Scotch College

The day the Art Department made a spectacle of itself!

Family Day this year was certainly a huge event with both the Junior and Senior Schools combining to hold a joint 150th Athletics Carnival. The Ken Field Art Show, held in the Memorial Hall, drew large crowds, to see a huge range of very attractive professional artwork.

The annual Display of the Senior School Art Department was held in the foyer of the Teachers' Centre. This showcased the work of students from Years 7 to 12, and provided an insight into the diverse range of activity carried out in the art rooms throughout the year.

For the first time the parents of Junior School pupils were able to view the range of work undertaken in the Senior School Art Department, and see what the future holds for their sons. Many parents commented on the high standard of work being displayed and the huge range of media available to our boys. Visitors saw two lads hard at work, creating pieces, during the actual show. Lewis Marash, a Year 12 art student, spent several hours turning pots on the wheel, whilst on a nearby table was a prolific display of beautiful Japanese inspired fired glazed and raku pots. Hamish Morgan a Year 8 student was also busy carving his limestone elephant sculpture.

The centrepiece of the show was a clothesline complete with highly coloured sculptural bats strung from the lines. Year 7 students, who were inspired by the Australian Aboriginal artist

Lin Onus, carried out this work. He had created a bat clothesline sculpture, which symbolised the coming together of the Indigenous and European cultures. Surrounding this piece were numerous hand built pots and totem poles created by junior level students.

Overhead, hung on the railing leading to the Library, was the excellent chimpanzee painting by Chris Purnell. He was the top Year 12 student for 2001, and on display were several works such as the aboriginal faces displaying his talent. Nearby were the large format digital posters of Mark Kwong top studio art student for 2001. William Symington also had on display his photographic work incorporated into huge A1 posters he had printed on the Art Department's digital printer.

The passing crowd were held captive by Year 12, studio art student, Nicholas O'Keefe's, five minute, Mexican-based video, 'The Good, The Bad, and the Cactus.' This animation involved numerous computers running all night and weekend in the Macintosh Laboratory, to render the huge number of frames. The estimated time to create the work was approximately four thousand hours, with Nicholas setting up each computer and monitoring its progress, then editing and adding sound effects. It was a massive effort on the part of a very talented student.

George Tsindos also had his bronze cast bird on display complete with the various moulds and cast sections needed to create the sculpture. Bronze casting is a very difficult and laborious process, but George found it a rewarding challenge.

Moving through the crowd on the day, there was a general buzz of approval and interest in the display. Many students were surprised at the level of skill displayed by their peers.

It was deemed to be a very successful, exciting show by all who attended.

The 'Lin Onus' inspired bat sculpture by our Year 7 students.