Fabulous folios

Our VCE Studio Arts students reached a huge milestone last week, with the submission of their final folios. The folios include finished artworks and a visual diary documenting the development of their ideas and creative processes. They are the culmination of months of work and make up a significant part of the final mark for this subject.

The class have produced some stunning pieces. Below, four students share pictures of their final works and the ideas that led to their creation. In the words of their teacher Christine Martin 'it's a real show-stopper this year!'.

Minna Baxter

My folio and final pieces are centred around the idea of home and what has created and shaped my own sense of belonging. I explored my connection to my home, by sourcing natural materials including flowers and herbs from my garden, vegetables and fruits, to naturally dye raffia, fabrics, wool and cotton thread that are hand woven into both my finals. My baskets are inspired by the organic shapes of nature, serving as a purpose to store and protect items of value in my home, while communicating the importance of incorporating nature in our lives, to create mindful and calming environments that support us. I learnt and refined my basket weaving techniques from researching Indigenous weavers like the Tjanpi Desert Weavers as well as being inspired by their use of natural materials and cultural understanding of home. My small rug acts as a source of comfort and warmth, formed and stitched with all naturally dyed materials as well as including fabric scraps from around my home. Throughout this year I have found working on my folio and final pieces while stressful at times, also a blessing, especially during the numerous lockdowns, by being able to focus on a project and gain a sense of mindfulness through my weaving. I have learnt so much across the last two years doing a folio subject. Having the freedom to explore different art forms and ideas has provided me with a creative outlet throughout the stress of VCE. I would highly recommend choosing a folio subject!

Molly McGuinness

The first artwork I created was a sculptural piece relating to my personal connection to my bedroom and the way the separation between myself and my surroundings feels, at times, indistinguishable. The sculpture is composed of varying materials from around my home including furniture and books, acrylic paint, craft stuffing, glue, and fabrics.

My second final artwork is two acrylic paintings of the insides of my Great Uncle's house. He is a hoarder and through my art, I wanted to capture his relationship with this environment showing the duality of it, both the emotional strain and weight it affects on him, but also, the peace and safety net these belongings provide.

Pippi Hayman

Throughout this year I focused my work around the theme of impermanence, exploring how the ever changing nature of everything affects us as humans, through themes centric to the human condition of grief, loss, confusion and forgetting. I centred my final artworks around the concept of the cyclical nature of growth and decay, aiming to convey how the natural and human world interact through the passage of time. While lockdown impacted my access to materials, it allowed me to explore working with a wide range of media and surfaces in expressing my theme, leading to me creating a wood sculpture as one of my finals.

Milla Freeman

For my final artworks I explored the theme of the ‘inner voice’ through portraiture. For my first final I produced a collection of portraits of my friends. Painting my friends while in lockdown reminded me of how much I miss them! These were painted onto linen book covers with an ‘unfinished’ style that left sections of the portrait incomplete. The incomplete sections represents our tendency to hide our inner voice, and how people are misperceived because our physical expression does not accurately reflect our internal monologue. My second final is an acrylic self-portrait with embroidery patterns, presented in an open book. The yellow, flowing patterning is a physical representation of my inner voice, revealing its complex and conflicting true nature. Reflecting on these finals, I found portraiture to be quite a challenge and I had never attempted acrylic paints until last year, so it was great to see progress!

What are we grateful for?

Acknowledging the little things