Ideas behind the work …
For Transience and Manifestations I chose empty cylindrical vessel forms to imitate tree trunks. The artwork comments on issues of mental health and racism that continue to affect Australian society. The hollow form of the cylinder symbolised the incomplete parts of society, but also the enduring strength of gumtrees to withstand harsh environments.
Transience explores the Australian side of me, reflecting the harsh Australian landscape through the pit firing process. The variety of heights represents the cultural shifts I experienced growing up, demonstrating the transient nature of culture and its effects. Manifestations is a representation of myself as Australian and Chinese. The clean break between the taller vessel signified self-acceptance and coming to terms with being Asian, whereas the shorter vessel revealed an unaffected naïve younger me.

Materials and processes …
The creative process for Transience and Manifestations drew on the variability and unpredictable nature of the pit firing process to express my ideas.
For Transience, I wedged red iron oxide into clay and blended different raku clays together to create earthy Australian, oranges, reds and browns when the vessels were bisqued. To form hollow gumtree vessels, I threw the different blends of clay on the pottery wheel, joining some vessels during the leatherhard stage to produce taller vessels. During the pit firing process for these pieces, I used gum leaves, orange peels, iron and copper oxides to colour and texture the surface, depicting Australian landscape colours. In Manifestations, I used a white raku clay to contrast against the black carbon coring of the pit firing. I painted a local clay slip over the vessels, which once bisqued, turned orange. When pit firing these pieces, I only used wood and salt to create a distinction between colours and their cultural representations.
Time was the most challenging aspect in creating my works. The ceramic process is so unpredictable, and both labour and time intensive and things can quickly go good or bad. Pottery is a multifaceted process where many things can go wrong but after many hours of hard work and dedication, less mishaps occurred along the way. Clay is such a fascinating medium and responding to the clay itself ultimately allowed me to create pieces that brought a moment of utter joy and euphoria upon opening the kiln.

Starting points and influences …
The starting point of Transience and Manifestations was based on my “pit-fired vessels” potential direction. I created test cups to determine the level of marbling I wanted to achieve to convey my ideas and meaning. Influenced by Michelle Erickson’s 18th Century Agateware teapot I found that using neriage (wheel thrown) techniques opposed to nerikomi (handbuilt) techniques best expressed the fusion of cultures. I also applied the knowledge and skills I had learnt from researching Chris Dunn’s pit firing process to my own studio practice to achieve the results and effects I wanted for my final artworks.

Favourite artist …
Lisa Hammond a studio potter from Greenwich, London creates amazing soda and shino glazed wares. I’ve recently become interested in wood and salt firing, two processes that yield complex and unique results. Something about her pots just speak to me, I love how her pots are intended for daily use, to be cherished and appreciated in daily life: “when you’re half asleep, you know what you want to drink your tea out of”.

Future plans …
In 2020 I’ll be volunteering in Sri Lanka for 6 months teaching English. I’m excited to meet new people and learn about Sri Lankan culture. After volunteering I hope to pursue pottery, potting almost full time at my small home studio space. Following my gap year, I intend to go and study a fine arts degree. Art has become something integral to my life and I hope to be surrounded by people who are like minded and challenge me.

Artist Statement
The sirens’ song: Everyone has their tragic flaw, and mine is my inner saboteurs. Sometimes I don’t see them and I would try to convince myself that they are my inspiration and they make me unique, but the fact is they are always toxic. In this self-portrait, I used blue tones and sad facial expressions to represent the negative impact of this on me. I used drag elements along with Rococo and 1950’s hair styles for inspiration.

Materials and processes …
Before making The siren’s song, I explored the theme by interviewing people in the drag community. I asked them how they felt both in drag and out of drag, and their struggles with their identity. Although I sketched the sculpture before I made it, a lot of ideas about colours and textures came out while I was making the artwork. I sculpted the artwork with White-Raku clay and hollowed it when it was leather hard. I glazed and fired the sculpture three times to make sure I was happy with the colours and the combination of glossy and matt glazes.

Starting points and influences …
While making The siren’s song, I was inspired by the talented drag artists in my community, and their stories became the starting points for my artwork. I got a lot of inspiration from my drag character. She leads me to think about the theme of people’s inner worlds. The colour palette in this artwork was inspired by an Italian pot in my teacher’s photo album.

Favourite artist …
My favorite artist is Frida Kahlo. There are a lot of artists I admire, but Kahlo’s artwork personally appeals to me most. She was intelligent and was brave enough to reveal her struggles, having experienced so much pain and happiness in life.

Future plans …
I do not have a clear plan for 2020. I will study fine art for sure, but I might study in Melbourne or London. I will also focus more on my drag career and I would like to try some art forms that I have never done before, such as video art. My goal is to combine fine art with drag, because drag for me is not just an art form but also an identity of who I want to be as a person.

Ideas behind the work …
In Fast forward I explore the theme of childhood growth. I wanted to depict how children want to ‘fast forward’ their lives quickly, rather than living in the moment. The child is in adult clothing, an oversized dress with pearls and bracelets, to symbolise that she wants to become an adult. The painting is distorted using glitchy strips to demonstrate the digital and fast-forwarding theme of the piece. The resin over the artwork emphasises that the child is inside the television, an imaginary world where she wants to become an adult.

Materials and processes …
I began the process by taking a photograph of the scene, and edited it in Adobe Photoshop to create the look of the glitch strips to use as a guide. From the television that I pulled apart, I took out a thick plastic board to form the base of my painting and painted onto the board using oil paint. I used masking tape to make sure the edges remained as straight as possible, and then poured a thin layer of resin over the painting to enhance the idea that it was inside the television. The painting was then framed inside the disassembled television frame, the smooth surface and true to life size of the boards allowed for a realistic painting which fit perfectly. s remained as straight as possible, and then poured a thin layer of resin over the painting to enhance the idea that it was inside the television. The painting was then framed inside the disassembled television frame and the smooth surface and true to life size of the boards allowed for a realistic painting which fit perfectly.
Pulling apart and putting back together the television was the most challenging aspect of creating my artwork. It was difficult to figure out how I was going to fit the painting inside and what materials I could use to enhance the digital aspect of the piece. The challenge has helped me to be more confident in using new materials and not just sticking to oil on canvas.

Starting points and influences …
I am inspired by hyper-realistic paintings which include subtle abstract and surreal ideas and symbols. A book called Disrupted Realism by John Seed inspired me to challenge and reshape the tradition of realism. Colin Chillag inspired me to think outside the box, his artwork is incredibly realistic but also includes features that are surreal, creating a contrast between realism and abstract. I have done this in my artwork by using brightly coloured backgrounds and including symbols and ideas that are far from realistic such as a child ‘fast forwarding’ her own life. The starting point of my idea of using televisions in my artwork came from the artist Ken Oishi who paints directly onto TV screens that are working.
The idea of wanting to grow up but also wanting to remain a child influenced my theme of childhood growth. I had written that I was eager to become an adult in my childhood diaries and I also found pictures of myself dressing up in my parent’s clothes. I began to research and survey children and adults to see if they would rather be an adult or a child. One of my favourite songs Don’t Throw Out My Legos by the band AJR talks about how the band wants to move out but doesn’t want to move on or throw away their old toys.

Favourite artist …
My favourite artist is Jan Nelson, known for her hyper-realistic and brightly coloured paintings. I love how she exaggerates her subjects by painting them in unrealistic clothing and accessories. Her brightly coloured and distinctive backgrounds inspired me to think about ways to challenge realism and create a painting that combines both abstraction and realism.

Future plans …
Next year I hope to study fine art and communication design. As I have always had a passion for art, I know that it will be part of my future. I would love to become an artist and spend my life making my own artwork, challenging conventions and expressing my opinions on societal issues and ideas.

Artist Statement
In Pillow talk, I wanted to explore the complexity in human emotions and to demonstrate that people are always fluctuating between emotions. To do this, I explored the balance between happiness and sadness. In our daily lives, most people are unable to truly unleash their emotions when interacting with others. Growing up, it is increasingly found that adults’ emotions are internalised and need to be self-digested, and everybody has a different way of dealing with their problems. For me personally, I like to use sweet fantasies to balance the unsatisfactory things in real life, and the bed has become the best choice for me to transform my emotions. I chose to revolve my project around a bed, as it is the place where the most rumination takes place and where people are at their most vulnerable. Many people discuss thinking very dark thoughts in the middle of the night when they are unable to contain them anymore and yet, the bed also represents a place of comfort and sweet dreams.

Materials and processes …
For Pillow talk, I collected old pillows from others and sewed them onto the tent. I also collected audio recordings where other people repeat words that have hurt them. I then edited the audio and played the recordings on speakers hidden in the pillows

Starting points and influences …
For Pillow talk, I was inspired by contemporary artists, especially Ma Qiusha, and their use of found objects to make sculptures and communicate their ideas. Found objects could communicate the messages within the artwork to the audience by themselves. As a starting point, I found that the quality of my sleep and my dreams affected my mood during the day.

Favourite artist …
My favorite artist is Frida Kahlo. There are a lot of artists I admire, but Kahlo’s artwork personally appeals to me most. She was intelligent and was brave enough to reveal her struggles, having experienced so much pain and happiness in life.

Future plans …
I do not have a clear plan for 2020. I will study fine art for sure, but I might study in Melbourne or London. I will also focus more on my drag career and I would like to try some art forms that I have never done before, such as video art. My goal is to combine fine art with drag, because drag for me is not just an art form but also an identity of who I want to be as a person.

Ideas behind the work …
This work explores the idea of confinement and reflects some of the different ways in which confinement can be experienced. The painting shows my Aunt’s Father who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. This artwork reflects how Alzheimer’s sufferers feel imprisoned, transforming their bodies from something familiar to cages of confusion. I showed confinement through body language and by limiting the subject’s expression to lost, scared and confused. Complex lines drip multi-directionally from the subject’s flesh to mirror the complicated nature of Alzheimer’s.

Starting points and influences …
The theme of confinement was inspired by my observations of mental imprisonment, particularly Alzheimer’s. I observed human interactions, how emotions are formed, and what effect these emotions have on body language and behaviour. I used the photos I took as my primary influence and inspiration, aiming to capture the intimate body language and authentic emotions which best represented the idea of confinement.
I am always discovering contemporary artists on social media and find videos of people using a variety of materials, techniques and processes inspiring. On Instagram, Oil painter Denis Sarazhin provides photographs of close ups and behind the scenes clips of his creative process. His figurative style and intimate aesthetic quality inspires me to create artwork.I also communicated with my family and learnt more about Alzheimer’s, memory, loss and identity. By spending time with my Aunts’ father in the nursing home, I was confronted with the reality of Alzheimer’s including the extreme effects it has on loved ones and how devastating the illness is. This year gave me the opportunity to see the world from a new perspective, and for that I’m grateful.

Favourite artist …
Ben Quilty taught me the effect painting can have on human emotion, and its ability to gain empathy from an audience. Quilty’s thick impasto style is so unique and easily identifiable. I admire that Quilty strayed from the norm of a traditional realistic painting style and created a style of his own. Quilty’s emotion is evident throughout each and every one of his artworks, amplified by his use of scale. I wish to have a career much like Quilty’s and I admire him as an artist and a person who hopes to convey his own emotions to audiences and allow them to see the world as he sees it.

Future plans …
I intend to continue creating imagery and hope to study fine arts at University. When I paint, I am content, but I feel like my paintings are naive. Being surrounded by like-minded people at University has the potential to push my talent and help me to grow as an artist. I wish to share my creativity with the world and allow others to see the issues that I draw upon from an empathetic perspective. I’ve always loved art and I hope that I can discover more about what the art world has in store for me in 2020.

Ideas behind the work …
Free showbags! expresses the intersection between political icon and celebrity through the exploration of traditional propaganda methods in conjunction with the contemporary demographic. The performative work seeks to approach topics of mass manipulation and advertising through a humorous and engaging presentation, maintaining the core value of advertising: audience amusement.

Materials and processes …
Free showbags! consists of a 30-minute performance of the distribution to the public of 150 tote bags – containing Zara Kimber merchandise, to the public. Each bag is branded with the official Zara Kimber logo  and contains Zara Kimber merchandise including a Zara Kimber badge, collectable photo print, business card, sticker, and a bottle opener. I used Photoshop to heavily edit my image and create the Zara Kimber propaganda logo that adorns all of the merchandise. The outsourced tote bags were initially plain, however I applied my logo using photo transfer paper. I created three variants of ‘collectable’ photo prints using Photoshop to edit my face onto free stock images, and further printed each design 50 times onto photo paper using a laser printer. The badge design was created using Photoshop, and later a badge press to create each badge. To produce the bottle openers, stickers and business cards, I utilised online sites specialising in the mass-production of customised merchandise to design and order the items. I also created a ‘professional’ email address, employing the website’s automated response feature to provide ‘fans’ with a ‘sincere’ reply.

I enjoyed orchestrating a performance work and I loved how this allowed me to adopt an alter ego of sorts. It’s a pretty fantastic feeling walking into a room to be greeted by adoring fans. I think that the work in performance was the most interesting and enjoyable part of the experience. I could get used to the celebrity/supreme leader lifestyle!

Inspirations and influences …
I do like to study history and completed VCE Revolutions in year 11, which provided a huge inspiration to me in my investigations of propaganda. I am particularly allured by the aesthetics of Chinese revolutionary works which, differing to popular Russian propaganda, focuses on evoking feelings of awe and bliss as opposed to fear and anger. I am particularly inspired by Mao Zedong’s rather extreme propaganda efforts, with his idyllic image being repeated to assert a sort of Orwellian dominance. I wanted to unite these older propaganda techniques with that of the world around me and furthermore sought inspiration around Melbourne. It’s here that I found a love for Clive Palmer’s campaign ads in early 2019, and even a bizarre advertising effort in which a friend of mine received a ‘free’ fortune cookie with a ‘fortune’ that aided the reach of a political agenda.

