ARTEXPRESS @ the Armory
artexpress
FOCUS
3 March – 26 April 2015
Major Sponsor
Morgan Lawrence
Bradfield College
No Sidekicks (Scream Pow When You Hit ‘Em)
Drawing
Watercolour pencils, gouache paint, spray paint and felt tip pen on plywood
Associate Sponsor
Exhibition guide &
education resource
ARTEXPRESS 2015
ARTEXPRESS is a joint venture of the NSW Department
of Education and Communities and the Board of
Studies, Teaching and Educational Standards (BOSTES).
ARTEXPRESS is a series of exhibitions of exemplary
bodies of work created by students for the 2014 New
South Wales Higher School Certificate. The bodies
of work represent a broad range of subject matter,
approaches, styles and media that reflect the high
quality of Visual Arts education in New South Wales.
Expressive forms include painting, photomedia,
drawing, printmaking, sculpture, graphic design,
documented forms, textiles and fibre, ceramics, timebased forms and collections of works.
ARTEXPRESS at the Armory is coordinated by Sydney
Olympic Park Authority in association with the Arts Unit
and curated by Danielle Gullotta.
Michael Tanazefti
All Saints Catholic Senior College
Closed Signs/Open Spaces
Photomedia
Digital prints
2 | ARTEXPRESS at the Armory 2015
This education resource explores the ideas and themes
that underlie the selection and arrangement of the
artworks at the Armory Gallery, Sydney Olympic Park.
The resource offers background information for
planning a visit to the exhibition and a range of syllabus
connections for K- 6 and 7-12 students. The questions
help guide students through the exhibition and engage
with the artworks on display in a critical manner, using
framing questions to reflect on the process and practice
undertaken by the exhibiting students.
ARTEXPRESS provides inspiration and motivation for
current Visual Arts students embarking on their own art
making practice.
All quotations from the students are taken from
statements that accompany their artworks.
Eleanor Louise Jones
Northern Beaches Secondary College:
Manly Campus
Don’t Cry Over Spilled Milk
Collection of works
Acrylic on canvas
ARTEXPRESS at the Armory 2015 | 3
Planning a visit to the Armory Sydney Olympic Park
Sydney Olympic Park is a unique setting for the ARTEXPRESS exhibition, and it offers
a range of natural, historical and cultural experiences. Following is some background
information to assist in planning your visit.
On their excursion, students may keep a visual diary recording with photographs, film
or sketches, sightings of vegetation, animals and insects that could be developed into
an idea for an artwork.
ARTEXPRESS is held in the Armory Gallery, which was built in 1938 and used to store
munitions during the Second World War. The munitions and torpedoes were unloaded
from vessels on the Parramatta River and transported on light-rail carriages into the
Armory. The rail tracks remain in place.
Artworks by contemporary Australian artists have been commissioned for Sydney
Olympic Park, which contains the largest collection of major, site-specific urban art in
a single precinct within Australia. Artists include Imants Tillers, Janet Laurence, and
Robert Owen. Your visit may include viewings of these works.
The surrounding earth was built up around the Armory, so that accidental blasts would
send the munitions only upwards. The floor of the Armory was covered in a special
gritless, asphalt surface to reduce the hazard of fire from sparks, and this surface now
shows the markings and imprint of heavy munitions and torpedoes. The military history
of the gallery may suggest activities for the students which are related to this subject.
For more information visit www.sydneyolympicpark.com.au
Unsightly industries, including an abattoir and brickpit, were once located in the
precinct now occupied by Sydney Olympic Park. The natural habitats of these areas
have been renewed, encouraging the return of wildlife. For instance, the Birds Australia
Discovery Centre is now located at Sydney Olympic Park, and it records that more than
“180 native bird species have been identified within the area since 1996.” Additionally,
the Park’s frogs, reptiles, fish and insects are monitored.
4 | ARTEXPRESS at the Armory 2015
Focus
To focus is to give attention, close study or to even narrow your field of vision in order
to gain an insight or better understanding of an issue. Focus is required by an artist to
resolve a body of work and by audiences to make personal connections to an artwork.
In ARTEXPRESS: Focus the artists were inspired by the material, sensory and imagined
world they experience. The bodies of work exhibited reveal how these creative
individuals have responded to personal experiences, family histories, consumer culture,
the environment and current affairs. Inspiration is also taken from the study of art
history and contemporary art.
The process of focusing on an idea and developing it into a body of work involves
experimentation, an understanding of the materials being manipulated, the mastering
of techniques and the developments of signs and symbols leading to the evolution
of a concept into an artwork. The selected artists present an understanding of
contemporary artistic practices and the changing role of art, technology and culture in
the 21st Century.
