SAC Art
Thank you SAC artists!
A huge congratulations to our incredible VA students for their outstanding creativity and dedication in 2024! Over the last fortnight, our art rooms have been alive with excitement as students collected their artworks from over the year. It has been such a delight to review 2024 with them, revisiting the creative processes and artistic growth that defined their year. This has been yet another inspiring chapter for Visual Arts at St Andrews, with students embracing diverse opportunities to express themselves and push their artistic boundaries. We couldn’t be prouder of our thriving Visual Arts community, where each year’s talent and innovation continue to elevate the quality and set new benchmarks for excellence!
2024 Year in Review
Year 7 - 12 participated in a range of initiatives and events this year. Students interested in being involved should look out for Newsletter and Compass notices in the new year.
- Operation Art
- Art Club with Miss Rivera
- Semester 1 CAPA Combined Showcase
- End of Year Junior VA Showcase
- Year 8 Artist in Residence Incursion with Johnny Romeo
- Year 9 St Andrews Archibald Prize Competition
- Year 9/10 VA Excursion to Art Gallery of New South Wales
- Year 10 Access Artist Workshops - Stephen Hall
- Year 11/12 Art Excursion to Art Gallery of New South Wales
- Year 12 (2025) Artist Presentation - Stephen Hall
- Year 12 (2025) BOW in a Day
- Year 12 (2025) Mentoring Night
- Year 12 (2025) Work in Progress Night
- Stage 5 Art Camp - Bundanon
ART Club with Miss Rivera
As a faculty, we thank Miss Rivera for her time and dedication to create her own program and facilitate extra art skills/experiences during sport on Thursdays to a very lucky group of students.
“Art Club has proven to be an enriching experience for our creative students allowing them to explore and experiment with a range of mediums; some of which they have not yet utilised in their usual Visual Arts classes or through their at-home hobbies. As mentioned previously, ceramics is a popular medium amongst our students. If you wish to explore more within the ceramic world at home, air dry clay is perfect for at-home usage - this can be purchased at Officeworks, Bunnings, Kmart or if you are interested in the more ‘higher quality’ clay, then visiting an art store would be your best bet! It is said that creating art in one’s leisurely time is proven to reduce stress, improve mood and increase self-confidence. It has been wonderful to see students mingle with other students they may not necessarily interact with in the school yard but coming together in a space where art is the common ground, these new relationships have allowed students to gain new, meaningful connections with those similar to them. I really enjoyed mentoring our students in mediums that they are interested in and getting to know the artists of our College. I look forward to continuing the art club in 2025!”
- Miss Rivera (Visual Arts Teacher)
“Art Club has been a really fun experience! This experience taught me many things about art and artmaking, and Miss Rivera has been a really helpful and supportive teacher throughout the entire term!”
- Aleena Lamba
“Being part of the art club has been an amazing experience for me. I really enjoyed sculpting with clay, creating pieces that reflect my interests and the things I find cool. It was also a great opportunity to spend quality time with friends while exploring our creativity together”
- Monica Najibi
“Art club was truly relaxing and joyful. Art club gave me an amazing opportunity and experience to delve into my creative skills in the most soothing way possible. Art club allowed me to loosen up, have a chat with my friends and most importantly create beautiful art. There were numerous forms of art ranging from ceramics to air dry clay to drawing and painting. Being at Art club was truly a wonderful experience and I am so grateful I was able to participate.”
- Arianna Amini
“Art club is an experience that resonates with me. It’s a great place for all artists to explore and learn new things all in the art genre. It’s a chill and relaxing place as we all go at our own pace. Art club is definitely a calling for those hidden artists in SAC.”
- Jamae Abadiano
“I like art club, it is very chill as it rewinds people's brains and allows others to take the chance to calm down. It is fun and everyone in art club is cool, you also get feedback or help when creating your art piece if needed and you are able to use the many art tools in art club. Art club allows creativity to flow as people make various art works, people are respectful and art club help flourish people's talents and love for art.”
- Alyanna Maningat
Bundanon VA Camp - Student experiences
“Art camp was an incredible experience, fostering creativity and teamwork through engaging activities and hands-on workshops. We explored various mediums and techniques in places like forests, creating unique pieces that showcased our creativity and talent. It was a great opportunity to learn, grow, and connect with peers who are passionate about art”.