Favourite artist …
My favourite artist at the moment is Darren Sylvester. I love Sylvester’s processes and approach towards art and I am really aligned with his view of the artificial not being negative. While he may not seem to be a visual artist, I have to mention my love for PSY. You probably know PSY from his viral hit ‘Gangnam Style’. I admire PSY’s stage presence and exaggerated performance persona, and in terms of performance artwork I find him to be an inspiring individual. He’s actually pretty good!

Future plans …
Funnily enough, I am planning to study advertising at a tertiary level in 2020. Art will most definitely always be a part of my life, it always has been! While it probably will not be my primary focus as a career, I would like to maintain an art practice in conjunction with my other ventures due to the freedom and personal expression it offers. My art will feed into everything I do however, I don’t think every occupation is looking for my ability to praise myself as a supreme leader. Maybe I should go into politics?

Ideas behind the work …
Succulent cake explores the ideas around tricking the senses to create an overall appreciation of their sensory perceptions. I designed a cake to look like a pot of succulents and I used the subject matter of nature as I believe it is a massive natural stimulator. The viewer should think they know what it is based on its visual appearance. Then use their sense of smell to notice the sweet aroma and question their sense of sight, before finally enjoying the taste of cake.

Materials and processes …
For Succulent cake I made real edible cake batter and baked two large cakes. I then halved them with a serrated knife, cut out a circle from the centre of two layers, and filled it with crushed biscuits and lolly snakes to resemble dirt and worms. Then I applied a simple syrup to ensure the cake stays moist, and then layered the cake with homemade vanilla buttercream and applied a crumb coat to avoid any crumbs shining through the final layer of icing. Before I applied the outer coat of icing, I carved out a ‘crack’ in the cake from the top to a third way down the cake with a pairing knife. The final outside layer of icing was dyed grey using black food dye, then applied. To create different shaped succulents in all different colours and sizes on top, I mixed up lots of different coloured food dyes into bowls of icing and applied it using different piping tips. Once I had piped on all the succulents, I used some crushed-up chocolate biscuits to use as ‘dirt’ on top of and around the cake. I was interested in how I could make the cake look realistic by using different piping tips to make the succulents look real and experimenting with food dyes to create an almost dirty effect with muted colours.

Starting points and influences …
I am inspired the artist Rebecca Louise Law. Her amazing flower installation artworks are so beautiful and brings a different point of view to nature. I admire Yolanda Gampp’s ability to transform any cake into realistic looking objects. Her youtube channel ‘How To Cake It’ helped me to develop technique and research the correct methods and materials. Various Instagram pages which I came across for cake decorating also helped me to aspire to create something big and out of the ordinary, and to view cake decorating as its own art form.
My brother is deaf in one ear and has a cleft lip and palate which influenced me to explore how all the senses work harmoniously with each other, or the determinants if one or more are compromised. To develop my idea of making a cake, I did lots of social experiments with people to see if removing a sense would affect another sense, such as the impact that removing smell or sight has on taste and enjoyment of food. This led me to want to create something which tasted good but that masked its appearance so people would feel more wary about what they were willing to eat.

Favourite artist …
My favourite artist is Yayoi Kusama. I admire her ability to turn her personal trauma into incredible artworks which highlight mental health issues. Her installations provide insight into her brain as you are immersed in rooms of repetition that mimic her childhood hallucinations. These large installations are a sensory experience which can be both calming and overpowering. This inspired my theme as I wanted to create an interactive artwork that stimulated the senses. I love that she never does any drafts, what she creates is all the first attempt. Personally, I am a perfectionist and usually I have to make sure everything is right before I start, but with my cake I flowed with my own creativity similarly to Kusama’s practice.

Future plans …
In 2020 I want to continue my passion for both food and art to learn about food styling. I am planning on studying short courses at RMIT including food styling, food photography and social media. Then I will hopefully acquire an internship with a magazine to see behind the scenes and broaden my knowledge, whilst building up my instagram page as my portfolio.

Ideas behind the work …
Roots explores the theme of cultural transmission, focusing on the importance of family bonds for passing cultural traditions and identity from one generation to the next. The animation draws imagery from my childhood memories with my family. It features hand-drawn frames of my mother having a conversation in the car with me and washing my hair while telling Chinese folk tales, as well as my father in China (his homeland). These important memories shaped my understanding and perception of my cultural identity as a second-generation Chinese-Australian immigrant.

Materials and processes …
Roots is a charcoal animation. I took progressive images with a DSLR camera and drew the keyframes of the animation with willow charcoal. The images were then pieced together as a video in a stop-motion style with Adobe After Effects. I also created a simple, ambient soundtrack on GarageBand featuring layered recordings of my family talking over dinner to evoke a sense of intimacy and retrospection. My process was inspired by William Kentridge’s animation technique, which helped me to understand how adding to and altering the drawing could generate movement and progression in the animation.

Animation was new and unfamiliar to me so I needed to research and talk with teachers to understand the program. It was interesting to explore how to use Adobe After Effects to edit and combine the still images to form an animation. Incorporating traditional charcoal drawing with contemporary digital technology means my drawings are presented in a new and interesting way.

Starting points and influences …
My experiences as a second-generation Chinese-Australian immigrant and the issue of racism and discrimination in our society were the starting point for the ideas explored in my work, and also informed the development of my visual language.
Studying the works and practices of contemporary and historical visual artists helped me to experiment with and improve my own practice. Contemporary Chinese artist Sun Xun showed me how traditional elements of Chinese art can be transformed using contemporary technology to take on new meaning, which was something I took inspiration from while creating my own artwork. I was also influenced by contemporary artists Badiucao and Sam Harrison, who use art to initiate a public dialogue and uncover underlying issues in our society. Badiucao’s political cartoons expose the truth of Chinese political issues and Harrison’s recent work addresses the mistreatment of asylum seekers in Australian detention centres. Researching their works, and others in gallery visits, motivated me to create an artwork that elicits a reaction from the viewer.
Music also inspires me and I often listen to music while I create artwork to provide a background soundtrack of calmness and tranquillity. As a guitarist, I also love playing the songs of my favourite musicians.

Favourite artist …
My favourite artist is M.C. Escher. His mastery of relief, intaglio and planographic printmaking techniques inspires me to develop my printmaking skills. The fascinating optical illusions and visual paradoxes in many of Escher’s prints are mesmerising, and his dedication and attention to detail inspires me to continue to improve.

Future plans …
My plan for 2020 is to begin an Arts/Fine Art double degree at Monash University. Through my Arts degree, I plan to continue learning French and begin learning other languages. I’m sure that visual art will continue to play a significant role in my life not only in my university studies, but also in my personal life as art is one of my greatest passions and interests. In the future, I hope to use my artistic skills and inspirations in my career either by creating my own artwork or teaching art as an educator.

Ideas behind the work …
Fractured highlights the horrible devastation and inhumanity of war by showing how the Kosovo war impacted innocent people’s lives. The drawing serves a strong anti-war message, reminding contemporary audiences of the Kosovo War and the human suffering it caused just 20 years ago.
Once I had decided to create an artwork to highlight this conflict, the challenge was how to go about it in a respectful and meaningful way. I aimed to show the loss of life without being graphic or blunt, so the artwork depicts a destroyed home. The burnt marks, distorted poles and dilapidated ground create a desolated atmosphere and represents the doomed future of this family. The floating black and white family photos remind us of photos we have for funerals, suggesting the death of the family and implying victims’ complete lack of power and agency in a turbulent society. Home does not exist anymore when their place to live has been destroyed and their loved ones have died. I initially explored the relationship between ‘victors’ and the ‘losers’, but I came to realise that no one actually wins in war. This painting is an elegy to their death and the memories of the living.

Materials and processes …
This artwork is created on paper using watercolour and coloured pencil. I started with watercolour because its transparency and muted tones fits the war aesthetic. Using the water stain of watercolour, I created the mottled and peeling wall in the background to provide a base tone for the scene. I then added more detail using coloured pencil: texturising the ruins, emphasising focal points by rendering them a darker colour, and refining structures. The photos of families are drawn using black coloured pencil. Instead of adding detailed facial features, I blurred their faces to present them only as groups of families or forgotten names who once had peaceful and harmonious lives but now interrupted by war.
This is the first final that I have completed using watercolour, and I have only been practicing using it for 6 months. Being selective and deciding when to use either colored pencil or watercolour was a challenge.

Starting points and influences …
Taking inspiration from war poet Winfield Owen, who focused on loss instead of heroism in wars, I researched recent wars and conflicts. I started by looking at themes of war and memories. Fractured is inspired by the 1999 Kosovo war which caused millions of deaths in Serbia. During the Kosovo war, the region received 78 days of inhumane air raids by NATO, 1,500 Kosovar Albanians died and 40,000 innocent people were forced to leave their homeland. Their tragedies motivate me to warn people of the consequences of war. During my VCE art course, I investigated many artists from both historical and contemporary practices. Artists which stood out to me were Caravaggio, Goya, Shirin Neshat and Ray Beattie, who all depict violence, fear and war in different ways. Cai Guo-Qiang’s exhibition at the NGV also inspired me to pursue a career in visual art.

Favourite artist … 
My favourite artist is Yang Yongliang. Using digital manipulation, his photographs depict traditional Chinese landscape paintings with a contemporary perspective. While maintaining the classic composition and the foggy black-and-white aesthetic of the landscape, he adds movement and endows the scene with modern cities and cars to establish a connection with contemporary audiences.

Future plans …
I plan on continuing my art practice by studying a fine art course in 2020 and then pursuing a career as an artist. So far, I have been interviewed by MADA and VCA and I am looking forward to discussing my artwork with teachers at RMIT. I will develop my drawing and painting skills further at university, and I’m excited meet and study with other great artists.

Ideas behind the work …
My sculpture, The shuffler, expresses the message that the human body is its own work of art. I view wrinkles and lines in a face like a visual expression of someone’s life and identity, so I found the expression of the elderly form to be the most effective way of conveying my message. Age is something that we will all experience and the process of ageing is a different kind of beautiful. My sculpture depicts Mr Tak Wong, an 87-year-old man, who I’ve seen on his daily runs since I was a child. Originally from Hong Kong, Mr Tak Wong served in the Royal Hong Kong police force for most of his working career before moving to Australia. Mr Wong maintains a disciplined lifestyle whilst looking after his frail wife, his daily routine includes shopping at the market, supporting his grandchildren, walking in the morning and running in the evening, rain, hail or shine. Mr Tak Wong has been running around our neighbourhood, Hampton, for over 20 years.

Materials and processes …
Starting with a wire base, I made sure all the proportions were accurate in relation to the photo, by building up the frame with foil, bubble wrap and masking tape. Before sculpting, I drew the hands and face to see smaller details clearer. I then sculpted into the polymer clay using toothpicks and pins, placing thin strips of plastic between my tool and the clay. This avoided making harsh indents to create wrinkles and fine details, a technique inspired by Ron Mueck. To harden the sculpture, the piece was put into the oven for 20 minutes on 180 degrees. Final details of handmade clothes, strips of dog fur for hair, painting the shoes, and finally clear glue over the eyes and moisture around the nose gave the work a confronting realism.
I found the expression of the elderly form to be challenging, with key attention given to creating small details and wrinkles. Due to the small size of my sculpture, it is both striking and delicate, this created issues along the way with delicate materials breaking and minor accidental marks causing immense frustration and some small details needed to be changed.

Starting points and influences …
I was inspired to create a work that explored modern day beauty standards and the confronting nature of ‘socially abnormal’ bodies. My work helps the audience to consider the judgement people have when looking at another person’s body. Magazines such as Vogue, Girls Life and Men’s Health, encourage an unrealistic standard of beauty and suppress expression of the elderly form. The concept of ageing is further expressed as undesirable and an unpleasant feature of the human body.
My love of colour, shape, form and accomplishing artworks are built on influences including creators such as Tim Burton and Patricia Piccinini, who introduced contemporary and thought provoking works to mass audiences. Film works such as The Nightmare before Christmas, ParaNorman and The Boxtrolls are masterpieces of animation which capture the imagination and entertain with their relatable characters who cleverly convey realistic emotions.

Favourite artist …
My main influence and favourite artist is Ron Mueck. Mueck’s work expresses the raw human form, and is an emotional snapshot of a person and their life. His hyper realistic depictions of the human form are both confrontational and breathtaking.

Future plans …
In 2020 I aim to improve my sculpting skills through my own personal work, and future work experience in the art industry. Beyond my passion to create, is the desire to join an industry where colour, design and interactive media offers every opportunity to explore the realms of animation and art forms across diverse channels of production.

Artist Statement
In my piece Infection, I wanted to explore the issue of anti-vaccination and its impact on society, particularly with the return of diseases such as measles. Despite being visibly ill, the children in my painting have carefree expressions and are absorbed by the screen in front of them and the wider world it connects them to. The artwork envisages how susceptible society will become to diseases in the future, without the use of vaccinations. I have used oil paint to create a hyper-realistic technique, to show how significant and real this issue is.

Materials and processes …
For Infection, I used oil paints on canvas board. The contrast between this traditional medium, and the contemporary issue I was portraying was interesting to me. The oil paints were effective in making my subject look realistic, demonstrating the reality of the issue. I used the technique of fat over lean, building up layers of oil paint from quite thin, to thick, in order to create a hyper-realistic effect.

Making the children look helplessly ill by the effects of their diseases, while simultaneously giving them happy and joyful expressions to show their indifference to it was quite a challenge. I needed to create a physically worn-down appearance, while maintaining a mental positivity. I resolved this by making their skin and body frail, yet with happy and uplifted faces.