ARTEXPRESS: Focus explores several themes through the exhibition:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Playing with stereotypes
The urban experience
A matter of faith
The discipline of reason
Weight of the past
Ecological state
Consume or criticise
Inquiring minds
Confidential connections
William Noonan
St Aloysius’ College
Invictus
Painting
Oil on canvas, oil on cardboard, palette knives on canvas, wooden frames
ARTEXPRESS at the Armory 2015 | 5
1. Playing with stereotypes
Anna Mai Johnston
Queenwood School for Girls
Homebranded
Photomedia
Digital gloss print, foamcore, plastic
wrap
Alexandra Sophia Lucchetti
Willoughby Girls High School
Portrait of an Artist and her Muses
Painting
6 | ARTEXPRESS at the Armory 2015
Otis Vaclav Rufus Murray
Burian Hodge
Homebush Boys High School
Newtown Moments
Photomedia Photography
Morgan Lawrence
Deborah Lana Lombard
Bradfield College
No Sidekicks (Scream Pow When You Hit
‘Em)
Drawing
Watercolour pencils, gouache paint,
spray paint and felt tip pen on plywood
Penrith High School
Thumbnails
Painting
Oil on canvas, foam board
William Noonan
Kate Zovaro
St Aloysius’ College
Invictus
Painting
Oil on canvas, oil on cardboard, palette
knives on canvas, wooden frames
Killara High School
Untitled (The Lady Vanishes )
Photomedia
Nikon D3100, Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.55.6g vr lens, Canon EOS 700, Canon
35-80mm 0.4m/1.3ft lens, Lomography
XPro Chrome 100 35mm
2. The urban experience
Georgia Elizabeth Adler
Emily Kraljevic
Sydney Liao
Nicholas Keith Mackay
SCEGGS Darlinghurst
Urban Topography
Painting
Paint, varnish, oil pastel, wax, shellac
and bitumen on board
Caroline Chisholm College
All that Jazz
Ceramics
Clay, oxide, glaze
Baulkham Hills High School
The City Rises
Painting
Acrylic on canvas, charcoal and pencil
on paper
Knox Grammar School
The Spaces We Leave Empty
Photomedia
Digital photography, 35mm
photography, medium format
photography
Harriet Elizabeth Stephen Murray
Imogen Nicola-Woods
Aynsley Ring
Benjamin Skinner
Abbotsleigh
Ultimate Sanity
Photomedia
Installation photography with
gnocchi
Burwood Girls High School
Sydney’s Blend
Printmaking
Oil on canvas, solar viscosity printing,
woodblock
MLC School
Invisible Cities
Graphic design
Photomontage on wood and acrylic
Rouse Hill Anglican College
Empirical Spherical Entropy
Time-based forms
Digital prints mounted on board,
acrylic disks, video
ARTEXPRESS at the Armory 2015 | 7
3. A matter of faith
Maleeha Arshad
Kitty Clement
Charles Hill
Nicola Johnston
Wyndham College
Sanctuary
Photomedia
Photographic paper on MDF
Presbyterian Ladies’ College Sydney
Highlights amongst the shadows
Drawing
Lead on Stonehenge paper, Perspex,
plywood
St Aloysius’ College
Give and take
Ceramics
Oxides and oil on clay
Ascham School
Tongue tied
Photomedia
Lambda Kodak matte photographic
print
Eleanor Louise Jones
Lilian Ma
Josephine Anne Nicholas
Northern Beaches Secondary College:
Manly Campus
Don’t Cry Over Spilled Milk
Collection of works
Acrylic on canvas
Meriden School
Sehnsucht: The inconsolable longing
Painting
Oil on canvas
Loreto Normanhurst
Transition
Documented forms
Hand-cut paper stencils, printed
photographs
8 | ARTEXPRESS at the Armory 2015
4. The discipline of reason
Georgia Rose Brown
Caitlin Condon
Karla Hayes
Julia Jay Hernon
Northern Beaches Secondary College:
Manly Campus
Alteration of Nature: Evolution or
Degradation?
Collection of works
Watercolour, watercolour paper, pen,
pencil, found objects, box art, collage
Loreto Normanhurst
Microcosm
Printmaking
Intaglio collograph printing
Rose Bay Secondary College
Surface
Graphic design
Ink and gouache on watercolour
paper
Lambton High School
Bee aware
Drawing
Pen on paper
Henry Pearson Longmire
Matthew Hourigan
Jonathan Ogle
Newington College
Fluid motion
Time-based forms
Gilroy Catholic College
What on earth happened here?
Sculpture
Found objects
Ku-ring-gai High School
Flow
Printmaking
Lino prints on Stonehenge paper
panels, pebbles, netting, twine, black
bamboo
ARTEXPRESS at the Armory 2015 | 9
5. Weight of the past
Matthew Rees Burnett
Katie Buchhorn
Anabelle Keaney
Alexandra Le
Lithgow High School
Emergence
Painting
Oil on acrylic
Strathfield Girls High School
Pevsner meets verrocchio
Sculpture
Steel
Central Coast Grammar School
Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori
Drawing
Graphite pencil on paper
Hurlstone Agricultural High School
Order and chaos
Drawing
Pencil on paper
Samantha Ma
Jack Munro
Bossley Park High School
Art couture
Drawing
Pencil on paper
Gosford High School
The nature of progress
Drawing
Watercolour and ink on paper
10 | ARTEXPRESS at the Armory 2015
Kirsty Smith
Courtney Walker
Mount St Benedict College
Hugo
Painting
Oil, acrylic, paint, modelling
compounds on canvas
Tomaree High School
The starry nights Plutonian shores
Collection of works
6. State of ecology
Matthew David Blood
Elysha Eccleston
Elena Mae Gillespie
Harrison Heycott
Knox Grammar School
A moment in succession
Collection of works
Print, photograph, laser cut, sculpture
Bowral High School
The Olgas go digital
Ceramics
Clay, wire, acrylic
Killara High School
Ocean residents
Collection of works
The Illawarra Grammar School
Proportions
Time-based forms
Time-lapse video, photograph on
matte print
Jordana May
Alice Katarina Reti-Steel
Kieran David Shields
Gosford High School
Synthesis: Homage to Huang Yan
Photomedia
Digital media and editing
Lithgow High School
Sour light crude
Sculpture
Plywood, steel, car body putty,
bitumen, silicone
Northern Beaches Secondary College:
