Understanding how the Art Gallery of NSW selects works for its annual ARTEXPRESS Exhibition offers Visual Arts teachers excellent insight in supporting their HSC students' final body of work.
Art Gallery of NSW Senior Education Program Producer and curator of ARTEXPRESS, Louise Halpin has a big job. Each year Louise leads the selection and exhibition process of about 50 works out of more than 500 potential works to exhibit for public viewing at the Gallery’s ARTEXPRESS Exhibition. Louise recently spoke at the AISNSW Visual Arts Showcase and provided participants with ideas on how to guide their HSC students to do their best work.
Louise Halpin, Art Gallery of NSW Senior Education Program Producer and curator of ARTEXPRESS.
“ARTEXPRESS is a fantastic learning resource for teachers to take advantage of with their students, but it’s also wonderful for the Gallery to have student work displayed alongside contemporary artists whose practice is very important.”
It is a rare opportunity for the selected students. Their works will be shown in a formidable space, and the Gallery’s role is to highlight the visual arts practice of senior students' work alongside exhibitions and professional artists in the public arena.
“ARTEXPRESS is a fantastic learning resource for teachers to take advantage of with their students, but it’s also wonderful for the Gallery to have student work displayed alongside contemporary artists whose practice is very important. The Gallery takes that very seriously,” Louise says.
“It allows us to see the world through young eyes and shows us what students are thinking, feeling, seeing and what they’re passionate about.
“Audiences of all ages often say it’s their favourite exhibition. It’s fresh, it’s energetic, it breaks down barriers … it captures that elixir of youth.”
Murmurations (2020), Jeremy Patrick Dunn, Knox Grammar School
ARTEXPRESS has been exhibiting at the Art Gallery of NSW for almost 40 years and is the principal venue for the exhibition. The Gallery team works closely with the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) and the Arts Unit at the NSW Department of Education. In 2020, 8,617 students in NSW sat for the Visual Arts component of the HSC with 575 outstanding bodies of work selected by NESA.
While showing at the Gallery is an accomplishment for the students and their teachers, being included in the 575 works preselected by NESA is also an outstanding achievement, Louise says.
“The fact that 8,617 finished the HSC last year is incredible – going through a global pandemic and everything else that happened – that’s an achievement in itself – but to be pre-selected by NESA is something that should be celebrated.”
"We select about 50 works each year and these represent the diversity of ideas and approaches from the full cohort of students in NSW," Louise says.
“The fact that 8,617 finished the HSC last year is incredible – going through a global pandemic and everything else that happened – that’s an achievement in itself – but to be pre-selected by NESA is something that should be celebrated.”
This Dispairing Land (2020), Emily Garnock, Wenona School (Art Express 2021)
Understanding what the Art Gallery of NSW is seeking when it selects the works for exhibition gives Visual Arts teachers insight into how their students can approach their final body of work. A clear demonstration of sustained engagement and a strong connection between the conceptual and material practice are the keys.
“The syllabus directs students to create bodies of work that represent their intentions as artists and reflect a critical understanding of the art world and its complexity – that’s the aim of what we’re doing in the exhibition; to show, not just a resource but to show our public and our audiences just how rich and that critical understanding that students have – so resolved, and so beautifully put together,” Louise says.
States of Flux (2020), Pheobe Turner, Ascham School
“All expressive forms are represented because they reflect diversity in contemporary art practice today and again that links to everything else that is happening in the Gallery. It’s also important to show a variety of practice within each form.”
“We always we make sure that the diaries are front and centre, even before the audiences go into the exhibition because it is all about that idea of process and practice."
The Visual Arts Process Diaries students produce are a great way to unpack creative explorations. The pages become a window to how the works in the exhibition came into being and give an insight into the way each student processes and develops ideas, Louise says.
“We always we make sure that the diaries are front and centre, even before the audiences go into the exhibition because it is all about that idea of process and practice. Students can understand that these works don’t just happen overnight, it’s all about that experimentation, pushing through ideas to completion."
“It’s really lovely to see a student go off in a completely different direction. It really conveys what students are exploring and reflecting on – it shows the processes they have gone through over the year.”
Fabric of Shadows (2020), Khloe Tria, Brigidine College St Ives
Editing a body of work is a challenge because students often include too much material rather than thinking critically about what relates specifically to their final concept, Louise adds.
“The Gallery exhibits full bodies of work. It is really going back to that idea of material and conceptual practice, ‘Am I saying everything I want to say in this expressive form and with these elements or do I need to add more’.”
“Students are in tune with social and personal matters and have an ability to understand their world in a unique way and that’s what we’re always trying to look for – it is looking at their own unique voice and their own unique approach to whatever they’re exploring."
Selecting the works takes place in one central location. Each expressive form is presented to the selectors and then packed away - the paintings, then the drawings then the sculptures, and so on. For the Gallery exhibition, there are no preconceived themes and there is no discrimination for presenting topics previously addressed. Much more important to the exhibition is the creativity, diversity and complexity of the students’ investigations of the world and the time in which they live, Louise says.
The environment features large, and ideas about COVID-19 and breath also began trickling in last year. The year 2020 had a subdued, quieter tone, Louise adds.
“Students are in tune with social and personal matters and have an ability to understand their world in a unique way and that’s what we’re always trying to look for – it is looking at their own unique voice and their own unique approach to whatever they’re exploring. They present what is important to them.
Defining Ups and Down: A simple and beautiful relationship between my brother and I (2020), Bethany Dewhurst, Northholm Grammar School
“Students are also interested in the complexities of identity and the human condition, human connections and that’s artists all over the world. Other themes include family relationships, unpacking concerns about uncertainty and alienation. And even if it is a theme we’ve seen before, it’s the student’s individual approach to it that is really interesting. That layering of approaches to those themes is what we’re really excited about,” she says.
When students go to Inside ARTEXPRESS on the Gallery’s website to view a database of ARTEXPRESS artworks Louise says teachers should encourage their students to look at the influencing artists noted in the student statements as a source for inspiration.
“Going directly to the source and being inspired by the same artist is really important, even if your body of work heads into a completely different direction.”
Louise Halpin offers guidance to NSW independent school Visual Art teachers.
ARTEXPRESS ultimately showcases the exceptional talent and creativity of young student artists and the expertise and commitment of Visual Art teachers in NSW.
“For the Gallery, this is why ARTEXPRESS is so important to us because it does showcase these works in this space to audiences who are coming through, and the student voice is vital to us – it’s the next generation of visual artists that we really want to celebrate.”
New to AISNSW and want to receive AISNSW Education News updates? Click here to register, and select ‘AISNSW Education News’ on the Areas of Interest/Subscriptions page.