Starting points and influences …
The post-apocalyptic themes in Martin Wittfooth and Peter Booth’s art inspired me to explore potential consequences of society’s actions, or inactions. The 1975’s song ‘Love It If We Made It’ also reminded me of the ‘anti-vaxx’ movement by talking about losing faith in humanity, and how modernity is spiraling downwards.

The 2009 film Coraline directed by Henry Selick has always been a huge inspiration for me, from the gloomy, eerie aesthetic, to the stylisation of the animation and characters, to the mysterious themes. Pop surrealism art also heavily inspires me, especially artists such as Mark Ryden and Nicoletta Ceccoli. The figures in their work have a doll-like appearance. Lana del Rey’s music additionally inspires me, as it has an individual poetic and creative energy that I feel when I listen to it.

Favourite artist …
Julia DeVille. I admire her values and the way she shows the fragility of life throughout her artworks by decorating and presenting taxidermy. She is an animal activist and vegan, and all of her animals have died of natural causes. She uses the controversy of her medium to bring awareness to current issues surrounding animal rights which is an amazing way to utilise her art for good.

Future plans …
My dream course, which I have attended an interview for, is the Bachelor of Fine Arts at RMIT. I plan to explore more issues through my art and develop a more consistent aesthetic. Art has always been a significant part of my life, and I think studying it and eventually pursuing a career in the arts will be fulfilling, as it is my true passion.

Ideas behind the work …
Harriet, presence is a representation of the intimate relationship I share with my younger sister Harriet, as well as a celebration of the parts of us that make us all wonderfully unique. I am a believer in the idea that we can know a lot about someone just from being in their presence. Thus, I created a series of panels to emulate the dynamic experience of perceiving another person.

Materials and processes …
Harriet, presence was created using oil paint on MDF canvas panels. Each painting began with an initial graphite sketch, most of the panels were drawn from life. The sketch is deliberately left visible to show the process of creating the work, and to also represent the foundations of my personal perspective. The colour palette was selected intuitively to reflect my sister’s personality, establishing her presence in the artwork. I selected more commonly hidden features such as the soles of the feet and the chest for the subject to suggest a sense of intimacy between myself and the subject.

I was challenged to practice restraint when creating my artworks as I tend to overwork portraits in the pursuit of perfection. This year I focused on capturing a sense of character, rather than a likeness. This meant that working quickly from life was advantageous as I was forced to overlook minute details.

Starting points and influences …
The starting point for my final artworks involved exploring the widest possible range of subject matter associated with my theme. I carried a little sketchbook with me for a couple months and created life sketches of a variety of people including strangers on public transport, friends at parties, and self-portraits. I am inspired by the idea that each person gives off a sense of energy which is unique to them. I particularly notice this energy when I am travelling or surrounded by unfamiliar faces, and find it fascinating to imagine each stranger’s story. By experimenting with subjects, I determined that my portraits of those I am closest to are the most captivating because I could express the sense of their character which is familiar to me.

Favourite artist …
Jenny Saville has influenced my work heavily this year. I admire how she captures her subjects in states of vulnerability and brings them to life with textured depictions of flesh.

Future plans …
I am taking a gap year in 2020 which will involve a lot of painting and travelling. I hope that art will continue to heighten my appreciation for the beautiful world around me.

Ideas behind the work …
The Patriarchy Punishers focuses on issues of gender inequality and feminism. With characters inspired by activists like Malala Yousafzai, Amelia Earhart and Lizzo, fighting against the antagonist of a Harvey Weinstein inspired vulture, a narrative of empowered women rebelling against male oppression and female expectations is being told. Other issues like the gender pay gap are symbolically included through subject matter like the split earth in the background.
The Uni Diverse Command promotes diversity through the vehicle of a space, superhero team comprised of members inspired by popular figures such as Shonda Rhimes and Zendaya. The antagonist in this comic is an alien based on Donald Trump. The struggle between both parties is representative of current racial struggles occurring all over the world, particularly in the United States.

The LGBTeam focuses on equality for LGBTQI people as they are featured spray painting The White House rainbow. Within this group of superheroes are activists like Brendon Urie, Antoni Porowski and Hayley Kiyoko. Bursting through the walls of The White House is a serpent-like creature with the head of Fred Phelps on it. The tension between the serpent and the superheroes illustrates the constant struggle for queer people to feel equal in a hetero-normative world.

Materials and processes …
The same materials were used for each piece of my three-part series, including Copic Ciao markers, pencil and waterproof fineliners of varying sizes on hot press paper. Something I found challenging about creating my artwork was deciding on an appropriate style for the messages I wanted to communicate. In the conceptual stages, I found my style to be rigid and non-expressive. I spent lots of time refining my inking and drawing style to make my figures look more legitimate and characteristic. I wanted my style to look fun and expressive when creating satirical undertones in the artwork, as the themes were quite serious.

Starting points and influences …
I am influenced by the aesthetic qualities of pop culture and visuals from the 80s and 90s. I also find music to be inspirational, as it helps me visualise the mood I hope to manifest.While creating my final studio art product I was inspired by artists like Panic! At the Disco and Girl in Red. Activism and social justice is also incredibly inspiring to me and I think it is so important to use art as a vehicle for communicating serious, insurmountable messages in an engaging and palatable way.

The initial idea for this artwork was to combine two things that I was interested in into one artwork: comic book art and socio-political issues. The reason I wanted to use socio-political issues as my most prominent theme was to send a message of hope to people who may be feeling oppressed by social norms. As someone who sees first-hand the corrosive effects of inequality, I felt that I needed to make a statement of unity and positivity.

Favourite artist …
Though I have many favourite artists including Faile, Keith Haring and Jess Johnson, the work of Frank Miller was a prominent source of inspiration in the artwork I made during this year in Studio Arts. The comic book Wolverine Vol. 1 (1982) which was pencilled by Frank Miller helped inform my own style and allowed me to consider many things I hadn’t considered before, including non-conventional composition and strong line work.

Future plans …
In 2020, I plan to take a gap year to work and experience the world. As I would eventually like to pursue a career in the arts, I know that life experience and my own understanding of the world is crucial to informing my craft. Art has always been a part of my life, and I know it will become a larger role now that have more time to focus exclusively on it. I would also like to use this time to explore art forms and mediums, and work on various projects such as a photography series.

Ideas behind the work …
Corner of melancholy showcases the depiction of nostalgic landscapes, such as beachscapes and cloudscapes to highlight the key theme of landscape aesthetics. Each of the three landscape paintings are loosely composed and distorted through the application of stippled oil paint to comment on the recall of past memories and nostalgia. Detailing the two aesthetic qualities of nostalgia and melancholy, I often left the landscapes incomplete, expressing the ideas of how a past memory is hard to fully reconstruct. The mildly muted colours offer the understanding of nostalgic emotions through this pastel appearance to imply a calming and sombre aesthetic.

Materials and processes …
Within Corner of melancholy, I used oil paint on wood panel to create three landscape works. In the production of this work, I applied my mixed oil colours from dark to light to achieve a sense of form and dimension within the artworks. This is particularly clear within the cloudscape panel of my work, where tonal variation serves as the main foundation for achieving a cloud-like effect. Additionally, using multiple dark and light tones with a smaller, finer brush allowed me to create a more realistic, refined visualisation of the landscape.

While creating this piece it was interesting to see how my nostalgia unfolded through the depiction of visually distorted landscapes. The visuals themselves were not specifically the interesting part of creating the work, but rather the identification that these elements of sombre colours and incomplete landscapes represent my own subjective view of nostalgia.

Starting points and influences …
The starting point for my work was the process of collecting multiple landscape photographs which would serve as personal inspirations for the work itself. By going back to Sydney and taking photos of my childhood beach, I was able to see the form and composition of the beach landscape. This was needed in order to achieve the final design of the artwork which reflects my childhood.

Favourite artist …
It is hard to pinpoint just one artist that inspires me, although Joseph Zbukvic, a Melbourne based watercolour painter who paints the city through a poetic hand, has to be my main inspiration. His compositions have an amazing depiction of light and tone, which creates both a welcoming and melancholy mood.

Future Plans …
I will continue to work on my art process in the future and I hope to achieve a stable career in art if possible.

Ideas behind the work …
In Impression I wanted to focus on expressing the idea of mental and emotional duality. Through the tactile and more exposed medium of drawing, and the omission of colour from the work, I emphasised the rawness of emotion through line quality and tonality; accentuating the physical movements required to create the work, and hence strengthening the connection between self, medium, and the viewer. The darkness of the eyes symbolises the true internal complexities and struggles people endure, while the external mask of the face can be fleeting and changing. Similarly, the shadowy presence of the motion blur represents a personal feeling of internal dissociation, and a tendency to distance myself from others.

Processes …
Many of my artworks from this year incorporated or took inspiration from my exploration of long exposure photography. I enjoyed the process of finding ways to translate the digital effects of motion blur visually in different media. Exploring this idea through many trials including oil painting and drawing, I feel my own style was able to blend with these visuals to create something entirely new. I found it extremely interesting visually incorporating the contemporary elements of time and movement, while trying to find a balance between tonality, layering and translucency in various mediums.

Starting points and influences …
Things that inspire me tend to come from all kinds of places, mostly everyday experiences, people and emotions. I am greatly inspired by music, and the feeling it creates as I feel it is similar to art. Both are trying to capture messages and emotions through sensory experiences. I like to prioritise feeling above everything else in the works I create. I try to capture a certain atmosphere, personal emotion or quality that can be complicated to describe but can be expressed visually instead.
When considering my overall concept, I drew on things that have always sparked inspiration for me, and looked at artworks and artists I found moving, to decipher what is was that drew me to them.
Most of the works I produced this year tended to be personal and hold significant meaning for myself, however I also wanted to create something that could still be ambiguous and open to interpretation for the viewer. I wanted my works to have more than one meaning and be able to change with the perspective and subjectivity of whoever is viewing it. This led me to focusing on the idea of duality, which I defined as ‘within and without’. I felt this captured both a contrast between two opposing forces, reflecting both the light and dark I saw in the world around me, and ultimately equilibrium.

Favourite artist …
One of my favourite artists is HULA (Sean Yoro), a Hawaiian born contemporary painter who is known for his mural and environmental installation works. I greatly admire how his artwork relates physically and emotionally to its environment, using surroundings such as light or water to tell a story in conjunction with nature. His works also require a great deal of physical strength and endurance, which I find incredibly inspiring. His approach to testing the limits of nature and the elements creates artwork that is both captivating, moving, and brings to light issues of sustainability and the environment.

Future plans …
In 2020, I’m hoping to study fine art, and further pursue my creative interests at university. I think that no matter what direction I end up going in, art will always be a part of who I am and will play a vital role in my life. I feel that art and creative thinking is essential in our everyday lives, and I hope to continue to challenge myself in thinking about ideas and the world around me and create artwork that resonates with people.

Ideas behind the work …
Untitled (facade) resulted from an exploration of my concept of duality, and the physical and mental expression of the self. The strong contrast between the consuming surroundings and bright lighting of the figure creates a strong chiaroscuro effect and suggests that both light and dark are intertwined and exist within the portrait, and therefore the self. I wanted to subvert the traditional expectations of oil portraiture, by incorporating the more contemporary element of movement into the work through the long exposure. The motion blur of the hand subtly implies that the image of the self is merely temporary, changing and fronted by an ambiguous facade that often hides the internal. While the work holds personal meaning, I also wanted to ensure a sense of ambiguity in my art, to enable viewers to place their own meaning within the work as well.

Processes …
Many of my artworks from this year incorporated or took inspiration from my exploration of long exposure photography. I enjoyed the process of finding ways to translate the digital effects of motion blur visually in different media. Exploring this idea through many trials including oil painting and drawing, I feel my own style was able to blend with these visuals to create something entirely new. I found it extremely interesting visually incorporating the contemporary elements of time and movement, while trying to find a balance between tonality, layering and translucency in various mediums.

Starting points and influences …
Things that inspire me tend to come from all kinds of places, mostly everyday experiences, people and emotions. I am greatly inspired by music, and the feeling it creates as I feel it is similar to art. Both are trying to capture messages and emotions through sensory experiences. I like to prioritise feeling above everything else in the works I create. I try to capture a certain atmosphere, personal emotion or quality that can be complicated to describe but can be expressed visually instead.
When considering my overall concept, I drew on things that have always sparked inspiration for me, and looked at artworks and artists I found moving, to decipher what is was that drew me to them.
Most of the works I produced this year tended to be personal and hold significant meaning for myself, however I also wanted to create something that could still be ambiguous and open to interpretation for the viewer. I wanted my works to have more than one meaning and be able to change with the perspective and subjectivity of whoever is viewing it. This led me to focusing on the idea of duality, which I defined as ‘within and without’. I felt this captured both a contrast between two opposing forces, reflecting both the light and dark I saw in the world around me, and ultimately equilibrium.

Favourite artist …
One of my favourite artists is HULA (Sean Yoro), a Hawaiian born contemporary painter who is known for his mural and environmental installation works. I greatly admire how his artwork relates physically and emotionally to its environment, using surroundings such as light or water to tell a story in conjunction with nature. His works also require a great deal of physical strength and endurance, which I find incredibly inspiring. His approach to testing the limits of nature and the elements creates artwork that is both captivating, moving, and brings to light issues of sustainability and the environment.

Future plans …
In 2020, I’m hoping to study fine art, and further pursue my creative interests at university. I think that no matter what direction I end up going in, art will always be a part of who I am and will play a vital role in my life. I feel that art and creative thinking is essential in our everyday lives, and I hope to continue to challenge myself in thinking about ideas and the world around me and create artwork that resonates with people.