Freshwater Senior Campus
Transition
Painting
Acrylic on wood
ARTEXPRESS at the Armory 2015 | 11
7. Consume or criticise
Luke Agius
Meg Davies
Jordan Goren
Natasha George
Wyndham College
Veil
Time-based forms
Digital film
Wenona School
The Room to the Left
Photomedia
Photograph/archival ink on fine art
paper
St Joseph’s College
Brainfreeze
Photomedia
Digital print on fine art matte paper
St Leo’s Catholic College
Plastisphere
Documented forms
Recycled materials, photography
Timothy Hauptman
Helena Kertesz
Michael Tanazefti
Maximillian Nicola- Woods
Newington College
Pleonexia
Drawing
Charcoal on paper
Hornsby Girls High School
Unnatural Selection
Sculpture
Insect wings and exoskeletons, bones,
electronic components
All Saints Catholic Senior College
Closed signs/open spaces
Photomedia
Digital prints
Newington College
Contrapposto Kinetics
Sculpture
Metal, wood, plastic
12 | ARTEXPRESS at the Armory 2015
8. Inquiring minds
Monique Googh
Madeleine Jane Langsworth
Caitlin Victoria Reeves
Sumi Shin
Erskine Park High School
The clockwork of the creative mind
Drawing
Fineliner, airbrush, paper
SCEGGS Darlinghurst
Automatos
Painting
Acrylic on board
Warners Bay High School
My softly suffused chiaroscuro
Drawing
Charcoal on paper
North Sydney Girls High School
Starts in the shire
Sculpture
Acrylic on wood, electrical wiring,
light bulbs, paper
Orshina Toma
Marina Zhang
Prairiewood High School
8 Pens later...
Drawing
Black Copic pens, Sharpie markers on
watercolour paper
North Sydney Girls High School
Gathering fuel in vacant lots
Collection of works
Oil on canvas, pencil on wood, digital
media, collected objects
13 | ARTEXPRESS at the Armory 2015
9. Confidential connections
Kinsella Bruck
Hyun Jee Cho
Jasmine Phung
Shavira Maharani
Ravenswood School for Girls
Gewebte Gedanken (Woven Thoughts)
Printmaking
Print on paper, digital media
Sydney Secondary College:
Blackwattle Bay Campus
Atari (Under the stones)
Painting
Acrylic and oil on canvas
Sydney Girls High School
Generational diaspora
Sculpture
Acrylic on canvas bag, pine, MDF,
raffia
Narara Valley High School
The void measures my connections
Drawing
Pencil on paper
Julia Brawley
Anuraj Talati
The McDonald College
Stravinsky Suite
Drawing
Pen on paper
Homebush Boys High School
Threads of Life
Painting
Acrylic and oil on canvas
ARTEXPRESS at the Armory 2015 | 14
1. Playing with stereotypes
Morgan Lawrence
Bradfield College
No Sidekicks (Scream Pow When You Hit ‘Em)
Drawing
Watercolour pencils, gouache paint, spray paint and
felt tip pen on plywood
My work is a series of portraits of important
women in my life as the superheroes that they
like and identify with. It was largely inspired by
the Chance Waters song No Sidekicks, which
uses superhero analogies to enforce the positive
message that ‘we only need ourselves’. It is about
individual empowerment but not at the expense
of others, which is also an important goal of
feminism. I believe that superheroes are important
role models because of their strength but also
their other qualities – compassion, confidence –
and their diversity. They show us that we can be
ourselves and still save the world.
Audrey Kawasaki, Roy Lichtenstein, David Aja
15 | ARTEXPRESS at the Armory 2015
Alexandra Sophia Lucchetti
Anna Mai Johnston
Willoughby Girls High School
Portrait of an Artist and her Muses
Painting
Acrylic on canvas
Queenwood School for Girls
Homebranded
Photomedia
Digital gloss print, foamcore, plastic wrap
My work began with the desire to celebrate the
experience of making art. It developed into a series
of portraits of those friends whose passions and
interests inspire me to pursue my own interest in
painting. The aesthetic quality of the artwork was
inspired by Baroque art. Gentileschi’s Self Portrait as
the Allegory of Painting was particularly inspirational
as it captures the peace of an artist at work. By using
objects like the camera that reflect new processes
involved in artmaking, I wanted to express the
continued joy of making art despite changes in the
world and art.
My work parodies male dominance in a relationship
by personifying this authoritarian state as the testosterone-ruled bull.
I appropriated a 1950s archetypal housewife, putting her into a barren
Australian landscape to subvert the tradition of women adapting to the male
environment, such as taking a man’s last name. The overall juxtaposition
reveals the ridiculous, romanticised role of the traditional housewife, and the
traditional role of the husband as the ‘provider’. High-resolution photographs
and the packaged meat encourage girls and women of any age to fight against
the domestication of women and embrace their own individuality.
Baroque art, Artemisia Gentileschi, Gaspare Traversi
Annie Leibovitz, Rosemary Laing, Imogen Darling-Blair, J. Howard Miller’s ‘We
Can Do It!’ poster
ARTEXPRESS at the Armory 2015 | 16
2. The urban experience
Georgia Elizabeth Adler
SCEGGS Darlinghurst
Urban Topography
Painting
My work is an expressive, abstract response to the
urban environment that surrounds me. One of
the artists I was most inspired by was Karl Wiebke,
due to his skilful manipulation of colour and form.
My process was an intuitive and experimental
procedure using mixed media where the work
continued to develop and build with layer upon
layer of colour and pattern. This provides a taste
of the methodical pattern underneath a more
gestural reaction to the city.
Karl Wiebke, Peter Atkins, Rosalie Gascoigne,
Jenny Sages
17 | ARTEXPRESS at the Armory 2015
Otis Vaclav Rufus Murray Burian Hodge
Sydney Liao
Homebush Boys High School
Newtown Moments
Photomedia
Photography
Baulkham Hills High School
The City Rises
Painting
Through my work I set out to capture the different
faces of Newtown, whether in a shop or on the
street, that make it such a unique area. I was led
to investigate this theme by my interest in where
I have grown up and my fascination at how one’s
personality and style is moulded based upon
where you live and come from. I approached many
independent shop owners and sought to capture
the individuals within their natural environment
with the use of 35 mm film, digital photography
and snapshot polaroids. Few of the photographs
were unplanned.
