Visual Arts

Year 10 Visual Art Excursion to TMAG 

On Thursday 11 March, Year 10 Visual Art students who participated in the Hobart Current Education program in 2020 were invited to attend an exclusive preview of the Hobart Current Liberty Exhibition at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG).

This exciting opportunity represented the culmination of a creative process that Julie Brock embarked upon with her Year 9 Art students last year. Mount Carmel was one of five schools selected to participate in this innovative educational program that partnered art students with practicing artists to explore the theme of ‘Liberty’. Tasmanian artist Jacob Leary worked with Year 9 Mount Carmel art students to develop their installations in response to this theme.

On the day of the exhibition preview we boarded the bus with a sense of excitement and anticipation and were delighted that Julie Brock could join us to see the project she initiated reach its full conclusion. The girls cheered ‘family reunion’ when they greeted Julie Brock and I felt a sense of warmth and pride knowing that I have joined a kind and supportive community here at Mount Carmel College.

Upon our arrival at TMAG we were greeted by the key creative team and directors of the project. We were seated in the central gallery for a presentation detailing the journey of the Hobart Current exhibition from its inception, through to the challenges 2020 presented in delivering the artist in residence components, then finally being able to mount the exhibition and open the doors of TMAG to its audience again. In one of the speeches, the Director of the exhibition, Rosie Dennis,  inspired us to ‘Think Big’. It struck me how impressive the vision of this program is to take on big ideas (such as the concept of Liberty), unite local, national and international artists of the highest calibre and truly engage with the community through its education program. It also struck me how fortunate the students at Mount Carmel were that Julie Brock also had the courage to think big in taking on the application process required and to be successful in being one of the schools chosen to be partnered with an artist and to then be able to participate in such a high profile exhibition.

At the conclusion of the speeches we were able to see the students’ work up on the big screen on the ‘Infinite Canvas’. Viewers are able to navigate this page by clicking on the text and images to be directed to photos and videos which documented the creative process the students undertook exploring the theme of liberty and producing an installation. Veronica Marshall, who is a Program Delivery Officer at TMAG commented on the amazing journal work of the Mount Carmel art students and said that they had actually used the girls journal pages as inspiration for the web page designers! 

This ‘Infinite Canvas’ page and the student’s work can be viewed via this link: 

After exploring the Infinite Canvas we entered the exhibition and had the good fortune of being able to see the artists putting finishing touches on their sculptures and installations and ask questions about their materials and processes. Jacob Leary’s sculptures are magical and endlessly fascinating and well worth a visit to TMAG just to see them. 

It was a truly rewarding and memorable experience and I was incredibly proud of how engaged and respectful the Mount Carmel students were. Congratulations to the students on their beautiful work and to Julie Brock for thinking big in the first place and making it all happen. The exhibition runs until May 9, 2021 at TMAG.