Ideas behind the work …
Catholicism has permeated my life since the day I could comprehend the thought of an omnipotent power existing. There is a certain dissonance between myself and my relationship with the Catholic religion. Whilst it has provided me strength in times where I craved it most – it has simultaneously caused me immense anguish through the conflict it has the ability to erupt. It is the catalyst for mass debate and schism in today’s culture, and schism within myself. I have fought and still fight wars with my faith; I want to be proud of who I am – yet contemporary Catholicism preaches otherwise. I am blessed to lead the life I do – I recognise that I am privileged. If God does exist, he has certainly blessed me now – but why does it feel as though I have been abandoned in times where I felt I had lost at all costs. Perhaps I am predisposed and am not worthy of the Lord’s affection. But it is said that God loves all of his children. These juxtaposing thoughts are ultimately what inspired me to create this piece.

Processes and challenges …
Despite knowing exactly what concept I intended to explore within this piece, I found it challenging to portray because the ideas were so close to me. It was also difficult to create this piece because it is the most intimate artwork I have created. To say I was apprehensive about being so honest within this piece is an understatement. Although, it was exactly this process of manifesting my raw experience and emotion into a piece which also made it so interesting to create.

Starting points and influences …
I found myself most influenced by the subtle nuances of everyday life. The subtleties of walking into a room that is attributed to a specific ambience can trigger a sense of nostalgia or cause you to reminisce on something you had forgotten that you missed so greatly. It’s the melody of your favourite song, the cadence in the voice of a loved one. These are the subtle idiosyncrasies that are so often forgotten or concealed, which propel me to create art that obtains the ability to remind you of life’s greatest gifts. It’s as if the contemporary person is so distracted by the bigger picture, that we often disregard the miniscule delights that occur along the way.

The initial aspects that influenced me to create this piece are certainly attributed to my experiences with lifelong Catholicism and belated self-discovery. Although I am only seventeen and self-discovery is inherently a part of teenage life, I feel that the ‘belated’ aspect of my self-discovery is measured by its relationship with Catholicism. These two aspects of my life are intrinsically contradictory and dichotomous, ultimately causing the suppression of my identity and therefore resulted in the beginning of my self-discovery occurring towards the end of my teenage years as opposed to earlier on. So, it is certainly this notion that essentially became the starting point in creating this artwork.

Favourite artist …
Miles Johnston. He is a relatively new artist, and although not overly popular within the contemporary art community in the grand scheme of things, he is certainly emerging to be a great artist. I have been a follower of his artwork since 2017 and his amalgamation of surrealist subject matters portrayed through a realist matter is truly admirable. His primary art processes consist of drawing and painting, which is what I intend to do during my artistic career.

Future plans …
In the extremely competitive art industry, I need further guidance from experienced artists to grasp what the contemporary art realm has to offer and I intend to seek this at university. As for the rest of my life, it’s still relatively early to tell what role art will certainly play. Though as of now, I intend on pursuing a career as an artist who has regular exhibitions and sells artwork. Albeit, this won’t happen overnight and certainly will not be easy – but art is my passion and I suppose I won’t truly be ‘working’ if what I’m doing is what I love. So, in the meantime I will continue making art, finish university and perhaps work as an art journalist or critic.

Ideas behind the work …
Kisha 1 explores the theme of mental health. Faces are often associated with mental health because of the connection between emotion and facial expressions so I tried to portray good mental health behind a seemingly relaxed or straight façade. The work challenges the assumption that an empty facial expression means that someone is anything but happy, as someone would expect a person’s face to show a direct connection to their emotion. I used colour to directly contrast the blank facial expression, using warm tones and vibrant colour to reflect the contentment she felt internally even though the blank facial expression could be interpreted as a bad mood.
I chose to work on a large scale because of how important the theme of mental health is around year 12. We should be focusing on it throughout high school to create awareness and help kids understand that what they are going through is normal and to diminish the stigma around it.

Materials and processes …
I used oils and precise layering to create intense detail and I worked in sections with the smallest paintbrush I could find. Starting with base colours and tones, I created more dimension and detail over time until I was satisfied with the outcome.
I had never attempted a portrait of this scale and I discovered that if I spent a lot of time and effort on one project, I could create something I had never imagined making. The whole process was an exciting challenge for me because as I completed more of the painting, I could see how my skills were developing.

Starting points and influences …
My first inspiration for doing oil portraits were time-lapse videos on YouTube of artists doing amazing life-like portraits. Daria Callie makes the process seem so achievable on her channel, so I went out and bought a set of paints and started to paint. I have always loved drawing and only recently discovered that I can do realism. I started with just graphite and it took a long time to properly be able to sketch something the way it looks and not the way I saw it.

Favourite artist …
I admire Chuck Close and his artworks are something that I want to be able to match. It is inspiring that he has faced so many life changing problems and still continues to paint.

Future plans …
I want to study fine arts at university. I hope that I can develop my own style and hopefully even have a career in art.

Ideas behind the work …
Androgyny displays a narrative of evolving and complex gender identity of today’s youth, as well as a personal look into my own identity as an artist. The image features traditionally feminine and masculine colours in harmony such as pink, blue and red. In my practice, I use colour to enrich the meanings and messages. The use of colour in this particular work demonstrates a divergence from traditional masculinity. Makeup has been used to accentuate the femininity in the face and add a decorative feel, including gems which connect to the glamour of traditional femininity.

Materials and processes …
For Androgyny, I utilised a Nikon Camera to capture high definition photos so that I could print them on a larger scale (size A0 or A1) to create impact and shock in the viewer. I applied makeup as a medium, using contouring and highlighting techniques to manipulate light and shadows.
The most interesting part of creating Androgyny was the discussions I would have with others throughout the process. Everybody had a different perspective and created their own narrative based on the images. While I was fascinated by the wide variety of responses I received from my peers, parents and teachers, it also meant I found it difficult to stay original and true to my own vision.

Starting points and influences …
I started the process by looking at the human body and other people. Celebrities such as Troye Sivan and David Bowie inspire me aesthetically. Their androgynous looks, use of bold colour and proud self-expression are iconic and timeless. But as my studio process progressed, I found that the more I shifted the focus towards me, the more introspective I could be as an artist. This was inspired by Rob Tennent on Instagram because he focuses on himself as subject matter. The person I know the best is myself, and I think that translates through my photography. As I became more confident with my work, I experimented more with colour as a way of projecting meaning.

Favourite artist …
I admire Egon Schiele because he wasn’t afraid of critics’ opinions. He created art that pleased him and that reflected his inner thoughts and feelings. His artwork was a window into his mind, and I appreciated that he was so open and allowed others to step into his psyche.

Future plans …
Art will forever play a role in my life because I find it therapeutic to express myself in visual ways. Moving forward, I am planning on attending an RMIT design course and will focus on communication design.

Ideas behind the work …
Portraits of nature aims to show the beauty of natural objects which are not always admired, such as leaves found on the ground. These natural objects are captured with the use of studio lighting, reflecting the techniques used in human studio portraiture.

Inspirations and influences …
The natural environment inspires me and through living in the outer suburbs of Melbourne, I am in the outdoors constantly. Through my sport of Mountain biking I travel to some amazing places and I often notice that some of the most beautiful and interesting objects are around us all the time, and we don’t even take the time to realise and admire them.

Favourite artist …
Ansel Adams would be an inspirational artist for me, as he also has a great love of the outdoors and his landscapes show the scale of beauty that surrounds us.

Future plans …
I am undecided about what I’d like to do next year but I plan on exploring lots of different pathways to come to terms with what I’d like to do in the future. I also plan on travelling racing mountain bikes. Taking photographs will always be a part of my journey, so that I can relive my memories and show others the beauty of nature.

Ideas behind the work …
An index of childhood memories, anger and intervention examines ingrained racism, anger, childhood and innocence to racism. In this work I explored innocence to racism through the depiction of childhood memories. I have juxtaposed these memories of an age when I was untouched by racism, with depictions of my own experiences with racism throughout my life, and the anger and rage I feel about what is happening in this world.
I placed copies of the drawings around Melbourne for strangers to take home. I purposely left the drawings poetic and cryptic, so that the stranger would not know the message behind each drawing.

Materials and processes …
I used a black fine-liner, a black calligraphy pen and grey lead on cardboard pieces. Before drawing the final cards, I drew a few designs in my folio, but I only did this for the first few of them, because I decided after that that I wanted the drawings to be spontaneous, uncensored, unplanned and a direct reflection of my thoughts and opinions. Because of that, I tried to draw exactly what I felt like without planning the designs or judging myself if the lines were messy or uneven.

Challenges …
I found it really challenging to find a way to present the original cards. I couldn’t think of a good way to display them. Luckily, I found the set of drawers on hard rubbish which were perfect for the size and quantity of the cards.
Another thing that was challenging was pursuing one idea and neglecting all the other ideas that I’d come up with. It was really hard to pick the right potential direction. I learnt how to draw freely without judging myself or worrying about neatness.

Inspirations …
I am inspired by protests and activism. Attending the school strikes has been empowering and educational. The strikes have made me understand my own activism which led me to exploring a political topic in my folio.

While making my piece, I listened to music from my childhood like Paul Kelly, Crowded House, Gurrumul, INXS and Yothu Yindi. I like to think that listening to these artists while I worked may have helped conjure up some childhood memories in me which I ended up drawing.

Starting points and influences …
I originally wanted to create a sticker like the “Ne touche pas mon pote” sticker created by the French anti-racism association, SOS Racisme. This sticker went viral and inspired me to want to create an artwork which was interactive and carried a message that could circulate around Melbourne.

I was influenced by the aesthetic qualities of Minna Leunig’s work. Her drawings and prints are mostly monochromatic with a strong contrast in colours. I experimented with small stylised drawings on white paper with black fineliner, which morphed into the drawings on brown card.

Future plans …
Next year I will sell my artwork and do some courses and workshops in film and photography. I would also like to extend my cards project and put more cards around Melbourne so that people start to recognise my work and look out for cards when they are in the city. I don’t know exactly what I want to do in life, I do not have a particular career in mind, so I’m just going to do what I am interested in at the moment and build up my skills in art and film.

Ideas behind the work …
Architectonic arrangements explores architectural scenes being dissected into flat, simplistic and colourful shapes. Through exploring the theme of ‘structure,’ I wanted to convey modernistic architecture in a simplistic way, eradicating the complicated and often complex way that individuals tend to perceive the dynamic world around us. Emphasising the two-dimensional flatness of the canvas through a structured application of acrylic paint, I placed a three-dimensional prism into each separate canvas to allude to the illusion of form, whilst also providing a realistic form which interacts within the public space. The prisms themselves also act as structures, creating their own shadows and shapes in various coloured hues.

Materials and processes …
My final artwork consists of three wooden squares painted with acrylic wall paint, each with a prism made from laser cut wood. I decided to utilise the inherent characteristics of wall paint, as it allowed me to create a smooth and flat application, replicating its use in architecture as well as the structured application of paint. Using a sponge roller brush, I applied each layer of paint in a thought-out and consistent manner, aiming to perfect my lines and create an opaque ground. Using colour swatches, I carefully chose the colours I would use, aiming to create a transition of hues within each piece to emphasise the shadows created by architectural structures.

As a perfectionist, attempting to create an artwork that had to be neat and structured was at times frustrating. I would often go outside one of the lines, or a bit of paint would drip into a different coloured section, or I would rush and not clean my brushes properly. However, constructing my artwork in such a consistent and careful manner related to what I was exploring conceptually, and I did enjoy the satisfaction of peeling away a bit of tape which would then reveal a perfect line. This process ultimately taught me to be persistent and to not give up when something went slightly wrong. It was at times challenging, but seeing my finished artwork on the gallery wall, even with its tiny imperfections, was the most rewarding feeling.

Starting points and influences …
Architecture has always been something that has inspired me, as I am drawn to geometric shapes and arrangements. At the start of Year 12 I was a bit lost on what to choose as a theme, yet after lots of brainstorming, I decided to go with my artistic strengths, choosing structure, shape and space as my theme. I am inspired by many art movements, including Cubism, Pop-Art, Constructivism as well as Geometric Abstraction. Artists from these movements, such as Picasso, Warhol, Lichtenstein and Mondrian all inspired me in terms of subject matter and aesthetics. Mondrian’s use of colour and shape in a grid-like composition ultimately inspired my work, Architectonic arrangements, as the methodical way in which he constructed his work, resonates throughout my process. The artworks of Sol LeWitt also inspired me, as his artworks revolve mainly around their concise and structured process, often requiring galleries to install his paintings using a set of instructions. Approaching the development of an artwork as a process of constructing inspired me within my individual studio process.

Future plans …
I think that I am going to take a year off and travel, as I want to explore the world and meet new people, hopefully travelling around South America and Europe. However, art will always be the backbone of my future as I wish to study visual art at university. Education is another passion of mine which I might like to pursue in the future, and perhaps my love of art will be able to inspire young kids and adults to explore and pursue their own artistic journey. Although my future plans are not set in stone, I am open minded about where life will take me, yet I know that I will always have art to help guide the way.

Ideas behind the work …
Patchwork, explores my personal perception of myself. My idea in creating this work was to create a self-portrait that showed myself as someone pieced together from different parts.

Materials and processes …
I used collage and painting techniques to create layers of collage on see-through acetate sheets. I then created high resolution scans of each layer, and digitally manipulated each scan to line up in position to form my face.

Starting points and influences …
I’m inspired by a huge variety of things. Films with vivid effects, animation, and indie and alternative music visually inspire me. Lately, I’ve been interested in virtual reality and art made using VR. Thematically, I’m inspired by dreaming, the subconscious, and the complexity of the human mind.  Salvadore Dali’s art was a thematic inspiration for my artwork. I found the ideas in Surrealism influential and fascinating, but my personal artistic style was more influenced by modern digital art. I was curious about combining traditional and digital techniques in my art.

