Year 11 and 12 Art Excursion

Our Senior Visual Arts students had the opportunity to visit both the Art Gallery of New South Wales and the Museum of Contemporary Arts on Friday 10th February. It was an incredibly packed day of experiences and our students thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to step outside of the classroom and experience art in real life.

Our day began at the Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW) where students viewed the 2023 ArtExpress exhibition, featuring the outstanding artworks of HSC students from the 2022 Visual Arts examinations. Artworks varied in mediums as well as concepts which inspired our artists into the different possibilities they can explore in their own artmaking; as well as demonstrated the standard expected in HSC Visual Arts.

We then visited the new North Building, a notable expansion to the AGNSW and its galleries, equipped with advanced technology and offering scenic views, providing an exceptional environment to experience works of art. This facility is dedicated to presenting contemporary art and design exhibitions and is currently host to the latest exhibition, "The End of Imagination," by Argentine artist, Adrián Villar Rojas. 

Adrián Villar Rojas is known for his large-scale installations that challenge audience perception of the world. In “The End of Imagination,” he presents a series of sculptural works that contemplate the idea of the end of civilization. These sculptures, constructed from a combination of materials including clay, metal and organic elements, evoke a sense of mystery and intrigue; which our students had the pleasure to experience through a darkened installation.

After lunch, we made our way to the Museum of Contemporary Art to see the exhibition "Do Ho Suh: Passage/s" by the renowned Korean artist, Do Ho Suh. This exhibition offered a unique opportunity for students to gain a deeper understanding of postmodern art and its significance in contemporary art practice.

Do Ho Suh is recognized for his conceptual installations that explore themes of identity, migration, and memory. In "Passage/s," the artist presents a series of works that reflect on his experiences of displacement and the complexities of cultural identity. Through the use of intricate fabric structures, Suh invites viewers to engage with the themes of transience and displacement, and to contemplate their own experiences of belonging. By examining Suh's work, our students gained a greater appreciation for the ways in which contemporary artists explore cultural, political, and personal themes in their work.

We will explore these ideas further in our classes and look forward to sharing with our community the conceptual practice of our SAC senior artists in the near future.

Young Archies 

The Art Gallery of New South Wales invites budding artists between the ages of 5 and 18 to submit a portrait for the Young Archie competition.

The portrait must be of a person who is special to you – someone who is known to you and who knows you and plays a significant role in your life.

Interested students are invited to submit their artwork to their Visual Arts teacher by 27th February. As numbers of entries are restricted, we will select the best artworks to represent our College to be forwarded to the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Students will be able to seek teacher feedback before submitting their artwork.

The artwork

• One artwork only per entrant.
• Must be on paper (NOT board).
• Must be unmounted and unframed.
• Must be no smaller than A4 (210 × 297 mm) and no bigger than A3 (420 × 297 mm).
• Can be vertical or horizontal.
• Any art materials or combination of art materials may be used (e.g. paint, pencil, pastels, paper collage) but the artwork must be two-dimensional.

For more information please see: Link here.

Operation Art

Operation Art is an initiative of The Children’s Hospital at Westmead in association with the NSW Department of Education. In 2023, we are again encouraging students in Year 7 - 10 at St Andrews to submit an artwork for our school’s internal competition where up to 4 finalists will be selected to enter Operation Art. 

Artworks submitted to Operation Art will be framed for exhibition. Selected entries by Operation Art will tour hospitals and galleries regionally in NSW before becoming a o part of the permanent collection at Westmead Children’s Hospital. 

Students may submit artworks up to A2 in size in any chosen medium. (As long as it is flat) They can be in any theme however, we encourage students to create artworks that are uplifting, inspiring and positive. Artworks are due to Visual Arts teachers by Week 11 3rd April.

More information regarding this initiative will be posted to Compass and year group Google Classrooms. Students may also see their Visual Arts teachers for more information. (Mrs Harris, Mrs Kemal, Mrs Psaila or Miss Rivera)

Mrs Claudia Harris
Leader of Learning Visual Arts

Year 7 - Popular Culture

Year 7 Artists have been learning about the various trends across time - popular culture, and how artists depict popular culture within their works, producing Pop Art. Over the last week students were asked to choose and bring in one popular packaged food item. After learning new skills such as composition (rule of thirds), lighting and working with space, students captured photographs of their product, which was then edited. Over the next few weeks students will be building upon these skills through practising drawing techniques. We cannot wait to show you the results. 

Oliver Franjic	Savannah Pfiffner	Kiara Guglani

Year 8 - A- Z Photography

Year 8 artists started their year learning about Traditional Art and how technological inventions introduced along the way challenged these traditional conventions of art, changing the way people approach art today. Following this, students learnt how to manipulate objects within our world using a range of photography skills, using their camera to find letters in objects situated in and around St Andrews College, practising these non traditional methods. 

Siana Sanchez	Kayya Magayaga	Julienne De Guzman
Mykaela Beattie	Aashna Prasad

Year 9 - Portraiture 

Year 9 artists are currently being introduced to portraiture from the Renaissance period to more contemporary non-traditional approaches, with The Archibald prize being the main focus of the unit. Students have been investigating ways artists convey aspects of a subject's individual, community, culture and national identity to expose and uncover the identity of their chosen sitter depicted in the portrait. Students are practising skills of facial proportion (anatomy of the human face), form, value scales/tonal variation and the grid method of transfer. Students are now utilising their newly acquired skills to draw a self portrait using graphite pencils.

Ayan Aguek	Catharina Purwadi	Airabelle Quiazon
Micaela Sibucao	Kathryn Baginski	Mary Arshilo
Achuil Makog	Catharina Purwadi	Layla Sanchez

Year 11 - Art History & Building our Collection of Works 

Year 11 has been investigating the lifestyle, imagery and subject matter significantly highlighted during the prehistoric period, focusing particularly on the Venus figurines and the Lascaux Cave. Moving on, students then studied the frescoes and other traditional art forms. Artists of year 11 are now beginning to explore a recycled material of which people often overlook, this material being the cardboard box. Students are designing an abstracted sculpture using a range of cardboard construction techniques to depict an interesting object of choice. Look out for these sculptures, they will be out and about in site specific locations. 

Guntas Sandhu	Class Collaborative Mind Map	Cardboard Construction Practise
	Athieu Majok

Mrs Shandel Kemal
Visual Arts Teacher