Visual Arts

 This week’s banner is one of Eleanor Purcell’s images from the night time photography shoot at Bundanon.

Hello Bundanon!

The inaugural art camp to Bundanon was a magnificent end to week 2 for a group of Year 11 and 10 Visual Arts students. Bundanon is a sprawling natural property on the banks of the Shoalhaven river near Nowra and was the home of the Modernist painter Arthur Boyd, who gifted it to the nation in 1993. Whilst the historic sandstone homestead that was the home and studio for Arthur Boyd is in itself a beautiful piece of living history, it is the new additions to the site, namely the Bridge accommodation and centre for creative learning where we stayed during our trip, and the new gallery both designed by Melbourne architect Kerstin Thompson, that really captured our imagination.

Students were immersed in art the moment they alighted from the bus, with a private evening viewing of the gallery, then up the next morning to begin several workshops responding to themes such as the natural world, the figure and the built environment which culminated in the group exploring night photography in and around the Glen Murcutt buildings.

The 2022 Bundanon art trip was an incredible experience which gave every girl the opportunity to gain a new set of valuable skills. Surrounded by nature and animals, we were able to immerse ourselves in the environment and create some amazing art. Upon arrival, we were fortunate enough to get a tour of the onsite art gallery, which included various works of painter, Arthur Boyd. The remainder of the camp consisted of a multitude of photography activities such as nature walks, photographic collages, and even night-time photography. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the camp, gaining new skills, learning about the elements of photography, and making unforgettable memories.

Ianna Fatouros Year 11

Last weekend was full of flying fabric, mad collage and aweing at art and architecture as well as delicious grub. Students from the Year 11 and Year 10 art classes were lucky enough to visit Bundanon on an art camp. Our trip began on Friday, after packing the essentials rations we were ready to head off. Bundanon is located on Wodi Wodi and Yuin land, situated near Nowra. Bundanon in every way encourages unity and ecology in the environment. The physical architecture of Bundanon was bewitching, and it is perfectly embedded into its landscape. Our art gallery visit strung together different perspectives of the surrounding environment, from historical to contemporary. It was these ideas and appreciation for the environment that informed our art practice. On the second day we focused on photography, hiking through the bush we photographed the natural texture and verdure of the bush. Then using fabric and props we explored the idea of presence and of human interaction in the landscape. Both these activities required a deep meditative focus on our natural surroundings, an activity usually neglected in the blur of school. A huge thank you to Maz and Sas our camp leaders as well as a the incredible chefs at Bundanon, but biggest thank you to the art teachers Miss Jackson, Miss Dawson and Miss Brennan for traveling with us and making it all possible.

Tilda Meggitt Year 11

Life Drawing classes for Year 11 at the National Art School

We were also fortunate to be able organise bespoke sessions for Year 11 students at the National Art School last week to experience Life Drawing from a live model. Life Drawing is a foundational skill taught to students during their first year of a Bachelor’s degree and continuing as an essential feature of practice throughout their studies. It was wonderful to be able to have Luke Thurgate as our tutor as he is one of NAS’s specialist tutors and a skilful figurative artist in his own right.

As a small class we walked up the road to our neighbouring campus the National Art School. Each student was given an easel, charcoal pencils, and A2 paper. As the model shaped her poses, us girls began sketching her movement. The goal was the capture the fluidity of the human form. We had 4 minutes for each drawing, leaving our works quick and rough. At first my work was extremely tentative. I was afraid of the charcoal and unsure how to represent the body’s dimensions. But in our final 20-minute sketch I think each of us girls began to understand how to shape the movement of the body, capturing the limbs, curves, bends in the model’s form. For me life drawing at National Art school was my first experience capturing the form of a nude model. I was so thrilled with the progress I made in one short hour. I already plan on going back with the girls in my class to do more life drawing.

Bronte Burke Year 11

Last week we went to a life drawing lesson at the National Art School as part of our focus on ‘the body’. We stayed for an hour, and made five sketches, each based on a different pose. I was nervous about it at first having never done life drawing, but it ended up being a lovely experience and it helped me become more confident with my drawing. As we did four quick sketches of about five minutes each, I was forced to draw quickly and disregard my want to make the drawing perfect. As a result, I ended up creating sketches that were better than anything I’d done and since then I have been motivated to keep on practising and have continued to draw the body. It was a unique and exciting experience that I am very grateful to have had and I hope to go back again.

Coco Riminton Year 11

Heidi Jackson
Head of Visual Arts