Favourite artist …
My favourite artist changes quickly, as I find new artists who I admire and am inspired by. Currently, I like the art of Hannah Höch, a female Dada artist.

Future plans …
Ideally, I’d love to study animation. I think I’d like to become a concept artist for films and video games. Art will always be a valuable part of my life, whether or not I end up in a creative career. It is important to me that I maintain some form of artistic practice throughout my life.

Ideas behind the work …
Circles and circles and circles and cirices and circles n circlesxm an circlkes demonstrates the duplicated cycle between two transitioning sources, sheep and humans. Both share the cycle of birth, life and death. This is reflected through the production process of yarn; after wool is obtained from sheep it is spun in circular motions to form a circular ball of wool yarn, then bound in circular motions to form a circular shape (cylinder), which is arranged into a form (such as a garment) made up of circular interconnections. The work functions both as a sculptural wall piece and garment, the absences allow for variations in ways it can be worn.

Materials and processes …
Circles and circles and circles and cirices and circles n circlesxm an circlkes is constructed by binding yarn around scrap fabric to form ropes. Off cuts from a trial were used as a reference to create the base shape, the circles became the absence spaces in the form. The rest of the form was arranged through the method of automatism, where I had no plan and my intuition takes the direction.

Starting points and influences …
My physical surroundings heavily influenced my work as I often collaborate with the land to create texture or marks, or use natural materials like hair, soil, animal faeces etc. Patterns in nature brought me to the idea of the circle, which embodies so much historically, conceptually, visually and culturally. A circle has relevance to everything!
Throughout my development, I used consistent methods to generate work. I don’t work with an outcome in mind, rather I build upon a source which is usually discovered through my exploration such as a new material, concept, image or often as an accidental occurrence. I then rely on my intuition to take full direction, hence a reference to automatism in my work.

Favourite artist …
I don’t have a number one favourite but some of my favourites are David Ostrowski, Mark Rothko, and Cy Twombly, for their amazing mark-making, energy and texture. I love the use of colour, arrangement and layering by textile artists such as Emma Zhang, Sarah CrowEST and Oscar Murillo.

Future plans …
I have applied for a Bachelor of Fashion Design at RMIT. My interest in the relationship between textiles, sculpture, performance, garments, and the body means I am interested in translating my art practice into fashion.

Ideas behind the work …
My printmaking series Place, scrutinises an individual’s personal identity by exploring where they feel their most comfortable, safe, and assured – in short, where is, and where do they feel, their ‘place.’ Place can be a tangible location, a physical place one can label as their own such as their home – which in this series is represented as a classic suburban Australian home. It can also be intangible – an overwhelming feeling or emotion gained from being in one’s home, being with another person, or enacting a task that ignites a feeling of validation.

Starting points and influences …
What initially made me choose printmaking was when my class first explored the medium in Year 10. I adored the complicated process and the final appearances of the work – how each print varied from the next. I loved that changing the amount of ink or water, or the type of paper, altered the mood and appearance of each print – proving to be inspiring, exciting, and (sometimes) frustrating. Since then I explored printmaking every year and all the different facets and processes involved. By Year 12, I had accumulated a range of influences from printmaking artists like Jacques Moiroud, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, MC Escher and Tim Jones.

Favourite artist …
Mary Cassatt. I adore her vibrant and emotional use of colour, her impressionistic and soft brushstrokes and, of course, her portraiture. I love how she so clearly conveys the tender and powerful relationship between mother and child through her compositions of their close proximity. Holistically, I adore the overarching peacefulness that is expressed in her work and how she so perfectly captures the serenity of those little moments in life.

Future plans …
Next year I hope to continue making art and trying new artistic mediums and compositions. I am aiming to study media and design at university and I am also interested in learning to utilise my artistic skills in the workplace. I know that I will continue to create art for the rest of my life as it is one of my greatest passions.

Ideas behind the work …
Through the personal imagery of my hand, Holding life illustrates the innate connection that we humans feel towards water. In this painting, water is characterised as the giver of life, upholding an almost maternal relationship with my hand, as it intimately fills the spaces between my fingers, whilst keeping it afloat on the water’s surface. It plays on the idea that humans are completely dependent on water. Not only do we wash, drink and bathe in it, but our bodies themselves consist of three-quarters water.

Water encompasses an extraordinary beauty which fails to be noticed in other sources of nature. Water is clear, transparent, and glass-like. It dances with light and creates patterns with its movements. Through my artwork, I wanted to not only demonstrate water’s nurturing features, but its beauty and aesthetic qualities as well.

Inspirations and influences …
I am inspired by my own personal encounters with water, and explorations into the nature of water. I am heavily influenced by the different beaches I regularly visit along the west-side of Melbourne, and I also love taking photographs of the waves crashing at places such as Torquay, Anglesea and Great Ocean Road. I also visit places such as Altona Beach and Geelong Eastern Beach for a more up-close experience of water and to observe how light reflects and refracts along the surface of the clear, more shallow water.

Starting points …
The starting point was visiting the Gold Coast for the holidays, where I was exposed to so many large, clear bodies of water. As it was summertime, the water appeared to be sparkling with the glistening light, and I fell in love with the interactions of water with its surrounding environment. During the trip, I documented a lot of different types of water including ponds, lakes, beaches and aquariums and I collated mood boards and albums of these water pictures. Once I had gotten back from my trip, I created sketches of each of these scenes to determine whether water was my desired subject matter.

Favourite artist …
My favorite artist is currently Lena Danya, an oil painter who primarily focuses on the theme of water in her artworks. I love the aesthetic quality of her paintings, and how serene and tranquil they make me feel. Her works are realistic, yet stylistically soft and blended which somehow causes me to feel warm and intimate with her works, as if they are sending me an invitation to view them. Although her works are tonal, and gradational, the inexplicable attention to detail and minute refinements are evident through her creation of reflections and movement in the water, which from afar, enables the artwork to look photorealistic. I admire these aspects of her paintings and hope to emulate a similar feeling amongst viewers with my own representation of water in Holding life.

Future plans …
At this stage, I plan to attend university within the health/science field, as I’d like to work hard to become a doctor one day. Art will always play an important part in my life and I plan on adopting it as a business as well as a regular hobby next year. I have already created an art page on social media, and I am in the process of developing a clientele, with commissions. Hopefully I can launch into a somewhat-artistic career next year, whilst following my dreams in the medical field.

Ideas behind the work …
Inspired by the ideology of the Surrealist art movement which was interested in the liberation and appreciation of subconscious thoughts, my collaged print A body, 2019, aims to generate discomfort and abhorrence through its grotesque imagery and disfigurement. This was manifested through the female figure, with distortion being a reference to beauty in imperfections. The most disturbing quality of the lino print may be the confrontation experienced by the viewer with a life-size form, who is objectified by removing the face and personality. As my concept evolved, the imagery provided a commentary about the judgemental and restrictive culture of the twenty-first century, which champions a refined and sanitised aesthetic, tending to shun strange ideas.

Challenges … 
Over the past few years, I have always been highly critical of myself throughout the creative process, due to perfectionism and fears of making mistakes on my artwork. This heavily influenced me to explore the ideas of automatism and spontaneous applications of materials, as a way to combat my overly perfectionist nature. Fighting against this learned attribute was the most difficult aspect of the studio process, proving it highly challenging to abstain from conscious refinement when generating subject matter. Despite this being difficult, it was ultimately beneficial for my approach to creating art as it became more authentic and free flowing, as opposed to rigid and generic.

Starting Points …
With no intent of investigating Surrealism as a part of my 2019 studio process, I stumbled across Jan Svankmajer on Vimeo, a surrealist filmmaker from the Czech Republic. I was hypnotised and extremely fascinated with his stop-motion films, as they managed to deconstruct all forms of rationality and perfectionism while still appearing highly technical and refined. His films are characterised by a disturbing atmosphere that springs from a particular use of everyday and common objects in unexpected ways. His creativity and originality was eye-opening, and invited me to further investigate Surrealism as an art movement, along with other surrealist artists. I began to read André Breton’s Surrealist Manifesto and began to learn of the concepts which aimed to liberate subconscious thoughts amongst a society which was rigid and uncreative in its social conventions. This resonated with me through the beautiful meanderings of imagery seen in the art of Surrealists, as I experience the same frustration of being confined to rigid social conventions through my own life. After further research, I decided I was going to display the gore and grotesque nature of subconscious thoughts through the manipulation and distortion of the female body, much like Hans Bellmer did.

Favourite artist …
My favourite artist is Marina Abramovic, an admiration which was sparked through reading her memoir, ‘Walk through Walls’. The title of her novel is indicative of her conduct as, not only an artist, but a woman in a militant, oppressive, Yugoslavic society, as she employed an outrageous level of discipline to make the impossible, possible. Despite her traumas and hardships during her childhood and early adult life, her recounts never display a tone of complaint or victimhood, nor come across as self-aggrandising when describing her achievements. My most favourite performance piece by Abramovic is ‘Rhythm 0’, which invited members of the modern society to unleash their primitive instincts which have been suffocated by social mores, through using her body as a medium. As honest as it is brave, the stoicism displayed by Abramovic during ‘Rhythm 0’ through her humiliation and physical pain is what I admire most. Abramovic inspires me as an artist through her daring dedication to the taboo medium of performance art, managing to push her body beyond its own limits due to her mental stamina. Yet more importantly, Abramovic’s conduct inspires me as a person, as she never compromised her will to succeed due to her admirable level of determination and perseverance.

Future plans …
During 2020, I will be taking a gap year between high school and the continuation of my studies, in which I will be working and travelling. Particularly, I want to explore the cultures of Russia, Germany, Italy and France, along with revisiting my own Vietnamese culture alongside my Mum and Grandma. As they fled the Communist regime during the Vietnam War in the 1970’s, my Mum has avoided revisiting Saigon (now named Ho Chi Minh City) after its fall in 1975. Hopefully next year, my Mum and I can confront and overcome the history of Vietnam, to reconnect with her nationality.

While I aim to primarily study in the field of politics and international relations, art will always play a part in my future, as it promotes innovative and abstract ways of thinking which will assist in any career path I decide to pursue. Recreationally, I will be visiting gallery spaces, attending local gigs, large scale music concerts and underground spaces as a way of extending my creativity and to meet new, interesting people. I also wish to study art history as a minor in university, as learning the trajectory of art ideologies often retells a reflection of how social conventions and beliefs have shifted and evolved over time.

Ideas behind the work …
In End of the road, I explore my personal connection to time and place and the symbolic journeys we take in life. My artwork focuses on the journey many of us have had or are currently experiencing, that being our journey through school. End of the road shows not only the darkened tunnel, but also the exciting world of possibility beyond ‘the tunnel’.

Materials and processes …
End of the road is comprised of 23 individual spray-painted, hand-cut paper stencils. To create the final composition, I first created a collection of hand drawn illustrations matching the style and aesthetic of vintage national park posters. The hand drawn illustrations were then compiled and collaged in Photoshop. By introducing a hand-drawn, handmade process into the composition, the work has an intimate human quality full of imperfections and stylization, making the final composition unique and unreproducible. The composition was separated into different stencil layers and each layer was then printed onto card paper and cut using a X-ACTO knife. Using reference marks, each of the 23 layers was then aligned and sprayed using low pressure matte spray paint onto primed canvas.
The most challenging element of painting the work was having to align each of the 23 layers. I only had one shot with aligning each layer and the more layers I painted, the risk of making an irreversible error increased. While the element of risk was certainly a challenge, it was also an aspect of creating this work that was interesting to me.

Inspiration …
Visual storytelling is something that interests me. Whether it be in the cinematography of film or the illustrations in a graphic novel, I am fascinated by seeing someone else’s vision and story the way they intended. Some of my favourite films include Blade Runner 2049, Mad Max Fury Road and Isle of Dogs. I enjoy listening to modern American folk music and connect to the storytelling of personal journeys and self-acceptance in the lyrics.

Starting points and influences …
American Artist Gregory Manchess was a significant influence on my artistic process, particularly his mentality that “It’s important to see the artist’s mark on the piece”. This inspired and influenced my decision to create the entire composition by hand with markers before converting the layers into stencils, giving the finished piece a human touch and unique artistic style. I was also inspired and influenced by vintage American national park posters as they capture a romanticised image of the best qualities of a place and do so with simplistic shapes and limited colours.

Future plans …
In 2020 I plan to study fine art at university with a view to pursuing a career as an artist. I also want to take the lessons I have learnt as an artist and apply them to teaching later, to teach others the power art can have and its importance in our daily lives.

Ideas behind the work …
The theme behind Eye Make Change is the deceptive concept of change which can be seen in every aspect of life. The work draws on the idea that nothing can be done without creating change and the prospect of doing ‘nothing’ doesn’t exist. Therefore, everything must constantly be changing through a process of disintegration or layering in some manner. The prints are arranged by categorising tones to depict a set of human eyes, reflecting on our perceptions of change and how we often view it in a broadened or simplified sense.

Materials and processes …
I began the process by printing a blank small rectangular plastic printing plate onto Magnani paper using ink with a traditional printing press. I then used a small piece of sandpaper to randomly scrape across the surface of the printing plate and then repeated the printing process. I completed this routine over 200 times, watching as the prints would all look slightly different. Each one was darker than the previous print due to the addition of the sandpaper’s random lines and once completed, I had a tonal series with changes in tone ranging from a completely black print to a completely ink-infested print. I stacked the prints into consecutive tonal order and then arranged them to create an image of a set of eyes using the prints as blocks of tone to depict this picture.
The most interesting part of the process was studying the concept of change and the challenge of finding a way to translate my fascination with constant change and the act of doing ‘nothing’ into the visual language of my artwork. I was also interested in the slightly different result achieved in each print and found it fascinating to be able to see a visible difference between them, even though I had only created minimal change by adding random lines with sandpaper.

