Visual Art News

After the restrictions throughout 2020 with fewer opportunities for students to participate in excursions, the Visual Art department has been making the most of the new year with greater freedom to revisit art galleries and venues.

Year 12 Visual Art students braved some extreme weather conditions to participate in a full-day excursion in week 2 to gather information and inspiration for their first Internal Assessment. Starting at Nudgee Beach, we meandered our way by bus and ferry to various locations of interest along the Brisbane River, including the Nudgee Waste Transfer Station, Pinkenba, Northshore Riverside Park, Southbank, The Gallery of Modern Art and finishing at Mt Coot-tha.

With a design-based focus for upcoming assessment for Year 11 and 12 Visual Arts in Practice students, they recently visited Bracken Ridge Skate Park, Flash Graphics, The Print Bar and Urban Xtreme, where they investigated how design plays a significant role in promoting the efficient use of space.

Year 11 Visual Art students travelled to the Gallery of Modern Art to view artworks from a number of exhibitions including, “ The Motorcycle – Design, Art and Desire”; “Full Face: Artists’ Helmets”; “Unfinished Business – The Art of Gordon Bennett” and “Cut It – from Collage to Meme” which consisted of contemporary artworks representing modern-day visual culture. Following GOMA, the next stop was Griffith Art Museum for a change of pace in the style of artwork being exhibited and students gained an insight into the conceptual work of Robert MacPherson, which included an installation of thousands of coat hangers referencing the opportunistic practice of pelicans that migrate to Lake Eyre during times of flood. The artworks viewed whilst on the excursion will inform the students’ Responding Task in their current unit of work, “Art as Lens.”

Year 10 students were fortunate to work with Old Boy and artist Dylan Jones who shared his expertise and knowledge and facilitated a practical workshop in which students developed a landscape painting. This painting will form part of their practical folio for their current unit of work, “The Edge” which focuses on the intersection between the natural and built environments.