Visual Art News

The start of the term has provided a range of rich experiences for our Visual Art students.

Year 11 students immersed themselves in the awe-inspiring work of Chiharu Shiota at the Gallery of Modern Art as well as viewing the Creative Generation Excellence Awards in Visual Art where the artwork of  Dino Lopes (Old Boy, 2021) “Individualidade” is currently on display. They also visited Griffith Art Museum to view Jeff Gibson’s exhibition “Countertypes”, which represents digital image-based art that incorporates and analyses mass-media subject matter.

As part of their current unit of work, “Art as Code”, Year 11 students also participated in a presentation by John Graham, professional collector of kitsch, comics and popular culture items. With a Bachelor of Science degree and a past life as a scientist, John talked about how his hobby of collecting (mainly comics and pop culture figurines) turned into a full-time career where he buys and sells rare collectables. John’s collection of objects is the focus of a range of artworks students are currently developing through painting, photography and mixed media techniques.   

In a workshop with Dr Joachim Froese, Year 9 students learnt about alternative photographic processes involving the application of various light-sensitive chemicals onto paper which were then exposed to UV light to create a photographic image. With a crossover between Art and Chemistry, students created cyanotypes (using a mixture of Ferric Ammonium Citrate and Potassium Ferrycyanide) to create deep rich blue images. Cyanotypes are one of the oldest photographic printing processes dating back to 1842. The distinctive feature of these prints is the deep shade of cyan blue which results from exposure to ultraviolet light. On contact with green tea, these images change colour to a deep charcoal grey. Students also learnt about the process for creating anthotypes (prints produced from extracts of plants or flowers). Using the same process as cyanotypes but with a mixture of turmeric and ethanol, a bright yellow image is able to be achieved. We look forward to trying out other natural photosensitive materials including beetroot juice and spinach in the coming weeks.