Acrylic on canvas, charcoal and pencil on paper
There’s something about being in the city,
simultaneously surrounded by people and alone;
in the concrete and steel that define the space and
the organic things that bring it to life. There’s that
sense of anonymity and the feeling, sometimes
fear, of being observed. Who knows how many
others’ stories you’ve been a part of, as just another
face in the crowd? It could make you feel small, I
think. At the same time, at the centre of your own
world, you could be bigger than anything.
Edgar Degas, Francisco Goya, Umberto Boccioni
ARTEXPRESS at the Armory 2015 | 18
3. A matter of faith
Maleeha Arshad
Wyndham College
Sanctuary
Photomedia
Photographic paper on MDF
In my artwork I portrayed different religions,
photographing places of worship then putting
them together to present peace and harmony
amongst them. Through this series of framed
images I wanted to convey that whether with or
without religion, an individual is able to live in
harmony, finding a sanctuary that provides peace
and solitude.
Shazia Sikander
19 | ARTEXPRESS at the Armory 2015
Nicola Johnston
Lilian Ma
Ascham School
Tongue Tied
Photomedia
Meriden School
Sehnsucht: The Inconsolable Longing
Painting
Oil on canvas
Lambda Kodak matte photographic print
My images explore society’s attitude towards
contemporary issues. In particular, how the
everyday people of Australia have become
complacent and live in ignorance about prevalent
global issues of poverty, homelessness, asylum
seekers, malaria, abuse, child labour, indigenous
inequality and war. People are absorbed in their
own lives, and have put up blinkers hindering them
from understanding the enormity and dire state of
the global situation.
Wim Delvoye, Lauren Kalman, Andy Warhol
I wanted to illustrate ‘sehnsucht’ – that feeling CS Lewis described as “an inconsolable longing for we know
not what”. It is the ache of mortality. Every moment that passes vanishes. Yet sometimes, in moments of
inspiration, we glimpse something beyond our temporality. Eternity is inconceivable but so deeply felt. Thus
I believe in God, in the soul’s immortality. Nature, too, is instilled with sublime sadness. Echoes of the infinite
emanate from the beauty of forms. The despairing anguish of youth subsides to timeworn peace, tinged with
melancholy, but not without hope – this is expressed in the storm’s passing.
Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Caspar David Friedrich, Eugène Delacroix, Theodore Gericault, Eugene von Guérard,
Albert Bierstadt, JMW Turner, Philip Wolfhagen, Gustave Courbet, Rafael Coronel, Sahin Karakoc, Jusepe
de Ribera, the Pre-Raphaelites, Guy Denning, Edgar Maxence, John Constable, Colin McCahon, Bill Henson,
Anthony van Dyck, Werner Knaupp, Jules Bastien-Lepage, Clyde Aspevig, John Frederick Kensett, Matthew
Draper
ARTEXPRESS at the Armory 2015 | 20
4. The discipline of reason
Caitlin Condon
Loreto Normanhurst
Microcosm
Printmaking
Intaglio collograph printing
In biologists’ attempts to understand the
natural world, a whole new world of visually rich
microscopic images of plant cells is unveiled. My
prints and sculptural plates explore the intricate
beauty of these cells that reflect the beauty of
the life they generate. I chose an artificial colour
palette to mirror the inks used by scientists for
auxiliary staining. This staining enhances the
contrast of the cellular structures, creating a
micro-ecosystem that is interesting and complex
in its own right. I aim to capture the energy and
sensitivity of these exquisite worlds through the
delicate texture and organic aesthetics afforded
through collograph printmaking.
Tessa Horrocks
21 | ARTEXPRESS at the Armory 2015
Georgia Rose Brown
Matthew Hourigan
Northern Beaches Secondary College: Manly Campus
Alteration of Nature: Evolution or Degradation?
Collection of works
Gilroy Catholic College
What on Earth Happened Here?
Sculpture
Found objects
Watercolour, watercolour paper, pen, pencil, found objects, box art, collage
Alteration of Nature: Evolution or Degradation? conveys the gradual
displacement of nature as human behaviour causes disruption of fragile
but complex natural systems. This has led to humanity’s use and abuse of
these organisms, with ambiguous consequences. Ultimately, there is also an
impact on homo sapiens by their own scientific activity, which ironically seeks
to improve the human race. The work contests the scientific classification of
organisms through drawings, assemblage boxes, collage and documentation
through a book. It challenges society’s mindset that humans are superior to
other parts of the environment; evoking instead the notion that all organisms
are integral to nature.
What on Earth Happened Here? is an investigation of earth’s issues
and problems. It explores the significance of numerous global concerns
such as bioethics, drug addiction and war, and hence pronounces their
influence on the possible outcome of our globe. The accumulation of
the materials in my work represents the magnitude of these universal
issues, and triggers a potential challenge for us as individuals to help
change our world for the better.
Andrew Miller, Yoko Ono, Claes Oldenburg, Vic Muniz
Frederik Ruysch, John Wolseley, Patricia Piccinini, Angela Su, Beth Emily, James
Blackwell, Ernst Haeckel, Leonardo da Vinci, Gina Czarnecki, Walmor Corrêa
ARTEXPRESS at the Armory 2015 | 22
5. Weight of the past
Jack Munro
Gosford High School
The Nature of Progress
Drawing
Watercolour and ink on paper
A history of progress defines our modern existence,
as our global society is radically redefined by
technological development. Presenting audiences
with a chronological view of developments, The
Nature of Progress explores our physical change
as a society, leading audiences to question the
idea of ‘progress’. The work brings together preexisting images, re-interpreted and contextualised,
as a collage or construction. Referencing the
effects that our everyday lives have on the world,
the work challenges audiences to consider the
relationship humans have with their environment;
assessing the costs and benefits of the changed
world, shaped by generations of developments,
large and small.
