Congratulations to all Visual Arts students for a successful and creative year in 2008.
This years’ artmaking culminated in a highly successful exhibition “Periphery” which was held on Tuesday November 25th.

The exhibition provided a wonderful opportunity for all present to enjoy and celebrate the work of our Visual Arts students, and gave us the opportunity to gain an insight into their thoughts and ideas.

The exhibition process is a vital one for our young artists as it allows their work to communicate not only their talents but also their creative and innovative thinking.
It is worthwhile to consider these works within the context of artistic creativity as well as the learning and development that takes place within the Visual Arts classroom.

Creativity is at the heart of every successful society, and giving form to our innate human creativity is what defines us to ourselves and to the world. This is what the Arts have always done. If you think back to any significant time in the past, then the chances are that it will bring to mind something of the creative output of the time; a great monument or painting, a significant piece of literature or a musical symphony; and indeed many of those in the past with whom we associate genius have excelled in a creative sphere.

Yet strangely enough, when we think of ourselves or of the present we tend not to consider or embrace the possibilities for the development of the creative in our own lives.

When our children are young we marvel at their artistic spontaneity and their confident self expression. We see their creative and artistic endeavours as being a way in which they are discovering meaning as well as their own relevance in the world.

Yet when they begin the process called formal education we appear to acquiesce so easily to expecting their learning and education as being about conformity within strict thinking patterns or guidelines. Thus we tend not to consider what the individual child can bring to the learning equation.

In Visual Arts, it is of primary importance for us to consider the individual child and the way that their individual creative expression and self confidence can unfold and be developed.
Children in today’s Visual Arts classroom have enormous breadth and diversity in terms of how they can access and express their ideas.

Long gone are the days where Visual Arts was centred on learning to draw and paint, although there are students who are highly successful in these skills. Their learning is underpinned by an understanding of the many and diverse possibilities that exist for creative expression, by their study and investigation of the creative processes of other artists both in the past and the present and by their ability to define and demonstrate this understanding both through their own artmaking and through written and verbal responses.

In this way they are encouraged to explore, think and respond on a number of levels so that they can find their own strengths and their own voice.

By the time students reach senior years, this engagement is well established and they are well on their way to being creative and dynamic thinkers who are confident in responding in individual and creative ways.

This year has seen some significant achievements by our students.

Our year 12 students have successfully completed Visual Arts Bodies of Work for the HSC exploring diverse themes including contemporary culture, personal visions and environmental themes.                                                                         

We congratulate them on their achievements and wish them success in their future endeavours.

Six students from year 11 have successfully completed the National Art School Studio Extension Programme, having been chosen from a highly competitive state wide selection process.

Congratulations to Kelly Bounassif, Simone Daher, Penny Nailau, Alix Toufan, Krystal Dandan and Charnelle King. Their works were displayed in the National Art School’s “Expression” exhibition held on October 11th.

Four students were selected to have their works exhibited in the Merrylands Masterpieces initiative at Stockland Mall; Kelly Bounassif and Stephanie Hallab from year 11 and Gabrielle Trang and Alannah Zammit from year 10.

We congratulate our younger students also. Their development over the year stands them in good stead for their future study.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mrs Odonga, Miss Munguia, Ms Ceh and Ms Rosales for their care and commitment to the development of your daughters’ creative abilities throughout the year. They take every opportunity to give individual guidance to your daughters and to continue to develop new initiatives to engage them in their learning.

I would like to most sincerely thank parents for their ongoing support of their daughter’s creative endeavours this year.

Mrs Basu