Art News

How quickly the term has gone! Our senior Art, Studio Art and Visual Communication and Design students from Years 10 to 12 had an opportunity to attend the National Gallery of Victoria Triennial Virtual Exhibition in the Martin Culkin Theatre on Monday 15th March. Students experienced viewing an exhibition in a very different setting, however they were able to gain all the required information about the Triennial exhibition.

Students were also able to view artist talk about their own artwork. This allowed our students to understand the meanings many artists place into developing and producing artworks for such an exhibition.

After the virtual exhibition, our students also had an opportunity to listen to one of our 2020 Studio Art students, Asma, who shared her journey of coping with the pressures of VCE. Her honesty and positive attitude towards VCE was heartening to hear as students asked her questions, and her praises of the teachers who supported her during a difficult time showed gratitude and proved that all hurdles may be conquered.

Ms Lewis

Visual Arts Learning Leader

Triennial Virtual Exhibition

Leah (B12)

While we couldn’t explore the exhibition in person, it was a privilege to attend the online virtual exhibition. Throughout the event, we explored the thematic pillars of illumination, reflection, conservation and speculation.

Many of the art pieces focused on multiple themes, such as To Die Upon A Kiss (2011) which was one of my personal favourites. Focusing on illumination and reflection, it referenced William Shakespeare’s play Othello as a comment on racial discrimination and how we move from our physical bodies to become spirits during death. Like several other pieces, it positioned us as an audience to reflect on our identity at a societal level, and like all the pieces on show it provoked discussion as we took time to talk about the meaning of the pieces and how we interpreted them.

These discussions were encouraged by the hosts, Leah and Caoife, who did a great job at keeping the session lively with their comments and explanations of the art pieces, how they were inspired and some possible interpretations. Overall, I enjoyed the exhibit and am looking forward to actually visiting it in person in future!

Shabnam (H12)

As part of our studies for Visual Communication and Studio Arts, we need to see our learning in class refelcted int he real world with their creators to see their interpretations of different aspects of art. We were meant to go onsite to see the artworks in person at the National Museum of Victoria. However, due to Covid-19 restrictions, we were unable to do so. Nevertheless, the team in charge was able to work around that. They used Zoom to show and explain the inspiration and idea behind each artist and their work.

The different pieces were categorised into four main groups such as 'reflection', which for some were reflections of the artist themselves. For example, an Aboriginal woman made a net hanging from the ceiling with beautiful hand-made bower feathers hanging from it to represent her culture and the skills passed down from generation to generation. Another artist reflected pollution by creating animals out of rubbish that he found in the waters of Australia.

The presentation was mainly focused on studio art but there was a chair that was created from sea salt, which shows us that we do not need to waste and litter the world to create what we need. We have been focused on the idea of being sustainable in our designs in Visual Communication. The presentation was a great visual to show how you can see the world in the view of an individual.

Atharva (H12)

It was really good to see the artworks and designs that were shown by the presenters and it was really inspiring to see that how something really amazing can be made when you put in the hard work and effort. I learnt many things about how, when, and why the artworks were created and what the purpose behind the making of them was. A past student also shared her experience and how she went from knowing very little, to getting a really good grade at the of the year. It was really inspiring and gave a huge boost to my confidence.