- Sharon Harry
“The Art Camp was overall an enjoying experience, it got all of us closer together and allowed us to explore our artistic ideas and create new things. Although only two days, we all grew alot and learnt many new things”.
“The Art Camp 2024 was a transformative experience that both attested to our capabilities and showed that there are really no limits in art, in terms of learning new skills and techniques. During the camp we were immersed in nature's beauty, and as a result the environment that surrounded us ultimately provided inspiration for all our artworks. Overall from the photography sessions led by Ms Harris to experimenting with ink and charcoal, each moment expanded our skills and deepened our appreciation for art.”
“Bundanon was unforgettable, the stunning nature, the art and of course, the wildlife! When we arrived we started painting using a bamboo stick and ink under the trees of the Shoalhaven. It was a very unique experience.This opened my mind to all the different materials you can use to create art with.
One of the highlights was light photography with Mrs Harris. We used our phone torches and glow sticks to create glowing and magical images. I felt like this activity brought us both grades together and this made the night so enjoyable.
During this experience I felt as if it drew everyone together. For us all to be together for two days creating, sharing about one thing we all had in common which is art, it felt very special.”
- Samanta Cardona
“Art Camp 2024 was an incredibly unique experience! Although it was only a short period of time, I am very grateful for the multiple activities we had participated in. It was very refreshing to try other mediums in art such as charcoal and ink, especially as a paint-biased artist, in the outdoors. I'd totally recommend this camp for art students!”
- Airabelle Quiazon
“During the time Year 10 and 9 spent on Art Camp, It consisted of beautiful landscapes, immersive activities and overall a wonderful experience to view art In a different lens. My personal favourite activity I was fortunate enough to participate In was the River View Ink Painting, despite the excessive amount of flies, the ability to create art with unfamiliar mediums and techniques granted a unique perspective and articulation of the view to be interpreted by each individual. Personally I found the experience lovely and it left me feeling extremely blessed.”
- Kaydence Wells
Year 9 CAPTIVATE Arts Factor - Ceramics Workshop
Led by ceramicist and Visual Arts teacher Timm O'Reagan, two of our Year 9 Visual Arts students attended the CAPTIVATE Arts Factor Ceramics workshop at St Agnes Catholic School on Thursday and Friday of Week 9. They engaged in a series of hand building and surface treatment workshops and learnt a range of innovative techniques and applications to build their own repertoire of ceramics skills. Over the course of the two days the students made a body of work using a variety of clays, tools and glazes. We are excited to have these pieces back at school where they will be fired next year.
Year 7 Mulga
Year 7 students have been learning about artist Mulga (Joel Moore). Most famous for his Slurpee designs at the local 7/11 petrol stations. Mulga is a very talented artist from Sydney who practices art on a variety of surfaces, he is a street artist, muralist, illustrator, poet and ‘artrepreneur’. Mulga also collaborates with major brands like Speedo, Volvo, Fifa and BMW, just to name a few.
Students have studied/analysed his style/concepts and have developed their own Mulga cups, specifically implementing Elements of Art within their designs. Mulga often constructs personalities in his animal collections; adding sunglasses, Hawaiian holiday shirts, and summer beverages etc. Students drafted in their Visual Arts books before transferring the 2D drawing onto a circular surface of a cup - creating a 360 narrative in the style of Mulga. Students used paint markers to colour in their designs and used felt tip markers to create texture with directional linework.
Year 8 Mombassa
Mombassa, the surrealist artist with cartoonist style has been a main focus over the last few weeks. Year 8 have analysed two of his artworks ‘Nuclear Reactor’ & ‘BBQ Australia’, breaking down each symbol in his compositions to unpack its meaning in a logical and complex manner. Students then applied theoretical knowledge of Mombassa and his work and implemented this within their own Mombassa inspired artworks: Ceramic mugs and paintings.
Students used learnt skills such as pinch pot construction, coiling, attachment of features using cross-hatch and slurry as well as how to underglaze and glaze to construct their ceramic vessels. Students also applied painting skills such as tints, tones and shades, application of colour theory as well as Mombassa style in cartoon/surrealist techniques and black bold outlines.
Year 12 Body of Works
Year 12 Visual Arts Body of Works (BOW) are well in progress under the professional guidance of Mrs Harris. We are looking forward to seeing students’ development and learnings over the next year.
Mrs Shandel Kemal
Leader of Learning Visual Arts (Acting)