Visual Arts

Year 7 Art Club

Every Thursday during lunch, a group of Year 7 students are working together on a project.

This project is painting different life size abstract characters. It is loads of fun.

Eilish Young. 7R2 😊

Year 12 Students Shortlisted for 2025 Top Arts Exhibition

We are delighted to congratulate Piper Day, Milla Harris, and Cassie Jennings, three Year 12 students who have been shortlisted for the prestigious 2025 Top Arts Exhibition. This incredible achievement highlights their creativity, dedication, and exceptional artistic talents.

At first glance, Piper Day’s artwork Gwai Mui appears to be a simple photograph of a Caucasian female. However, closer examination reveals intricate layers of patterns, uncovering complex symbols that simultaneously expose and obscure the layers beneath. Gwai Mui is a profound exploration of identity and the way people perceive, and judge others based on appearance. The inspiration for this work stems from an incident involving Piper’s sister, who is also the subject of the piece. Her sister faced accusations of cultural appropriation for wearing a traditional Chinese cheongsam to a Culture Day event at school. This experience led Piper to reflect on her own identity. Among ethnic Chinese, she was referred to as "Gwai Mui," yet when she expressed her Chinese heritage, she was accused of falsely claiming it.

Milla Harris’s diptych drawing, Trinity, symbolically represents the intense and inevitable transition from childhood to adulthood. The work explores the unrealistic beauty standards imposed on young girls, as well as the feelings of isolation and loneliness often amplified by technology and social media. One half of the diptych portrays Trinity overwhelmed by these societal pressures, while the other half captures her personal growth through moments of self-acceptance and the realization of her identity. The piece emphasizes the importance of remaining true to oneself despite the external pressures placed on teenagers today.

Cassie Jennings’s mixed media artwork, Koonya Break, examines the impact of human activity on natural environments such as the ocean. Pollution and microplastics are symbolized by beads, highlighting the severity and urgency of these issues. Through a large-scale depiction, Jennings captures the delicate and beautiful connection that can exist between humans and nature. By incorporating plastic materials, such as small beads, into the artwork, she underscores the critical need for action to repair and preserve this relationship. The piece serves as a powerful reminder of the importance of protecting the natural world from human neglect.

The Top Arts Exhibition celebrates exceptional works created by students who have completed VCE Art. The exhibition features photography, drawing, painting, sculpture, mixed media, ceramics, film, and printmaking and is hosted at The Ian Potter Centre.

We are incredibly proud of Piper, Milla, and Cassie for this well-deserved recognition, and we look forward to seeing what they achieve next in their artistic journeys. Best of luck with the final selection process for the Top Arts Exhibition – your creativity is truly an inspiration to us all!

Harriet Turnbull

(Visual Arts Leader)

Year 8 Appropriated Artworks

In Term 4, our Year 8 students undertook an exciting learning task that challenged them to reimagine and reinterpret famous artworks from 20th-century art movements. This project encouraged students to experiment with various applications of acrylic paint and explore a range of techniques, all while deepening their understanding of the process of appropriating artwork.

As part of the task, students engaged in a structured art-making process that included brainstorming ideas, researching their chosen artwork and art movement, creating detailed sketches, and annotating their work. This comprehensive approach not only enhanced their technical skills but also built on the knowledge they had gained during the earlier Artists in History task.

This task gave students the chance to explore art history through a personal lens while developing their own unique artistic styles.

Perhaps you will recognize some of the famous artworks that inspired our students’ creativity!