Visual Arts – SCOPE Editorial team and Year 10 Excursion to Matisse

Visual Arts – SCOPE Editorial team and Year 10 Excursion to Matisse

We are thrilled to announce the SCOPE Art magazine editorial team for 2022!

Semester 1

  • Editor: Matisse Asher
  • Sub Editor: Akira Nicholson
  • Special Features Writer: Leyla Bensan

 

Semester 2

  • Editor: Janet Zheng
  • Sub Editor: Bianca Rozsa
  • Special Features Writer: Jemima Hanning

Editorial meetings have already commenced and there is great excitement about shaping the issues for this year, particularly as we have been unable to visit galleries and museums and contact with the artworld has been seriously curtailed for the past 2 years. SCOPE is still looking for writers so if students are interested please get in touch with Matisse Asher to find out more about the magazine.

Art Excursions!

it has been absolutely incredible to be able to get back to seeing works of art in real life. We have realised how important this aspect of our learning is and how fortunate we are at SCEGGs to be able to visit Sydney’s major institutions within a lesson. Year 8 have already been up to the Australian Museum and to Yiribana Gallery at the AGNSW as part of their studies of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art practice and Year 7 have had excursions to the Australian Modernist Galleries at AGNSW where they have actively engaged with investigations into different forms of portraiture. We hope to reschedule our Sydney Sculpture walk with Year 9 that was sadly rained out last Friday…and Year 10 visited Matisse: Life and Spirit at the Art Gallery of NSW last week.

Here is what Charley Masnick, Zara Buchen and Leyla Bensan in Year 10 had to say about their excursion to Matisse last week…

 

Over the past couple weeks in art, we have been learning about all things Modernism and Modernity. From Impressionism to Cubism, we have had to opportunity to learn about how the world dramatically shifted in the late 19th to the early 20th century and how this impacted and changed the art world at the time. After studying Post-Impressionism and the key changes from Impressionism, we were lucky enough to go see Matisse: Life and Spirit at the Art Gallery of NSW. It was so enlightening to be able to see one of the pioneers of Fauvism and his individual ideas of what modernism was and how that is reflected in his work. It was so great to see it in real life after not being able to go to the gallery for nearly 2 years. The exhibition allowed us to see Matisse’s change in style throughout the years as the world around him changed. Walking through the gallery I was able to implement what I have learnt in art over the past 5 weeks and think about what makes Matisse such a significant Modernist artist. His use of bold colour reflects the invention of synthetic paints and his change in subject matter shows the shift from agricultural working life to an increase in leisure time due to the Industrial Revolution. His thick, painterly strokes show the change from fine realistic brushstrokes to more abstract broken brush marks. Charley Masnick

When I realised that our visit to the Matisse art excursion would require a mad dash to the bus through torrents of rain, followed by a lengthy period of standing in an air-conditioned gallery dripping wet, I must admit – I was less than enthusiastic. But the moment I entered the gallery, breathed in that unique gallery aroma and opened my eyes to the array of colour and vibrancy, I was entranced. After a year of lockdown, the opportunity to visit an art gallery was amazing. To see Matisse’s work before my eyes was truly overwhelming. This was the first art exhibition I had been to in over a year, and I had forgotten how inspiring it is to see such significant works we had been studying in real life like Blue Nudes II and his final self-portrait The Sorrows of The King. Over the past couple of weeks, we had been studying the radical transition from traditional works to modernist works in the late 19th century. Seeing this progression in Matisse’s practice, as he moved from Impressionist to post-Impressionist to Fauvist works, was eye-opening, bringing art lessons to life right in front of me. In short, seeing such a renowned artist’s work after half a year at home was a truly amazing experience, despite the unfortunate weather and slightly wet socks at the end of the day.
Zara Buchen

Going to see an artist you’ve studied in class is almost like meeting them. You see their brushstrokes, you read their life story, you see their artmaking progress. It’s by far one of the most precious parts of studying art, we revere in the beauty of artworks and the genius of their creators, and when our research comes to a close, on the rare occasion, we go to a gallery and see it all in person. Quite honestly, it’s moving and emotional. Matisse is one of the most well-known artists of all time, and a true master. He shifted the course of art history permanently, and without him the art of today would be completely different. Viewing the progression of him discovering his identity and signature as an artist shows how us as students can learn to find our own voice in art and shift the norm of what art is and what it means.
Leyla Bensan

 

 

This week’s banner is a Year 7 Group work underway as part of their study of portraiture.

 

Heidi Jackson
Head of Visual Arts