HSC Showcase of Major Design Projects and Visual Arts Bodies of Work
It was a great pleasure to be able to exhibit the work produced by students in Design and Technology and Visual Arts as part of their HSC examination requirements.
These students have worked with dedication and focus to produce design and artworks of a high quality. The challenges and frustrations they face are distinctive of working in the arts; a highly polished result hides the hours of experimentation, development, revision, rejection and refinement that reaches exhibition or performance. At the end of this process, to recall that this is supposed to be a one unit, 60 hour academic course pursued alongside the student’s other nine or ten units of study, has an air of absurdity. The difficult pleasures of a major project demand an unusual level of commitment and fascination for students to sustain engagement and create success.
The support needed is also considerable. I’d like to thank Ms Sana Issa and Ms Tanya Schneider, for their educational care of their students and Mr Steven Taylor, for his generous assistance to both students and colleagues. The exhibition itself has a similar intensity of planning and presentation. I would like to thank Mr Bob Anderson, for his support in planning and securing dates and facilities, Mrs Cherie Tucker from the Advancement office, for her patient and expert preparation of catalogues. I would also like to thank Mrs Kali Aldridge, Mrs Silk Burke and Mrs Priscilla Laliotis, for their support of their colleagues and the students. Without the kindness and efficiency of Mr Ken Devlin and Mr Graeme Grocott of Maintenance, we would all be collapsed in a heap somewhere wondering how to get the showcase off the floor.
A special thanks to Ms Katrina Skinner, mother of Grace MacKinnon, one of the most faithful supporters of the Visual Arts Department over many years and exhibitions. Her expert eye and calm advice to students were appreciated by tired teachers.