universal concept around identity and transformation through her richly detailed series of three oil paintings, each representing a different stage in our lives. It is hard to balance both humour and pathos in an artwork, but Lola managed to achieve this by juxtaposing a rotting apple against an awkward grub complete with the most adorable miniature converse shoes and pimples scattered across its sad little face.

Keshikha Kesavanarayanan tackled the challenging concept of gender and the pressures women face to be perfect, particularly in our physical appearance. Keshi explored collage, sculpture and painting in her two powerful pieces. She drew from childhood fairy tales such as ‘Snow white’ and media representations of women from the 1950s through to contemporary society. It is a sad truth that these stereotypes and pressures still impact the mental health of teenagers today.

Amelia Griffiths shared her love of Japan with us through her beautiful watercolour and acrylic depictions of traditional and modern scenes and symbols of this rich culture. The influence of Japan was further evident in Leila Goyen, Ariel Burge and Annika Scattergood’s portraits which had hints of anime in the character’s features. Leila was exploring abstraction and discovered ways to layer her characters within each unique and accidental blur of paint. Annika also maintains her own expressive and individual take on anime style characters confidently moving between both analogue and digital mediums to keep growing as an artist in her techniques and in the development of her own style. Ariel works in a highly disciplined and thorough way to gradually build up her scenes using digital layers. She has also used innovative ways to invent new characters through prompts. 

There were also students who simply fell in love with ceramics and with the support of our ceramic specialist and studio guardian angel, Cath Robinson, produced some absolutely stunning ceramic pieces. Adele Whelan sculpted two large hand built forms and a heart which nestled together to form a visual depiction of a ‘hug’. The soft pink glaze and their friendly forms has brought love and warmth into the art room and I will miss their presence. Adele also continued to spread the love with her collection of domestic objects created as gifts for her family. Isobel Jungmann created a beautiful body of ceramic pieces using her new found skills throwing on the pottery wheel and her excellent eye for design in the forms they took and colours she chose to glaze them with.

As you can see from the wide array of materials and concepts this group of artists has explored they are indeed highly articulate in both word and image. It has been a pleasure working alongside them and I cannot wait to hear (and see!) their voices making a difference in the world in the years to come.