Alexander Hope, Edward Burtynsky, John Walso
23 | ARTEXPRESS at the Armory 2015
Katie Buchhorn
Alexandra Le
Strathfield Girls High School
Pevsner meets Verrocchio
Sculpture
Steel
Hurlstone Agricultural High School
Order and Chaos
Drawing
Pencil on paper
This piece is an exploration of line through three dimensions. I have
always been fascinated by horses, particularly their uniquely strong
fluid style of movement. Part of my inspiration was that 2014 was
the year of the horse in the Chinese zodiac. My influences are the
constructivist sculptors Naum Gabo and Antoine Pevsner, known
for their delightful play with positive and negative space. I have also
drawn inspiration from Verrocchio’s equestrian statue of Bartolomeo
Colleoni, as I admire the horse’s strength and authority and aspired
to capture similar qualities within my own work.
My focus on food, and its representation in the large drawings, is reflective
of society’s natural but unhealthy tendency to gravitate from an ordered to
a chaotic state in their food choices. By reducing the original photographs to
grayscale, using only lead pencil on paper, the drawings intend to take away the
visual chaos that consumers are bombarded with. It now captures the elegance
and beauty of the shape and texture of food, and the smaller drawings return to
order through isolation of the food. It reminds us of the true value of simple but
precious fresh food in enriching our lives.
Juan Sánchez Cotán, Abraham Mignon
Andrea del Verrocchio, Antoine Pevsner, Naum Gabo
ARTEXPRESS at the Armory 2015 | 24
6. Ecological states
Matthew David Blood
Knox Grammar School
A Moment in Succession
Collection of works
Print, photograph, laser cut, sculpture
My work investigates and represents nature
as both an abstract form and a symbol of
progress, growth and regeneration. I have used
both traditional and postmodern mediums to
explore the inherent beauty that comes with
the aftermath of a bushfire. Black and white
are used to symbolise life and death and the
processes between them. I have attempted to
show that with the devastation of bushfires, the
true beauty of the landscape can be appreciated;
that is, its ability to rejuvenate. This concept of
self-perpetuation reveals the magnificence of
nature and the rhythms of growth, decay and
regeneration.
Käthe Kollwitz, Salvatore Zofrea, Margaret Preston
25 | ARTEXPRESS at the Armory 2015
Alice Katarina Reti-Steel
Elysha Eccleston
Lithgow High School
Sour light crude
Sculpture
Plywood, steel, car body putty, bitumen, silicone
Bowral High School
The Olgas Go Digital
Ceramics
Clay, wire, acrylic
In a world still so heavily dependent upon fossil
fuels, environmental damage is a price we will
continue to pay. The 2010 Gulf of Mexico spill
continues to affect that region, hence the oil pool
in my sculpture mimics the shape of the United
States portion of the North American landmass.
This sculpture required me to experiment with
materials and methods I had not previously used
(including alginate, silicone, bitumen and modelling
compounds), a process I found enjoyable and
absorbing in spite of the darkness of the subject
matter.
My intent was for viewers to conceptually understand the effect of human
interference on Australia’s natural formations such as The Olgas (Kata Tjuta).
Human interference will eventually cause Australia’s natural formations to
deteriorate. Eventually only photographs will be left of these natural forms.
Even though The Olgas are still physically present, technology and editing allow
viewers to change the way they see things. If these images have been digitally
changed, is what we are viewing in images really what the natural formations
look like? Will these natural formations last forever?
Henri Matisse (Jazz sequence), John Coburn, Marea Gazzard, Alexander Calder,
Nazca lines, white horses of England
ARTEXPRESS at the Armory 2015 | 26
7. Consume or criticise
Jordan Goren
St Joseph’s College
Brainfreeze
Photomedia
Digital print on fine art matte paper
Brainfreeze focuses on the contemporary issue of
consumer fetishism. Consumerism is explored by
covering the faces of my models with food, and
the use of young adult models provides further
reference to contemporary society. The purpose
of the freezer is to illustrate that this applies
consistently within the human race – although
our exteriors are inconsistent, our interior habits
are consistent. Visually, I have appropriated the
stylistic disguises of advertising imagery to play on
the audience’s unconscious responses to product
marketing.
Simryn Gill, William Eggleston, Heidi Voet
27 | ARTEXPRESS at the Armory 2015
Natasha George
Luke Agius
St Leo’s Catholic College
Plastisphere
Documented forms
Recycled materials, photography
Wyndham College
Veil
Time-based forms
Digital film
Plastisphere: ecosystems that have evolved to live in
plastic environments
Veil is an exploration of the burdens on the human psyche. After the passing
of a family member, I was faced with the realisation that the world around me
continued at the same rate. I expressed this through an experimental film in
which a protagonist in a gas mask meanders through different environments
in a world that is seemingly devoid of human life. Veil is an exploration of the
isolation and fear that we all feel at some time, and the tension in the search
for release.
My work explores the continuing problem of harmful
rubbish in the world’s waterways. It is estimated that
there are 46,000 pieces of plastic in every square mile
of the world’s oceans. By using recycled materials
commonly found in the ocean, my depiction of pollution
evolving into marine creatures reflects my growing
concern for future generations.
Stanley Kubrick (filmmaker), Sara Teasdale (poet), Gregory Crewdson
(photographer)
ARTEXPRESS at the Armory 2015 | 28
8. Inquiring minds
Orshina Toma
Prairiewood High School
8 Pens Later ...
Drawing
Black Copic pens, Sharpie markers on watercolour
paper
I was interested in exploring ways to document
thought processes through drawing. After
investigation of surrealist ideologies and the
crazed mind of illustrator and director Tim
Burton, I wanted to show how one thought can be
taken on a journey of manipulation and human
emotion, through fear, emptiness, confusion and
misguided directions. The mouse in the maze
travels on a symbolic journey through space, time,
emotional turmoil and twenty-third-century dark
fantasies. My work uses the analogue animation
genre to subtly hint at the consequences of genetic
manipulation.
