Visual Arts

Monet and Friends

On Tuesday 4 May Year 10 Visual Arts viewed the ‘Monet and Friends’ exhibition at the Royal Hall of Industries, Moore Park, Sydney.

This was to complement their current studies concerning the effects of light on colour and subject matter in painting and photography. The exhibition was a great addition to their studies as it not only provided students with examples of artists who studied the atmospheric effects of light and the expressive possibilities of colour, but also because it raised questions about how a contemporary audience views art. This exhibition was a digitised light show with paintings enhanced by 3D technology and computer aided design. Students were not looking at the original artwork, but a scaled up and highly stylised version. The digital age changes the way an audience views, appreciates and thereby understands art and students need to discuss the ramifications of these new adaptations. In the afternoon students moved by coach to Centennial Park where the intention had been to create a landscape painting in the French Impressionist tradition of painting directly in front of the subject and capturing the particular quality of light for that time of day and season. However, due to inclement weather plans were altered and students instead photographed the landscape from various vantage points in Centennial Park and then returned to School for an afternoon session of painting in the studio from their mediated image. The excursion covered various aspects of the Stage 5 Visual Arts syllabus and was a valuable addition to their course work for their current unit ‘Painting with Light’.

Mary Dorahy Visual Arts Teacher

“That’s not art?”

A common phrase of bewilderment when contemplating a work of abstract art. Year 11 Visual Arts students spent Term One finding meaning in the non-representational artworks pioneered by Modernist artists.

Many decades have passed since Jackson Pollock shocked the world with his dripped, drizzled and smeared masterpieces yet when approaching artworks without recognisable subject matter we still seem to find ourselves in unfamiliar territory. Abstract Expressionist paintings garner record sales in auction houses around the world and the temptation to forge a Rothko or Kline has appealed to many of the criminally minded. Are these high stakes proof that abstract art is real art? In studying the evolution of painting from the Impressionist landscapes of Paul Cezanne to the expressionistic abstractions by Helen Frankenthaler Year 11 students were taken on a journey of appreciation when it comes to pushing the boundaries of artistic representation. To further explore their ideas on abstract art the cohort went to the City of Sydney to explore the collection at the Art Gallery of NSW. Fortunately, the first dedicated retrospective of one of the most important and dynamic, yet underrated, Australian sculptors of the 20th century was on display. Margel Hinder created some of Australia’s most enduring outdoor monuments, in fact, if you have ever meandered by the Reserve Bank in Martin Place you will have seen one of her sculptural installations (it has been there since 1964). Her abstract forms, sometimes kinetic, are known for their use of space, light and movement. Students also had the opportunity to explore the collection of European and Australian art and witness the evolution of Modern art unfold before them on the gallery walls. The National, an exhibition celebrating contemporary Australian Art saw the ornate golden frames of 19th century paintings disappear and give way to materials like burnt tree hanging from rope (Fiona Hall’s Exodust). The day concluded with a twist, with all of art history behind us what will you now create… As students were inspired and challenged by some of the top HSC artworks on display from 2020 in the annual Art Express exhibition. In the words of Piet Mondrian “Every true artist has been inspired more by the beauty of lines and colour and the relationships between them than by the concrete subject of the picture”. It may be hard to agree with the great 20th Century master but abstract art has certainly secured its place in art history.

Rikki Latella Visual Arts Teacher