Scotch College

Family Day Art Show

A beautiful sunny day for Family Day usually means that people tend to stay outdoors and watch the races on the oval. Despite the sunshine outside, the Art Show in the Teacher Administration Centre was a constant buzz with parents, friends and students viewing the work on display.

The comment most frequently heard was "what an amazing variety of activities and media the boys have to choose from". Many parents expressed the wish that they could return to school, just so they could try their hand at such an interesting range of experiences.

The centrepiece of the show this year was the theatre costume by Charles Lin of Year 12 as part of his design for a Shakespearean play.

He created several costume designs on paper and a model of a theatre set for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, using polarised light projected up the engraved screens.

In the central area there were some exceptional examples of talent; the timber and spray painted "virtual reality head set" of Chris Pang, Tushar Wahab's Australian Centre for the Moving Image prize winning digital poster and Bhanuwat Jittivuthikarn's "Tampa" which won the senior prize for the Federal Court of Australia's Art of Justice Competition. Bhanuwat also had on display an impressive array of very accomplished paintings depicting the life around Scotch.

Work from the first Year 12 class of Visual Communication and Design was also on display with Chris Simmond's packaging and mock-up for a domestic iron. Michael Rothstadt demonstrated how effective the software program inventor could be with his chrome rendered wheel designs, and in the entry to the show, James Buckley had produced an exceptional design for a revolving billboard.

The Junior students were not to be outdone with Year 7D producing a huge Jackson Pollock style abstract expressionist painting which dominated the stairway section of the auditorium. The beautiful printed black and white lino cuts and highly coloured crayon rendered drawings of Year 8 were really impressive for their inventiveness and bright, engaging colour.

The impact of the Artist in Residence Program could be seen with the twin panelled Year 8 mural by artist Mr Kevin Burgemeestre which is part of the permanent display on the stairs flanking either side of the library entrance. Year 9 art students working with Mrs Helen Stokes were able to learn how to cast hot glass during their time in ceramics.

The ceramics tiles produced by artists Mrs Sharon Breeze and Mrs Dawn Richardson with Year 7 students were also delightful.

There was a strong level of drawing evident in the motorbike renderings of the Year 11 students. Cameron Algie's film Watch in Silence was an excellent effort, as was the incredible digital animation created by James Wilson. Both were shown at the ACMI Diegesis Festival in September. Robert Padbury demonstrated his considerable skill in computer 3D rendering by producing a promotional video for a fictitious TV Channel 6.

The show was an impressive display of student work, stimulating and full of creative energy. It is testament to the hard work and talent of the Art Department staff who put in a huge amount of their time 'above and beyond', to provide this wonderful experience for the boys at Scotch.

 

 

 

 

 

Chris Taylor
Head of Art Department