Salvador Dali, the Surrealists, Tim Burton, MC
Escher, Rene Magritte
29 | ARTEXPRESS at the Armory 2015
Sumi Shin
Monique Googh
North Sydney Girls High School
Starts in The Shire
Sculpture
Acrylic on wood, electrical wiring, light bulbs, paper
Erskine Park High School
The Clockwork of the Creative Mind
Drawing
Fineliner, airbrush, paper
“A box without hinges, key or lid, Yet golden
treasure inside is hid.” JRR Tolkien, The Hobbit
My work explores the intricate workings of the mind as a complex
mechanism, with unique aspects of our psyche fitting together and
working in unison to create our unique identity and perception of the
world. The movement and layout of the hair demonstrates the way that
the imagination can carry people on journeys, exploring whimsical and
impossible ideas and stories. It highlights the disparity between reality and
the imaginative world, and the way that a person’s individuality is shaped
by the workings of their imagination.
We often forget that our lives are governed by the
journeys we take. These six boxes aim to dissect
the various journeys we experience in our lives, and
reflect upon the growth of an individual through
this process. Thus, these six microscope boxes
contain a journey to bravery, discovery, and our
innermost fears.
Norman Duenas, Ian Macarthur, Eveline Tarunadjaja
Hari & Deepti
ARTEXPRESS at the Armory 2015 | 30
9. Confidential connections
Jasmine Phung
Sydney Girls High School
Generational Diaspora
Sculpture
Acrylic on canvas bag, pine, MDF, raffia
Generational Diaspora is an exploration into
my own heritage, my cultural identity, with the
cart shouldering the emotional ‘baggage’ of the
generations. Each bag is a representation of a
generation in my family ­– beginning with my
grandparents and ending with myself. My work
serves as an offering to the gods and my ancestors
as a plea for help as I try to come to terms with my
disconnection and isolation from both culture and
religion, in an attempt to restore these ties and
discover myself in the process.
Gustav Klim
31 | ARTEXPRESS at the Armory 2015
Hyun Jee Cho
Kinsella Bruck
Sydney Secondary College: Blackwattle Bay Campus
Atari (Under the Stones)
Painting
Acrylic and oil on canvas
Ravenswood School for Girls
Gewebte Gedanken (Woven Thoughts)
Printmaking
Print on paper, digital media
Koreans exhibit a strong sense of national pride, and have worked
diligently to break away from a distressing history of colonisation
and war. When set against the backdrop of a foreign environment,
their preservation of customs and traditions is inevitable, especially
among the elderly. In my painting I have not aimed for subtlety in
my depiction of cultural references. My work uses calligraphic art
and the Baduk (Go) game – two of the four scholarly arts (painting,
calligraphy, music, and games of skill and strategy) – to embody an
intellectual, ethnic and personal perspective on preserving a culture
with such a wide diversity of influence.
My work explores the relationship between language and writing,
embodied within the representation of my great-grandmother, a
published poet. I have printed images of my great-grandmother along
with images of typewriter keys onto strips of hand-cut and woven German
and English text, representing both the German heritage inherited from
my great-grandmother and my own Australian heritage. The woven text
demonstrates not only the interplay of language, thoughts and writing,
but also reveals writing to be an art of self-expression.
William Kentridge
Bomin Kim, Lee Jinju
ARTEXPRESS at the Armory 2015 | 32
Syllabus connections: suggested approaches for teachers
The syllabus connections questions and activities are
designed to promote critical thinking about artists’
practice and the curatorial rationale of the exhibition.
In the exhibition, look closely at the bodies of work
by 2014 HSC students. Make thumbnail sketches
of the artworks you like. Imagine and list the steps
the students may have gone through to create their
artworks.
Choose three bodies of work from different expressive forms. Write
down the name of the student, title of the artwork and expressive
form. Create a list of adjectives to describe each work. Use these
words to write a description of each work selected. Invent a story to
accompany your selected works.
Select examples of printmaking in the exhibition. Write down the
names of the students and the titles of the prints. Compare the
different styles. Describe the type of lines used in the different prints.
Notice how all the prints use black ink on white paper or printed
paper. Imagine what these prints would look like if the students used
colour printing ink or hand coloured these prints. How do you think
the artworks would look?
Locate the three dimensional artworks. Write a list of the various
materials the students used to create these. Imagine some of the
challenges the students faced when creating these three dimensional
artworks.
What have you enjoyed most about ARTEXPRESS: Focus? Think about
why ARTEXPRESS is put together each year. What ideas do you think
your class will take away from this exhibition?
33 | ARTEXPRESS at the Armory 2015
Monique Googh
Erskine Park High School
The Clockwork of the Creative Mind
Drawing
Fineliner, airbrush, paper
Syllabus connections: K-6 Focus Questions
English
Select three artworks you responded to well. Compile a list
of adjectives to describe your selected bodies of work. Write
a description of these works explaining what you think the
artist was communicating to the audience.
Write a postcard to a friend about your experience of visiting
the ARTEXPRESS: Focus exhibition. Give details of your overall
impression of the artworks and provide an argument stressing
three reasons for visiting the exhibition.
Choose a portrait in the exhibition. Imagine meeting the
person in the artwork. Describe what you think they would be
like. Create a story about the person in the artwork. Share the
story in class.
Maths
In groups count and tally the number of students who
submitted paintings, drawings, ceramics, prints, sculptures,
photographs, time based and collection of works. Share your
findings and create a graph to assess the results. Discuss other
types of things that could be counted in the exhibition.
Find the largest and smallest bodies of work in the exhibition.
What impact does scale have on the viewer? Observe how
people interact with each of these artworks. Note how close
or how far you stood from the drawing to appreciate fully
appreciate the artwork.