Ideas and influences …
My starting point was a desire to create a conceptually-driven work which would reflect our limited perception of change. I wanted to demonstrate the infinite and constant changes which occur around us and our inability to never not change or evolve. These ideas along with my passion for philosophy and redundant habit of spiraled deep thinking, created the foundations of my work. Almost all of my ideas and inspirations occurred during my 45 minute walk to school where I would ponder and question my observations, using what I saw as stimulus for philosophical theories and questions, some of which ended up forming the concept of my final artwork.

Disintegration loops are loops of sound that are slowly decomposed until nothing but silence can be heard. I experimented with this idea and also the reverse process (beginning with nothing and layering more and more items), by translating the sound loops into printmaking. The layered sound is referenced with the layering of random line. Another key influence to my work was my personal motto ‘open your eyes’, which relates to how we can only ever have a perceived idea of change as well as using the subject matter of a pair of eyes as the basis for the pixelated image of blocks.

Favourite artist …
The list of my favourite artists is never-ending, however recently I have been particularly interested in Zadok Ben-David. His art is exquisite and skillfully crafted with heavily detailed aluminium cut-outs. His work is intricate and fragile, and the silhouettes Ben-David is able to produce through these cut-outs are so expressive. His use of appropriation and combination of subject matter makes his works highly exciting and innovative. Ben-David subtly comments on societal issues such as the natural world, human actions and equality. These messages are not advertised but can be interpreted by the viewer through his vast landscapes, purposefully yet gently taking the audience on a journey of contemplative reflection. I admire the way he so smoothly combines meaningful topics with accessible and beautiful visual language.

Ideas behind the work …
Circle wearables is a collection of soft sculptures that function as a garment when activated by the body. I explored the idea of absence by removing sections of the object from itself, allowing the form of the object to become circular or un-circular, layered or to be worn as a garment. Circles are used in reference to the cycle of time, beginning and end, the egg, yin and yang, birth, life and death. The circle is infinite and in constant flux. Viewers are encouraged to wear them and engage in play by forming new circular relationships to the body and with the other sculptures. The use of hair parallels the connection between the body and the work.

Materials and processes …
Circle wearables were made from unbleached calico and stuffed with scrap fabric. I subconsciously selected the shape of the garments through automatism, I then cut into the fabric and sewed them together. The seams are raw to complement their irregular shapes. Some sculptures were sewn into another to create new relationships between other circles. Hairballs are arranged and attached to the sculptures to further emphasise the circle motif.
Even though I tried to separate my studio art and art themes as best as I could, there was an overlap and interrelationship of similar ideas between the two projects. I would have loved to combine elements of both to make a work. This made adhering to the VCE folio requirements challenging at times, as naturally I would not produce work through such linear methods.

Starting points and influences …
My physical surroundings heavily influenced my work as I often collaborate with the land to create texture or marks, or use natural materials like hair, soil, animal faeces etc. Patterns in nature brought me to the idea of the circle, which embodies so much historically, conceptually, visually and culturally. A circle has relevance to everything!
Throughout my development, I used consistent methods to generate work. I don’t work with an outcome in mind, rather I build upon a source which is usually discovered through my exploration such as a new material, concept, image or often as an accidental occurrence. I then rely on my intuition to take full direction, hence reference to automatism in my work.

Favourite artist …
I don’t have a number one favourite but some of my favourites are David Ostrowski, Mark Rothko, and Cy Twombly, for their amazing mark-making, energy and texture. I love the use of colour, arrangement and layering by textile artists such as Emma Zhang, Sarah CrowEST and Oscar Murillo.

Future plans …
I have applied for a Bachelor of Fashion Design at RMIT. My interest in the relationship between textiles, sculpture, performance, garments, and the body means I am interested in translating my art practice into fashion.

Ideas behind the work …
Anamnesis tells a story of sickness, family and emotions based on my Grandfather, Norman. He has acute Alzheimer’s and his condition has only worsened over the last 12 months. After spending an afternoon with him, it became apparent that not only does he not know my name, but he doesn’t remember anyone in our family, resulting in various struggles for my family. The main idea of my artwork centered on the realization I had about human deterioration, mortality and family. Observing the effects of Alzheimer’s showed that it affects not only the sufferer but impacts the whole family.
As a symbol of memory, my artwork comprises of three emotions on one face which aims to acknowledge the disease and its effects, while still emphasising his personality. My artwork focuses on his changes of emotions from being proud, blissful and sorrowful in a single conversation due to his loss of memory. Inspired by this, I set out to create a single artwork which highlighted all of these emotions. Authentically captured during our photoshoot, I found him transitioning from truly happy to a deep sense of worry and panic due to his memory.

Materials and processes …
After a photoshoot with my Grandfather, I merged and blended the photos of his face into a composition that would engage and confuse the viewer using Photoshop. The artwork needed to clearly show several different emotions and an alternative array of moods which my Grandfather has, due to his memory loss.
Once created in Photoshop, I began sketching onto paper using graphite pencils. I chose this medium because it symbolises conventionalism, reflecting my Grandfather’s personality. Firstly, I shaded the face, including all the highlights and shadows. This created a realistic and detailed portrait of my Grandfather with three faces. On top of this, I added thousands of small, intricate downward lines (20 hours of intricate lines). These lines created an implied texture and was intended to show age and imperfections in his face and in-turn, his personality. Using light tan paper as my background allowed me to use white pencil later in the process to create highlights, enhancing the personality in his eyes.

Starting points and influences …
I was largely inspired by observing the way that my family interact with each other. My Grandfather’s condition is constantly talked about in my family, so I wanted to create an artwork that illustrated the battles that he is going through and the effect it has on our family. Explaining Alzheimer’s proved to be a difficult task within my family, and I was adamant on visually depicting what the disease is like. Additionally, I find inspiration by going to galleries such as the NGV as I love to explore the exhibitions and soak in a variety of styles to create an open mind.

Favourite artist …
My favorite artist is Ben Quilty. His artwork contains so much emotion and movement created by his techniques and processes. Often based on personal experiences, Quilty explores similar subject matter to my work such as friends and family. His ability to use a wide array of non-traditional portrait colours inspires me.

Future plans …
Looking forward to 2020, I plan on studying business marketing at university in Melbourne. While this is not a conventional path towards an artistic future, I will make sure that art has a role in my life. I would love to continue to enhance my skills in art by working in an art studio in 2020. I think there can be a crossover between business and art which is something I wish to explore.

Ideas behind the work …
Untitled is an exploration of the human psyche and the human touch on nature. I am interested in how the mind can seamlessly fluctuate between elation and depression; and a landscape can be transformed from being immaculate and untouched into a dystopian playground for the wealthy. The transition from clean etchings to a collaged, chaotic and dense cityscape is intended to represent these ideas. The obvious concept to explore was climate change and commercialisation of nature, however I wanted to push that notion further and convey what it means to be human; an individual as well as part of a collective who is capable of a great range of emotions and behaviours.

Materials and processes …
I chose to use both etching and collage in my final piece as it combines traditional and contemporary forms of art-making and reflects the ideas I wanted to convey. The piece consists of 4 etchings with monotype skies and a section of collaged cityscape; creating one panoramic landscape.

I used photos I took while travelling through the Balkans and France as reference images for my etchings. Using acetate sheets for the dry-point etchings, I placed the reference image underneath so as to be able to accurately depict the images, leaving a section along the top of the plate for sky. The printing process involved inking all four plates then applying ink to the sky sections and rubbing ink away to intimate clouds, then printing all four plates at once. The collage section consists photographs of Sarajevo, Bosnia – also taken by me – with various figures and buildings collaged in to enforce the notion of human misuse of the landscape. I wanted to evoke a sense of continuity and time elapsed with the fluctuation of the mountain range.

Inspiration …
I find music heavily inspires me as it has the ability to create different mental states which I can reflect in my work. Most of all, it is being out in nature which inspires my etchings and collages as I am able to see and experience the landscape and the feelings it evokes and translate that into something tangible.

Starting points and influences …
I have always loved the intricacy of collage and etching and I knew this would be what I would focus on. The two opposing yet intertwined landscapes – mountain and city – and the mediums of etching and collage were my starting points and my process would be about how these two ideas and mediums would interact. I was primarily influenced by the photographs of Ansel Adams who captured natural landscapes that were free from human touch, with incredible clarity, depth and turbulent emotion.

Favourite artist …
Neo-conceptual artist Jenny Holzer’s use of text as imagery (the Truisms series) is of constant intrigue to me. Her use of language as art to discuss the politics of discourse with meta reflective post-modernist statements about statements, are thought-provoking catalysts for change if correctly interpreted and carried on in society. I admire her work because though it lacks imagery, the one-line statements create conceptual narratives of our interaction with the world around us which resonates with me and my work.

Future plans …
In 2020 I plan on taking a gap year to work, travel and experience as much as possible before starting uni. VCE Art has opened my eyes to the multiple layers of meaning in most artworks and changed my way of thinking about little things in daily life. I hope to continue to visit galleries and find beauty and aesthetic qualities in the world around me and keep creating.

Ideas behind the work …
Sure thing explores the idea of nostalgia as a form of escape. I wanted to blur the line between fantasy and reality and bring the two worlds together, emulating the feeling one would encounter while going through this experience of escape. My animation demonstrates my own experience of escape, however a viewer could also put themselves into the artwork and feel a similar sense of nostalgia and escape as I do. This animation features a main character of sorts which I hope viewers can identify with, to further connect with the work.

Materials and processes …
The main animation technique in Sure thing was rotoscoping original filmed footage. Tracing over every frame from various video clips on my phone, I was able to capture realistic movements but animate them in a stylised manner. While repetitive, it was interesting to see the rotoscope process unfold as I worked on it. The variation in line wasn’t apparent as I was filling in each frame, however when played together as an animation the small wobbles and imperfections in the line work added charm to the artwork and gave it a more dynamic atmosphere which ended up aiding the aesthetic that I wanted to create in my animation.

While assembling the animated scenes in Adobe Premiere Pro, I recorded music to accompany the animation in real time on GarageBand. Watching the animation play in front of me, I used my phone to record a simple atmospheric track played on a built-in synthesizer, then imported the audio from my phone into Premiere Pro.

Inspirations …
My main inspirations come from music and film. I enjoy listening to a particular song or album and using them as inspiration while doodling visualisations before developing them into a final piece. If I have a bigger, more dynamic idea, I tend to imagine the song as an accompaniment to a film scene. I begin visualising what would need to be done on set (set design, camera movements) as well as what would be added post-production (colour grading, cutting techniques between different shots). The compositions, colour choices and editing of my short videos, is also influenced by films from directors like Wes Anderson and Edgar Wright.

Starting Points and influences …
The three main influences in my artwork reflect my changing interests from the end of 2018 to the start of 2019. I was in awe at the way the cinematography in Frank Miller’s Sin City mirrored the graphic novel of the same title; each shot in the film was parallel to an illustration in the novel. This is what sparked my idea to blend reality and fantasy together; creating a scene that looks like reality yet carries stylised elements that would not be true to life. From here, I began looking at the composition of vaporwave art, focusing particularly on Joshua Keeny and Kim Laughton’s work and how they arrange their subject matter. Their works also have a dream-like atmosphere to them, something that I wanted to convey in my work. My biggest influence for my finals was Eizin Suzuki and his uplifting prints depicting holiday life. The delicate, detailed line work and lively colours featured in his prints was the missing piece I needed for inspiration in my artworks.

Favourite artist …
Moxie Saturday is one of my favourite contemporary artists as their works depict so much raw emotion through the loose line work, bold colours and detail. I am amazed at how effectively they convey such feelings and emotions and I love the bright colours and strong imagery in their artworks. Their art is truly one of a kind and I admire the amount of work they put into being a freelance artist; something that I can only dream of being.

Future plans …
Being one of my passions, I hope to have a career in art or visual design in the future. In 2020 I aim to continue developing my style and refining my animation and painting skills, while also seeking more opportunities to exhibit my work to the public. I would like to attend more local art festival events and begin working on a zine or two to publish in the near future, along with connecting and collaborating with other artists.

Ideas behind the work …
Feeling out of place can at times be surreal and unnatural. We can often get caught up in a need for a sense of belonging without considering the liberating ripple effect that being one’s self can have. In Prosperity my subject matter is dressed in all white, a blank canvas, someone unsure of their identity. The subject is facing and embracing the darkness and accepting the idea of being themselves. The metal sphere is an unnatural reflection of reality and is absent from the rippled water reflection to show disparity between the ball and the real world. Being your true self can induce a ripple effect on your life and those around you and the ripples in the artwork are symbolic of this concept. While subtle and indirect, the ideas and meanings are personal to my experiences and this how I chose to visually represent those emotions.

Materials and processes …
The composition consists of a 20x55cm MDF board primed with multiple layers and strokes of acrylic gesso to improve the preservation of the work in future. Using a mixture of Photoshop and sketches, I drafted a number of scenes using images which I had captured on a beach with my subject matter and a large metal reflective orb. My aim was to get a realistic result from oil paints so I used multiple glazing layers with different mediums and mixed a range of tones, and evaluated against my reference material.
I told my mate (the subject) to simply run around the beach and have fun, from this I captured the reference image used to paint this work. Finding the time of day to shoot was especially challenging as I aimed to get a balance of cool and warm tones from the ocean and sunset.

Starting points and influences …
My ideas derived from personal experiences such as a foreign exchange I undertook a few years ago where I had felt disconnected from my peers. The feelings were unnatural so I chose to render my artwork in a surreal way to reflect that.

Favourite artist …
Julia Ciccarone has been an artist I’ve admired from a young age. She is a family friend and also a mentor to me and my projects. Her paintings have such depth and detail that tell intriguing stories. Her work inspires me to push the limits of what I think I can do and to create deep meaningful connections to the artwork.

