Featured image – ‘Nature’s Embodiment’ Dylan Quirk Waverley College.
It’s the time of the year for the annual visual arts event ARTEXPRESS. ARTEXPRESS celebrates some of finest artworks created by last year’s Higher School Certificate students.
The Art Gallery of New South Wales is leading the way with its exhibition of student work which opened today (Australia Day) in its Contemporary Galleries location and is on display until Anzac Day.
One of Sydney’s leading suburban galleries, Hazelhurst Regional Gallery, will be presenting its own exhibition of student work from the 17th February,
The Gallery will exhibit 44 outstanding Higher School Certificate artworks which highlight the many concerns of young people today such as body image, unfair wages, animal welfare, the environment, poverty, consumerism and anxiety.
On display will be a work about the Great Barrier Reef and the destruction of the coral through bleaching. It explores how human ego and consumerism are overpowering the beauty of our natural world.
Chevelle Donoso from Picnic Point High School in her work Humanity – What can’t be seen is coloured examines how life and industry move so fast in our contemporary world that the most vulnerable and silent creatures are forgotten and abused. Her intention is to explore and illuminate the plight of animals. While humanity expands, and our population grows, animal habitats fall short due to pollution, erosion economics and industry.
Angeline Khoury from Santa Sabina looks at society’s obsession with self-image, specifically the preoccupation with social media and the tools used to mask one’s identity in her work Hairy Antoinette.
Lola Mae Nesbitt from Burwood Girls High School ,who has been influenced by the work of Bill Henson, looks at the space that marks the transition from childhood to womanhood with her work On the Cusp.
Belinda Hanrahan, Director of Hazelhurst Regional Gallery said the exhibition has been carefully curated by the Gallery’s Kate Milner and Ingrid Dernee. She described this year’s ARTEXPRESS as being. ‘particularly strong on ideas as ever and reveals extraordinary technical skills by young artists throughout NSW.’
The exhibition will run at the Hazelhurst Arts Centre, 782 Kingsway, Gymea from the 17th February until the 15th April, 2018. The Gallery is open daily between 10am and 5pm.
ARTEXPRESS 2018 is being presented by a number of Arts Galleries around New South Wales in partnership with the NSW Department of Education and NSW Education Standards Authority. Entrance to the exhibitions are free.