HSIE
Samantha Ma
Bossley Park High School
Art couture
Drawing
Pencil on paper
The title of the exhibition is Focus. Discuss the ideas you think
the exhibition may be exploring. Look closely at the works
grouped in the theme The urban experience. In the classroom
discuss the concept of the urban experience.
ARTEXPRESS at the Armory 2015 | 34
Syllabus connections: Visual Arts
Survey the different approaches to drawing in the
exhibition. Look closely at the types of marks made by the
students. Create a table to record the types of marks you
can see. Imagine how these drawings were started. Write
a list of the steps that you think the artist may have
taken to create these drawing.
Focus on bodies of work that feature the human figure.
Describe the expressions on the various subject’s faces.
Imagine what the figure/s is/are thinking and write a
speech bubble to company the artwork. Draw a portrait
of a friend in the style of an artwork in the exhibition.
35 | ARTEXPRESS at the Armory 2015
At school, use scratch foam to develop one of your
figurative drawings into a print. Experiment using black
and white ink and then brightly coloured ink. Discuss
which results you prefer.
Use a digital camera to take photographs of your family
and friends. Review your images and select three of
your best shots to print out. Title your photographs and
exhibit them in class.
Use a video camera to create a time based piece based on
the theme of stereotypes. Start by drawing a story board
of shots you hope to capture. Work in small groups and
brainstorm. Create a group work. Play them in class.
Caitlin Victoria Reeves
Warners Bay High School
My softly suffused chiaroscuro
Drawing
Charcoal on paper
Syllabus connections: Subjective Frame
Kieran David Shields
Northern Beaches Secondary College:
Freshwater Senior Campus
Transition
Painting
Acrylic on wood
Maximillian Nicola- Woods
Newington College
Contrapposto Kinetics
Sculpture
Metal, wood, plastic
Subjective Frame
11–12 Questions for discussion
7–10 Questions for discussion
Consider how students in the exhibition have represented personal experience and
feelings in their artworks. Explore the theme of Confidential connections and comment
on how a personal experience can be the starting point to develop into a body of work.
Contemplate how your own family photographs and home movies might be used as a
starting point for an artwork.
Walk through the exhibition and write down your reactions to 2 dimensional, 3
dimensional and the time based art works. If you were planning to create a body of
work, which expressive form would you wish to explore and experiment with?
Find a Body of Work that uses colour to create a mood. How does the chosen colour
affect you?
Write a post card to a friend about your impression of the ARTEXPRESS: Focus at the
Armory Gallery. Include the ideas that you will take away from this exhibition.
Select an artwork that appeals to you. What was your initial response to the artwork?
Write down a list of descriptive words to describe the artwork. Identify the elements
which you think make the work successful. Pinpoint the theme you single out in this
artwork. Consider how you would develop this theme.
Select an artwork in the exhibition that presents an emphasis on questioning
conventions through the use of materials and subject matter. Write a subjective
response to this work, describing the feelings it evokes in you and the particular
elements within the work that provoke this response.
Document your initial response to the exhibition. Write a list of ideas you take away
from the exhibition. Create a flow chart to put these ideas into action for your art
making practice.
ARTEXPRESS at the Armory 2015 | 36
Syllabus connections: Structural Frame
Anabelle Keaney
Central Coast Grammar School
Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori
Drawing
Graphite pencil on paper
Structural Frame
11–12 Questions for discussion
7–10 Questions for discussion
Choose two or more artworks that explore a similar theme or issue, created in different
expressive forms. Observe how each student has manipulated materials to explore and
communicate comparable meaning. Map out the steps you think the student may have
taken to develop this body of work.
Select two works in different expressive forms that appeal to you. Draw detailed
sketches of the bodies of work. Have the students used materials in an unusual way?
Look at the way each student has manipulated their materials. Discuss the success of
the techniques used.
Study a body of work, which explores ideas associated with personal identity. Read the
student’s statement. Take note of how the student has handled these ideas.
Experiment with a range of drawing materials from the humble pencil to thick
charcoal or pen and ink. Select a subject a model for you to work directly from life and
experiment with creating a line drawing, tonal drawing and a loose ink drawing. Assess
your finished drawings and discuss how you handled the various materials. Consider
if you prefer one drawing medium to another. What were some of the positive and
negatives about each of the medium’s you experimented with.
Select two bodies of work. Comment of the use of colour in the selected bodies of work.
Does the use of colour or lack of colour affect your response to the artworks? Access
the mood of each of the selected artworks. Use coloured markers, coloured pencils or
oil pastels to create a drawing based on the interior of your art room. Select a range
of colours to suggest how you feel while creating this artwork. Place yourself in the
composition.
37 | ARTEXPRESS at the Armory 2015
Identify a body of work that may have been influenced by another artist. Consider the
impact of this influence on the material and conceptual aspects of the work.
Think about how students have engaged in a system of signs and symbols. Select three
artworks and unpack the system of signs and symbols. Write notes about these works
and illustrate this with thumbnail sketches.
View the time based works and documented forms. Compare the issues and themes
explored in these expressive forms. Document what you thought was successful and
where you think improvements could be made. Survey how students have challenged
the traditions of the genre of landscape painting.
Syllabus connections: Cultural & Conceptual Frame
Harrison Heycott
The Illawarra Grammar School
Proportions
Time-based forms
Time-lapse video, photograph on
matte print
Cultural Frame
Conceptual Framework
7–10 Questions for discussion
7–10 Questions for discussion
Read the artist’s statements accompanying bodies of work in the theme of Consume or
criticise. Write down quotes from the artists. Compare what each artist communicates
about their exhibited artwork.
Watch how the audience interacts with the exhibition. Look at the way people walk
between the works, where they stop and how they view each work. Identify works that
are attracting the most attention. Why do you think this is so?