Future plans …
In the coming year I hope to study architecture or some form of design course. No matter which path I choose to follow, I’ll always know I’ll have art and painting to do in my spare time.

Ideas behind the work …
If you prick us, do we not bleed? is a pen drawing on paper portraying one of Shakespeare’s most complex characters, Shylock, from ‘The Merchant of Venice’. I decided to produce a solitary portrait of Shylock the Jewish moneylender to bring emphasis to his story. I found his soliloquy to be the most impactful of Shakespeare’s characters, and that audiences today could empathise with him. After having been subjected to the mistreatment of the Venetian Christians and betrayed by his own daughter, Shylock makes a plea to common humanity. Whilst his first statement “if you prick us, do we not bleed?” Is a declaration that we are fundamentally human, he later uses this logic to justify, “if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?”. Aesthetically, I want to evoke the fascination of viewers, and have my subject’s raw, unleashed emotion almost confront my audience. I believe I have achieved my intent on capturing the intense emotion felt by this character in this scene. Shylock is such an interesting Shakespearean villain because he is a symbol of pain turned into vengeance.

Interests and challenges …
What was most interesting about the work was how I could explore the elements and principles of art using only a black pen. I wanted texture and tone to be the more prominent elements. However, line is the main art element used in my portrait, as many small lines, both soft and sharp, are used to create the form and tone. The lines allowed me to create details and realistic textures to the hair and skin. The repetition of line creates a sense of harmony over the villain’s face, as they follow similar directions over the same form in unity. These art principles were utilised to create a resolved artwork.

What I found most challenging was approaching the delicate subject matter, as it concerns themes of antisemitism and discrimination. I wanted to reflect Shakespeare’s controversial villain in a light conveying both his pain and his anger. Viewers may find his intense expression indistinguishable as the sorrow of a victim of racial prejudice, or the wrath of a wronged Venetian moneylender. My audience may reflect upon the strong expression across his features through their own lens concerning discrimination or vengeance and may feel sympathetic.

Inspiration and influences …
I am inspired by theatre and literature and this led me to feature a Shakespearean character in my artwork. I enjoyed studying ‘The Merchant of Venice’, and believed that Shylock’s heavy plight, and complex character qualities was something that needed to be delved into deeper. I watched a live performance of another Shakespearean play; Twelfth Night, and was hugely inspired by the actors’ performances and really moved by the story.

Future plans …
My plans for 2020 are open. I want to become a full-time artist, and hope to create acquaintances and connections in the arts industry that could help me in my career pursuits. I am taking a gap year, and plan on volunteering at art galleries and tutoring art to gain knowledge and experience. I also want to find some casual work, so that I may save up in order to travel to Europe later in the year.

Ideas behind the work …
I originally met Murrundindi when he spoke about his Aboriginal culture at school. Working within my theme of portraiture, I wanted to focus on the interesting lines and tones of Murrundindi’s skin. I created a life-size work to capture his presence and dedicated much of the canvas space to his beautiful, possum skin cloak that his tribe the Wurundjeri people wear from birth to death and beyond, to show respect to the traditions and customs of the owners of the land we walk upon.

Materials and processes …
I used oil on canvas as oil paint allows subtlety of tone and provides a fresh, lively appeal to the flesh. I began with reference photos of Murrundindi that I took myself, then drew this on to canvas and began with underpaintings. I developed the soft, warm tones of the skin over the base colours, working from large brushes and refining with smaller ones. For the cloak, I mixed many tones of brown and applied them over large brush strokes using a fan brush to achieve the soft and life-like appeal of the possum fur. I finished with the hands and titanium white sleeves, using the same tones as the face.

Inspirations …
I have always loved visiting art galleries and reading art magazines and books on artists. A few of my favourite artists are Jenny Saville, Lucian Freud, Francis Bacon and Frida Kahlo and they inspired much of my exploration and interest in painting as a medium. I also want to study medicine and have always been engrossed in biology, particularly the human body. This has led me to my exploration of the human face and the possibilities of portraiture as well as the different ways a person can be presented to evoke different responses.

Future plans …
I want to study medicine at university however, I could not live without painting and I want to keep this as a dominant element in my life. To me, painting has always been a release and I intend to continue it in unison with medicine as I believe science and art can be brought together. I also want to use my knowledge of the body to help further my painting, as Da Vinci did.

Ideas behind the work …
In this portrait of my sister, I wanted to explore how parents in the twenty-first century seem to be preoccupied about the safety of their children. I decided to limit the sensory perception of my sister in order to demonstrate how children are restricted by their parents. For instance, I covered my sister’s hands with gloves, in order to suggest that parents are concerned about what their child touches. In doing so, I wanted to highlight that children in modern society have lost the ability to be curious and have imagination.

Challenges …
The hardest thing for me was applying the first brush stroke for each painting. After I overcame this hurdle, it was then a matter of controlling myself to not put in every detail during the early stages of my paintings. However, I found that after each painting I became much more confident in my process.

Inspiration …
I get my inspiration from various sources, but I am inspired by going to antique stores or op shops as there are quirky and unique things that you can’t find in common stores. Whether it be a piece of clothing or an old car, I get ideas from op shops and something will always come to mind.
For this artwork, I began by reflecting on my own childhood and observing the way my younger sister and cousins live their lives. From there I was able to come up with my artwork concept.

Favourite artist …
Whilst there are so many artists that inspire me, I would say that Caravaggio has had the most influence on me. I admire his painting process and the way he composes his paintings in order to tell a story. I find his use of chiaroscuro and his attention to detail to be beautiful.

Future plans …
In 2020, I plan to study architecture at RMIT University or at Monash University, Caulfield. Art will play a major role in my life as I am passionate about painting and have a strong desire to continue this passion in the future. It will be a way for me to further express my creativity in a different way.

Ideas behind the work …
Tubularis acrobatics is a video work that references Bruce Nauman’s video art explorations into movement and Oskar Schlemmer and @vanillajellabas abstract costume designs. The artwork is an absurdist theatre-like performance where the costumed characters and performers interact with each other’s movement. Working with this idea of movement, the intention was for the video work to depict the transition of incorporeal chaos into a physical space, with a central focus on meaningless repetition. The performers undergo incredibly repetitive, circular and meaningless tasks using their bodies’ movement as the driving force. My video comprises three scenes that are all inextricably connected through their composition and placement in space. Each scene builds on the first and by the end, the composition is reminiscent of the studied placement of figures in Greek or Renaissance painting. Each action taking place is building up an abstract world where the performers are seemingly trapped in their own meaningless existences, completing repetitive tasks that have thus created their existence, an idea created by Albert Camus in the ‘Myth of Sisyphus’. The scenes are further tied together with the jarring sound of a drumbeat, evoking a sense of urgent discomfort that never ends in a climax and is looped to begin the repetitive cycle again.

Materials and processes …
I began by sketching (and plotting in time) three different scenes of performers interacting with each other. These sketches included their costumes, composition and placement and ideas for the overall aesthetic. From the sketches I began creating costumes. The first costume I made was heavily inspired by Oskar Schlemmer’s ‘Triadisches Ballett’ costumes, where surrealist abstract forms were made into physical objects to be worn by performers. My eggplant costume was created with bent cane and muslin, held together with hot glue and duct tape. The Tubularis mask was inspired by photographer Polly Borland and made by filling stockings with pillow fluff and then contorting them into a vaguely head shaped mask. I then recruited seven performers and had them each create their own costume from a collection of fabrics, props and garments I had curated. Allowing each performer the license to improvise their own costume from the materials I provided, gave distinct personalities to each performers’ presence. Once everyone was dressed, we roughed out the compositional framework and positioned each performer and assigned each person their particular repetitive task and the small circuit of space which they occupied. The drumbeat provided a heartbeat, or spinal column upon which the tasks were assembled in time.

Inspirations and influences …
I am inspired by and practice multiple creative outlets: art, music, film, theatre, dance and literature.  What these outlets have in common is a capacity to make me feel and respond to the look, sound or narrative. I am also interested in what happens when combining these different creative outlets. Fertility of ideas happens in the collision of mediums and I find a way to represent the same concept through different media. The works I want to make are collaborations between the different parts of my practice. Having those different practices and influences continuously enriches and extends my capacity as an artist.

At this point of my practice I begin with and am heavily inspired by ancient mythology; the stories from many cultures that this society I am a part of is built upon. An important part of connecting to people is through hearing and understanding their individual and collective stories. The stories I looked at in Greek mythology are specific while also having broader resonance. On a narrative level they are incredibly engaging, but they also have a universality in their meaning and importance that continues to make them relevant to the issues faced through the ages. You can keep reading and going back to those myths as a source of illumination and inspiration. Chaos today is largely the same sort of chaos humans have faced for our entire existence, with the same root causes, although the manifestations may be different.

Future plans …
In 2020 I plan to travel to Europe before starting an undergraduate fine art degree in Melbourne. I am interested in travelling to experience different history, culture and ways of doing things; and to utilise all opportunities to enrich my practice and pursue artmaking. Being immersed somewhere out of my comfort zone will have a positive benefit in expanding my ideas and experience and reference points to feed into my work. Art and making art is an important factor in my life and it is all I am interested in pursuing in the future. Studying fine art will propel me straight into creating work – I am excited purely for the learning as well as the constant production of work.

Ideas behind the work …
Throughout my childhood, the Australian idealisation of hyper-masculinity disrupted my ability to understand and express an authentic sense of self. My choices and behaviours became dictated by an obsessive need to reflect the idealised masculine image, weighing down how I appreciated and perceived who I was. These multilayered, motion blur images illustrate a complex multiplicity to ones’ identity and demonstrates a long established, psychological battle of attempting to appease a cultural ideal, consequently resulting in a deeply restricted expression of identity as a boy.

Materials and processes …
I used a 1930’s Voigtlander Bessa 2 folding camera with 120 mm black and white film. The camera is old, and is entirely manual, so this means that it doesn’t require you to rewind the film in order to take another photograph. Therefore, I was able to use this function to create triple exposures and with each exposure, I moved or stood slightly differently, forming a transparent quality to my body. I printed these images on a textured paper, cutting them down so that they had a 5mm border.

Starting points and influences …
A key starting point for my artwork was a family friend loaning me his camera. I attempted to use it in my own time but forgot to rewind the film and my photographs ended up being a layered mess. This ‘mess’ prompted me to consider how this layered quality could be used deliberately, providing an alternative to my otherwise typically traditional style of portraiture.

Many artists influenced my style and choice of materials and processes, including Francesca Woodman, Bill Hensen and Olivier Valsecchi. This allowed me to consider alternate approaches to better portray my ideas. Francesca Woodman’s use of motion blur to create ambiguity and animosity is quite prevalent in my work, as well as Bill Hensen’s darkly consumed portraiture.

Favourite artist …
My favourite artists are Francesca Woodman and Diane Arbus. Both Francesca Woodman and Diane Arbus question what it means to take a photograph, rather than purely using photography as a tool to portray ideas. They illustrate a relationship between a person and a camera and show how an observation of a still moment in time demonstrates a vastly complex insight into what a person cannot say, express or see.

Future plans …
I plan to attend university at the VCA to study photography, but also travel and step outside of my comfort zone of Melbourne. Photography will remain key to the documentation of my growing perceptions and views on the world and broader aspects of life that adulthood offers. It will remain something that reminds me of the person I am, grounding me and forming a backbone to my place in the world.

Ideas behind the work …
In Lost, the circles represent addiction and the power it can have over a person. The circles create a sense of pattern and unity, indicating how addiction is extremely repetitive and cyclical. I painted circles on my figure to elucidate how an addiction can subsume a person and take over their life. As my figure is camouflaged into the background, I aimed to exemplify how a person and their addiction can become ‘one’ as the most obvious element of their person’s identity.

I chose to present my final photographs in black and white to create a lifeless atmosphere, showing how an addiction can ‘take the colours out’ of life. The matte paper also creates a subdued and dull finish to insinuate how addiction is extremely monotonous and draining.

By manipulating the photographs, I allude to how reality is manipulated by an addiction. No one chooses to surrender their life to their drug of choice and lose everything because of it.  Addiction holds the power of manipulation and temptation over an addict, causing their thinking to be distorted from reality.

Starting points and influences …
I was immediately immersed by the hallucinatory and perceptual atmosphere of Annie Leibovitz’s photograph of Keith Haring. I liked how the concept of camouflage related to addiction but also to other contemporary ideas such as societal expectations to look and act in a particular manner. Personally, the camouflage reminded me of how many people, including myself at times, feel self-conscious to act and present ourselves in a certain way. Subsequently, we do things to conform, fit in and ‘camouflage’ ourselves within society. This correlates with addiction as addicts are often stigmatised and discriminated against.

Favourite artist …
I admire how Auguste Rodin wanted to discard the classical traditions of his contemporaries and instead create an innovative sculpture that, like Michelangelo’s, teemed with life. I admire his unorthodox approach and multiple styles. In ‘The Kiss’, for example, the polished marble surface and fine delicate shapes connect the forms in the embrace. In contrast to this delicate sculpting style, ‘The Burghers of Calais’ has its own rough and undefined surface, highlighting the agony and grief on the men’s faces.

Future plans …
I value law practitioners and judges because they help individuals, groups and organisations to further the public good. Subsequently, I can see studying for a law and commerce degree as a viable option in 2020. I would like to work towards becoming a useful member of society, where I will have the capability and capacity to assist others within the framework of the legal profession. However, I have always relied on art to creatively express myself and will continue to use art for emotional relief and may undertake an art degree in the future. Nevertheless, I know art will continue to be an extremely enjoyable activity.

