Visual Arts

Operation Art

Year 9 Visual Arts - The Archibald Prize

After researching a number of influencing artists and preparing a list of insightful interview questions for their chosen sitters; Year 9 Visual Arts students worked diligently in their Visual Arts Process Diaries in order to plan their artwork. They were issued with their canvas last week and for many of our students, this is their first time working with a canvas. In order to mimic the Archibald Prize, students are asked to meet with their chosen sitter or conduct their interviews using technology such as Facetime or Zoom. Students were asked to select a person who is inspirational to them in real life. The completed artworks will be presented in our inaugural St Andrews Archibald Prize. Watch this space!

Mrs Harris - Leader of Learning Visual Arts

Year 7 Pop Art Food Sculptures

In addition to the Pop Art colour food artworks, students were challenged to transform their 2D artwork into a 3D sculpture using Paper Mache. Year 7 worked collaboratively in groups to construct their sculptures using artist Claes Oldenburg as inspiration, enlarging popular foods through constructing soft sculptures. Students chose 1 2D food artwork drawn in their previous task to enlarge using sculpture skills & techniques such as constructing an armature (framework within sculpture providing structure and stability), manipulating medium and applying paste to create their unique structured form. 

Year 7 Pop Art Food Colour Pencil Artworks 

Since our work in progress update in our previous newsletter article, students have utilised various skills such as; blending of hues, tonal variation and burnishing when applying their colour to their realistic food artwork. We commend our students for their application of skills in composing their own reference shots, transferring practice, reflecting upon their weaknesses and building upon their strengths in order to grow their technical skills beyond their personal bests. Well done Year 7!

Year 8 Cubism Artworks

Year 8 artists have recently started working on their next assessment task - Cubism Artwork. Students were to choose to fragment a childhood character or an instrument of their choice. We investigated the purpose, character and form of their selected subject before drawing drafts for us to choose from. Students have just begun to enlarge their chosen draft piece onto a surface of their choice (fine art paper or canvas) using a medium of their choice (oil pastel, watercolour, colour pencil or acrylic paint). Stay tuned for their end results.

Year 10 Suburbia: BOW Proposals & Work in Progress 

Year 10 Visual Art students have been working on Body of Work Proposals to individually depict themes of Suburbia within their series. This included in-depth research on their chosen material and conceptual practice as well as elaborate annotated drafts and evaluations looking at the relationships between their artworks, audience and the world around them. These artists have recently begun the artmaking process based on their proposals submitted considering constructive feedback from their teacher.

Artist works in progress:

Mrs Kemal - Visual Arts Teacher

Year 11 & 12 Art Gallery of NSW Excursion 

Year 11 & 12 students visited the Art Gallery of NSW on Friday 1st April to view and admire works selected in the ARTEXPRESS 2022. 

The annual ArtExpress exhibition showcases a range of the outstanding Body of Works from the Visual Arts HSC course. The Body of Work is worth 50% of the HSC course. A range of conceptual ideas are explored through different chosen mediums, suited to students’ artmaking intention. 

It was a wonderful experience for our Stage 6 students to explore the range of works from last year’s HSC. Students had the opportunity to view the various artworks as well as participate in dialogue and discussion with their class teachers and peers. 

Keep your eyes peeled for events such as HSC ‘Works in Progress’ Night - Term 2, Week 6. This WIP night will provide the audience with an insight behind the scenes of an artist in practice. We look forward to sharing the finished artworks from our Stage 6 students later this year.

Mrs Harris and Mrs Kemal