Observe the different ways students have investigated contemporary concerns of
ecological issues, consumerism and urban expansion in the bodies of work.
How responsive are these artists to the world around them. How many artists have
responded to the state of the environment, the urban experience or retreated to the
inner world of their imagination.
11–12 Questions for discussion
How have aspects from our contemporary world been reflected in the works on
display in ARTEXPRESS: Focus? Select three works that represent a variety of influences
through their subject matter, theme, visual references, or selection and manipulation of
materials. Write a comparative analysis of these chosen works.
Comment on the representation of a subculture in ARTEXPRESS: Focus. How has the
artist portrayed aspects of this culture to the audience? Identify some of the key issues
when presenting subcultures and assess the impact on various audiences.
11–12 Questions for discussion
Survey the ARTEXPRESS: Focus exhibition critically. Consider the construction of the
viewing experience for the audience. Comment on the information provided to the
viewer. Discuss some ways the curator has explored the relationship between the
artworks and the audience. List some of the strategies employed.
Other than by simply ‘looking’, in what other ways are viewers engaging, learning about
and absorbing the artworks? Explain.
ARTEXPRESS at the Armory 2015 | 38
Syllabus connections: Postmodern Frame & Artist Practice
Postmodern Frame
7–10 Questions for discussion
Compare ARTEXPRESS: Focus to other exhibitions you have experienced. Think about the elements
that are similar and different. Writes these down and discuss back in the classroom.
11–12 Questions for discussion
Examine your impression of viewing student artworks? List the range of audiences you think
ARTEXPRESS: Focus may attract. Judge the significance of ARTEXPRESS within the wider art world.
How has the student questioned the authority of art history and its classifications?
Artist Practice: experimentation, innovation and resolution
7–10 Questions for discussion
Think about the experimentation and steps the students undertook to achieve a resolved body of
work. Identify specific bodies of work which you think have been resolved to create a visually strong
impact.
Read the student statements to find out more about their approach to creating their body of work.
Josephine Anne Nicholas
11–12 Questions for discussion
Loreto Normanhurst
Transition
Documented forms
Hand-cut paper stencils, printed photographs
Survey the exhibition and contemplate how students have communicated and expressed a
particular issue or concern in their body of work. Observe how some subject matter is clear and in
other artworks the message is more subtle or poetic. Write down how you think students achieved
this by referring to specific examples.
Reflect on the importance of experimentation in the art making process which can lead to
innovative approaches to subject matter and the use of various media and techniques. Select several
bodies of work that have impressed you with an original approach or innovative technique. Map out
and chart the steps you think the students would have undertaken to create their body of work.
Read the wall labels and note the artists which students identify as being a source of inspiration.
Assess if these influences were obvious or subtle. Are you familiar with the artists cited? If not,
research the cited artists back at school
39 | ARTEXPRESS at the Armory 2015
Syllabus connections: Curatorial Practice
Benjamin Skinner
Rouse Hill Anglican College
Empirical Spherical Entropy
Time-based forms
Digital prints mounted on board,
acrylic disks, video
Nicola Johnston
Ascham School
Tongue tied
Photomedia
Lambda Kodak matte photographic print
Curatorial Practice
11–12 Questions for discussion
7–10 Questions for discussion
Focus is the title of the exhibition. After viewing the exhibition what do you think the
title suggests? Invent an alternative title for the exhibition.
Consider how you may have arranged the exhibition in the Armory Gallery. Imagine
some of the curatorial concerns that may have arisen from the display of bodies of work
in multiple pieces.
Reflect on the themes the curator has explored through the selection of works. Map the
journey the curator has structured for the audience. What do you think the audience
will take away from the exhibition?
Observe the exhibition design of ARTEXPRESS: Focus. Imagine you are the curator. How
might you select, design and install the exhibition? What might you do differently? How
would you organise the work and engage the audience?
Consider the number and type of works and what links them together, and finally the
exhibition design and layout as a cohesive experience. Consider how you would utilise
space, colour, floors and walls to exhibit the works. Sketch an exhibition floor plan with
an outline of the exhibition’s key features.
Evaluate and review the ARTEXPRESS: Focus exhibition. In your review, introduce the
exhibition as a whole. Outline its highlights and your personal experience of the
exhibition, along with that of the general audience you observed. Compare your critical
response with your classmates.
ARTEXPRESS at the Armory 2015 | 40
ARTEXPRESS Exhibitions in 2015
Eight distinct ARTEXPRESS exhibitions have been curated from the 2014 HSC Visual Arts Syllabus.
2015 EXHIBITION DATES
Hazelhurst Regional Gallery & Arts Centre
7 February – 22 March
Art Gallery of New South Wales
12 February – 19 April
The Armory, Sydney Olympic Park
3 March - 26 April
Margaret Whitlam Galleries, University of Western Sydney 8 August – 27 September
McGlade Art Gallery, Australian Catholic University
27 August – 19 September
Maitland Regional Art Gallery
11 September – 1 November
Dubbo Regional Gallery - Western Plains Cultural Centre
19 September – 22 November
Bega Valley Regional Gallery
20 November – 12 December
Madeleine Jane Langsworth
Online resources for students and teachers:
www.sydneyolypmicpark.com.au/artexpress
artexpress.artsunit.nsw.edu.au/About.html
www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/syllabus_hsc/visual-arts.html
www.curriculumsupport.education.nsw.gov.au/secondary/creativearts/visualarts/index.html
www.artsunit.nsw.edu.au/programs/visual-arts
41 | ARTEXPRESS at the Armory 2015
SCEGGS Darlinghurst
Automatos
Painting
Acrylic on board
Presented by
Major Sponsor
Associate Sponsors
Official ARTEXPRESS Carrier
Patron
ARTEXPRESS at the Armory 2015 | 42