Artist Statement
Where did you go? depicts a lone rowboat from a birds-eye view and uses colour and pattern to build meaning in the piece. On first look, the viewer can easily miss the whale silhouette and the questions evoked by the floating life preserver. Upon closer study of the painting, the empty boat causes viewers to question “Where did they go?” and to search for the occupant of the boat. I’ve tried to explore feelings of isolation and loneliness in this open ocean environment, and to create unity between the colour, boat, whale and water.

Surprises …
The most interesting thing about creating this piece was the way ideas and concepts developed as it came together. The whale disappearing into the work wasn’t completely intentional, and as I showed people the finished work, they would say they loved it, and then seconds later exclaim, “there’s a whale!” This was such a fascinating thing to watch as people discovered the depth and different layers in of the work.

Starting Points and Influences …
At the start of the year I attended a workshop where the artist who taught it focused on fish and the workshop inspired me to take this theme further. My idea came from lots of exploration into this theme and I also took inspiration from artists I admire on social media platforms.

Favourite artist …
My favourite artist has always been Vincent Van Gogh and I have admired his work for many years. While it may not be easy to recognise this influence in my work as my style is different, I love the use of blues in his paintings of starry nights and day-time skies. I like the way Van Gogh’s use of visible brush strokes creates flow and unity in the artworks, but it can be hard to see this in photographs.

Future plans …
Next year I hope to jump straight into university and study a Bachelor of Fine Arts or Creative Arts. I want to put all of my focus into my artwork and I aim to develop my style. I would also like to focus on a new theme that can extend my horizons. I will try and take new and exciting steps into the art world and hopefully become a successful artist, doing what I love.

Artist Statement
This work was created in response to traditional Dutch still-life painting, while modernising the style and moral messages communicated. Vices is a communication and critique of the human susceptibility to depend on substances, focusing on a selection of the key vices: alcohol, sugar, gambling and tobacco. The use of graffiti text highlights the oxymoron where graffiti art is a crime however the vices depicted are not…

Materials and processes …
To create Vices I used photography to capture the still life compositions I arranged after collecting the found objects over time. Black fabric was used to create the deep black backdrop and a singular lamp to form the muted light. After shooting the images I edited then had them externally printed large scale for impact. One was to be drawn on the other left untouched. Using a thick flat chisel white copic marker I rehearsed the typography to be used on spare prints before going over the final. I applied the marker with varied speed and pressure, working faster in areas I wanted the text to be less opaque to create a rushed, vandalised aesthetic.

Starting points and influences …
I am heavily inspired by the natural world and every summer break I set up a permanent space and do watercolour paintings and other explorations of leaves, nuts and shells in various mediums. This process inspires me by exposing the different lines and shapes in natural objects. I am also inspired by fashion advertising, whether that is appreciating it or using it for ideas about society. Fashion campaigns are always created with an art director behind the scenes and I am influenced by the clever ways they can reference pop culture and other themes. I am also inspired by vintage packaging and newspapers.

Favourite artist …
The two main artists I have loved for years are Irving Penn and Egon Schiele. I admire the interesting ways Irving Penn captures the female form in his body photography and the organic and diverse shaped women in his images. I admire Egon Schiele’s ability to create erotic artwork which has been respected and valued rather then shunned and treated as taboo which happens so often with erotic art or nudity. I have always been inspired by Schiele’s linework and use of brown paper, something I have explored in past folios.

Future plans …
My plans are to go to uni and do a Bachelor of Fashion Design at RMIT. Art will play a huge role in my studies as fashion and art are closely linked and art will direct my inspiration and my approaches to projects and ideas. I think in the future, art will be an outlet and escape from studying, however it will also have a role in strengthening my studies and providing direction.

Ideas behind the work …
I intended this painting to pay homage to the works of the great American abstract painters and thus, I decided to work in a purely monochromatic colour scheme. Originally, I began this piece as a reaction against one of my best friends who left school to fight in the army, so the initial image was a tangled black web of rage. After more careful consideration however, I began to work back into this painting with the intention to create a more placid, masked rage, an angry face hidden behind a white veil. I focused on the gestural marks that composed the image, rather than the mood or feeling it evoked, as I did not want to plan too heavily. I want this piece to have an effect like Alan Ginsberg’s poem ‘Howl’, and that is what I named it after.

Inspiration … 
My major influences throughout this year have been the work of painters from New York: Kline, de Kooning, Pollock and Rothko; along with Picasso, Duchamp, Matisse and Dubuffet. I am also inspired by Australian painters Tucker, Boyd, Whiteley, Nolan, Kemp, Williams, Perceval, Hester, Blackman, Brack, and Gleeson. I found inspiration in the wild improvisations in Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew and Kind of Blue, the poetic sensibilities in Dylan’s Blonde on Blonde, The Velvet Underground’s blistering Heroin, and the dark fantastical Joy Division. I read the poems of Ginsberg, Bukowski, Brautigan, Forbes, and Dransfield. I read the great twentieth century novels by Celine, Fante, Hemingway, Burroughs, Kerouac, Vonnegut, and our own Helen Garner. I saw the films of Scorsese, Kubrick, Tarkovsky, Godard, Truffaut, Marker, and Van Sant. My inspiration comes not from a singular artform, nor movement, nor artist; instead my artwork is a homage to the works I have been lucky enough to experience, hoping to emulate and explore the same energies that these artworks had radiated to me.

Favourite artist …
My favourite artist throughout this last year has been the American painter Cy Twombly. I saw his artworks in New York and in Paris, and was consumed by the large-scale, gestural immensities. The works consist of scribbled markings, calligraphic words referencing places, historical events, and mythological figures. I particularly appreciate his romantic symbolism, quoting old allegories and poets like John Keats. As language is so close to my own work and personal life, I have found Twombly’s often illegible scrawling to express a gestural power that I emulated throughout both my abstract works and my figurative pieces. I have often written “asemic writing” to warm up before painting, loosening my body’s movements, emptying my head of purpose or meaning.

Future plans …
I cannot imagine my life without art: I have already dedicated my life to its pursuit. I think I am an artist because it helps me to outrun death. I live in my artworks. I hope that 2020 is a year of beginnings; I hope to get accepted into the VCA, I have my first show lined up with a friend of mine at a Geelong gallery, I am moving to Melbourne, I hope to indulge and embrace the arts and my own creative passions. I will be turning 18 at the start of the year: it gives me the opportunity to totally immerse myself in my work, to meet new artists, to see more art, and to make ten-times more than what I’ve made in the past.

Ideas behind the work …
I was determined to make people stop and think about the effects we are having on the environment, and this fueled my inspiration for my art practice and process. My constant question was: “Where has humankind gone wrong in its historical connections with nature?”

Materials and processes …
I did a lot of experimenting for this work including working with watercolour, ink, marbling, stamping, enameling, laser cutting and resin. I used a flame torch and a kiln when enameling and learnt the relevant processes and safety procedures. I used Adobe Illustrator software to design the layout and font type of the text. I cut the copper to size and cleaned it before heating the copper to create the oil spill effect. Using a laser cutter, I made a stencil and traced this with pencil onto the copper and then applied masking fluid to outline the text. I filled the text with resin and then removed the excess masking fluid.

Inspiration …
I am a coastal dweller so nature inspires me. It sounds clichéd, but it is my gallery and I like to listen to my surroundings. The environmental climate change movement is everywhere you look in the media, from the fight against oil drilling in the Great Australian Bight to natural disasters around the world. I saw the film ‘A Plastic Ocean’ in 2016 and it highlighted to me the impact we have on our waters and it really resonated with me.
I fell in love with Gerhard Richter’s work of art, Tote, when I first saw it before I realised that it actually depicts someone dead under what appears to be a rock. I couldn’t believe it. On first glance at the work I had completely no idea of what it was, but I was intrigued by the way the type sat, and was cut off, giving it an edgy and modern feel. I was also inspired by On Kawara’s Today series, which consists of thousands of ‘date paintings’. I found the harsh meaning and ideas behind this work inspiring and the simple font type – being just white on black, aesthetically pleasing.

Starting points and influences …
I spotted the DIESEL signs last year at a secondhand warehouse and just had to get them. I didn’t know at the time what exactly I would do with them other than I knew they had potential. I revisited them last year and made the connection with my themes.
I was influenced by current and recurring media messages. This year has been a year of climate conversation on all levels. I looked at the effect of oil spills in relation to oil drilling, transport and refinement. I considered the cost and dollar value as a play on meaning in the DIESEL sign and the cost to the environment. The slots on the DIESEL signs for original price tiles was still intact and my focus was to place tiles in there that were symbolic of its past.
This meant I had to deal with the constraints of the height of the tiles themselves, therefore the font size would also be affected. Striking a balance between placement of words and meaning when reading them and keeping a uniform layout such as a billboard poster look also helped the direction of the works.

Favourite artist …
Katie Westle known as ‘Ku Ku Design’ is my favourite artist. Katie is inspired by the environment that surrounds her and portrays her surroundings with clarity and simplicity. She explores both the marine and the land environments with watercolour and pencil and has also created a range of lighting from plywood timber that are works of art in themselves.

Future plans …
Art will always play a role in my life. I plan to further develop and grow my current business called Salty Rose. My passions are creating and designing and both are fueled by the ocean. Salty Rose’s main product is a natural surf wax which I make by hand using beeswax. I also have a range of upcycled jewellery and I plan to create more rope artwork and further stock my store with lino cut art and other repurposed ocean-based pieces.

Ideas behind the work …
My artwork Ballarat explores the gold rush era buildings that spread out across the flat land, while also giving the viewer an insight into who I am. If you look closely enough you will find all of the buildings that impacted the man I am today, including the local primary school, my local fish and chips shop, “fair dinkum”, and even my own house on the left side of the artwork.

Materials and processes …
My artworks were created with mundane materials and mediums, so it is important for me to intrigue the viewer by getting the most out of my materials. This means gradually creating bigger artworks with more detail and ultimately using smaller and smaller pens. My artwork Ballarat was made using 0.05mm pens, the finest I could buy. My drawings are based off photos taken by me. Ballarat is a compilation of 24 different buildings around my town of Ballarat that have all been edited using Photoshop to create the original and unique single photo that was sketched into the final. My artworks are created with just a pencil and pen and Ballarat was in fact done completely free hand with no ruler.

Creating my artworks requires many hours and late nights so I can capture all the detail in the photographs that I take and sketch. Living in a boarding house, my roommates are certainly used to the faint shine of a book light attached to my paper as I draw late into the night. For my artwork Ballarat, I tried to capture all of the most important and exciting buildings in my regional town and edited them into one dense and busy landscape. Each photo of the 24 different buildings in the artwork was taken by me while riding around town on my bike.

Starting points and influences …
At the start of the year I was lucky enough to travel all over Europe and during this time I took a sketch book with me and essentially learnt to do line drawings. Sketching mainly buildings, both heritage and modern, I developed my own style. These artworks range from taking 15 minutes to 8 hours, and include studies into drawing bricks, clouds and wood grain with line.

Favourite artist …
I love the edited cityscape photos by German artist Andreas Gursky and the way he digitally manipulates his artworks to create a landscape larger than life. My artworks are actually inspired by his works but with my own style and subject matter. Something I love about Gursky’s work is that he takes a lot of his photos from a high vantage point which allows the viewer to see scenes which are normally beyond reach.

Ideas behind the work …
My artwork, Void, explores the nature of hope in relation to mental health and how it is expressed through visualisation. This ultimately derived from personal experiences, and with poor mental health becoming one of the largest global phenomenons in society. My artwork features abstracted biomorphic forms and pattern and explores the more melancholy and negative side to those with mental illness who fail to embrace the hope of improvement. This is ultimately captured through the lack of vibrant or vivid pigments throughout the composition.

Materials and processes …
My artwork was created with bitumen paint, oil medium and white ink pen on rag paper. By using bitumen paint that is applied on roads, the message of a journey is woven into my artworks and specifically relates to the journey that mental illness can entail.

Challenges …
I found it quite challenging but I also felt extremely proud that I was able to connect greatly with what I was creating, despite fear of being extremely vulnerable and putting my mental illness out there. However, this just drove me to connect more with my artwork and have a stronger passion and love for what I was creating. It was also interesting to work with bitumen paint as I have never worked with this material before. However, I did find it quite challenging to figure out the ratio between bitumen paint and oil medium when trying to create the desired pigment or patterned subject.

Inspirations and influences …
From the beginning of the year, I knew that I wanted my artwork and overarching idea to relate to something that is quite personal to me and something that I am deeply passionate about. My personal experience of mental illness encouraged me to depict this in my artwork, particularly through abstract art. The expressive nature of abstraction is something that I admire and am greatly drawn to, and I feel that it relates fluently with mental illness, due to its organic and unique nature. I was influenced by abstract action painter Jackson Pollock and I admire his expressive and emotive style. Yayoi Kusama also influenced my artwork due to her great bravery with depicting her mental illness through art and I was inspired by the patterned artworks she creates from her schizophrenic hallucinations. I can also relate to singer Billie Eilish because she suffers from mental illness and is my age and displays great bravery and extreme vulnerability. I was greatly driven by the staggering statistics of those with mental illness and the thousands of individuals who take their lives due to it. This creates a burning passion in me to therefore raise more awareness for this illness and to demonstrate this intense emotion and expression through abstracted art.

Future plans …
My plan for 2020 is to go to university to either be a midwife or an occupational therapist. Occupational therapy is my first choice because I feel like it will suit me more in regards to emotions and having to deal with my own person mental health, as well as it being such a broad industry. Talking to my mum, I realised that art has been such a huge aspect of my life in relation to my personal health and how it calms me and allows me to fully express myself. Therefore, I think it would be absolutely amazing if I could incorporate art therapy within my occupational therapy work because art plays such a massive role in therapy and rehab.