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Sculpture exemplars - 2015
Scholarship sculpture exemplars - 2015
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Outstanding Scholarship
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Sample Workbook pages
Sample page 1
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Sample page 4
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Sample page 2
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Sample page 3
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Sample page 5
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Sample page 6
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Sample page 7
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Sample page 8
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This Outstanding Scholarship Sculpture submission presented a strong sculptural enquiry about the
concept of restriction with a focus on access and usage within a built environment. The candidate
exhibits a high level of ownership through ambitious and genuine thinking, conceptualisation and
execution of works. The subject matter stems out of everyday student behaviours and movements
within the secondary school institutional setting. The depth of investigation and consistent experimental
attitude is a key driver for the development of an extensive body of practice.
The work presented operates incredibly effectively within the student/school resources and associate
sites, and integrates found objects into various environmental situations in sophisticated ways that
are cognisant of sculptural conventions. This is highlighted through scale, the literal large-scale of the
sculptural works and their relation to human scale/s. The employment of the student body as a ‘real’
audience assists in the authentication of the practice. These performative elements activate the work
and convince us that this is a purposeful sculptural enquiry.
Formal devices and considerations reinforce beautifully with the conceptual. This is demonstrated
through an articulated understanding of objects to act as materials, and for some materials such as the
tape, to take on an object language (instructional tapings/lines). At this level, this aspect accentuates
the expert knowledge and skill of the candidate. Colour is strategically used to implicate a series of
codes and potential instructions about how to negotiate each work, for example the yellow chairs with
the yellow tape indicate seating plans or permissions.
The workbook is a really thorough and honest presentation of research, options, contexts that have
influenced the development of the various work/s and phases. Images of site works are well documented,
which allows the work to be understood in space and site and to its best advantage. The contextual
research is thorough and references popular culture (The Maze Runner) and systems, such as carpark
markings and transitory spaces (controls around human passage), but isn’t didactic in its analysis.
Scholarship
(click icon images to see a large version in a new window)
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Panel 1 (JPG,
819KB)
Entire Folio (JPG, 2.1MB)
Panel 2 (JPG,
758KB)
Panel 3 (JPG,
765KB)
Sample Workbook pages
Sample page 1
(JPG, 2.9MB)
Sample page 2
(JPG, 2.9MB)
Sample page 3
(JPG, 3.2MB)
Sample page 4
(JPG, 2.9MB)
Sample page 5
(JPG, 2.9MB)
Sample page 6
(JPG, 2.9MB)
Sample page 7
(JPG, 3.1MB)
Sample page 8
(JPG, 2.8MB)
This Scholarship Sculpture submission presents a thoughtful and insightful take on a personal topic and
uses it to engage in a wide-ranging exploration of sculptural conventions and language. The topic is the
candidate’s own family/parental split and the effects and impact upon himself, his siblings and parents.
The progression of events as they took place is cleverly used as a series of markers that are articulated
as individual sculptures or installations. The idea of using a timeline, as a way to develop a body of
sculptural work is innovative and provided stimulating scope for a substantial body of work.
A range of settings and objects are explored relative to the stage (progression) or occurrence in the
‘split’ as key signifiers for sculptural manipulation or intervention – the seat, the bed, the bedroom
wardrobe, the dinner table, the shed. These are powerful symbols that align sculptural notions of mass,
volume, weight with the subject matter of the split and disclose the emotional impact that is being
communicated.
Metaphorical methods are utilised to activate sculptural actions, for example a saw is used to cut a
wedding cake in half, a cabbage is uncontrollably hacked to pieces. The action is emotive and also
sculpturally propositional, in that it portrays anger through the gesture of chopping and in other works,
splitting and breaking. This is dealt with sensitively in the physical sculptures and is also perceptively
analysed in the workbook.
The employment of sculptural acts or performance as a tool to explore concepts such as splitting/
breaking, man vs. woman, gendered piles, object cake, family disruption, tension, mending and divided
shed, create a visual dialogue that is inventive and sculpturally astute. The workbook does an excellent
job of outlining these key phases and progression of events in a logical and thoughtful manner. Overall,
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this is an intelligent sculptural enquiry that draws upon and effectively relates to contemporary art
practice ideas and thinking, but with a level of ownership and originality that is the candidate’s own.
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