The Final Word - First Class 20
This month’s FINAL WORD goes to last year’s very talented local HSC Visual Arts Students. Not only did they persevere through a year of on and off classroom attendance and lockdowns, but they also managed to produce pieces of art that were outstanding. So outstanding that they have been selected to appear in the new exhibition at MAC. First Class 20 is open until Sunday 2 May. Go to www.mac.lakemac.com.au for more information.
The COVID-19 pandemic, the Black Lives Matter movement, and environmental issues affecting society are among the dramatic themes explored in a new exhibition by some of the Hunter Region’s top Visual Arts 2020 HSC students. More than 20 schools from the region are represented in this year’s exhibition, with works covering everything from ceramics and sculpture to digital drawing and embroidery.
Curator Helen Willis said the 37 works selected chosen for the annual First Class 20 exhibition at the Museum of Art and Culture (MAC) in Lake Macquarie “express students’ awareness of the big issues facing us all”.
“The curators don’t begin the selection process with any preconceived themes in mind. But this year’s emerging themes centred understandably around the pandemic year and its associated mental and emotional health issues. These students are commenting on the uncertainty of our lives today,” she said.
St Mary’s Catholic College Gateshead 2020 HSC student Liam Nash created striking portraits of himself and his girlfriend, using a collage of hundreds of screenshots, text messages and other digital correspondence sent to and from his girlfriend during the COVID-19 lockdown.
“My girlfriend and I met during a three-day leadership retreat in February 2020, and after that, we went back to our respective homes – mine being in Lake Macquarie and hers being up near Taree,” Nash said.
“So initially, due to our distance, we communicated via texts, photo messaging, video calls and phone calls, and our relationship developed almost entirely in a digital world.”
St Francis Xavier’s College 2020 HSC student Grace Bosworth spent more than 120 hours creating her oil-on-canvas work, Unveiled, influenced by the Black Lives Matter movement.
“As I was designing my work, the media was exposing police brutality towards different races in America. I wanted to bring in the idea that we need to have more of an open mind, and there needs to be new growth in society around racism,” she said.
For Merewether High School student Pepita Barton, much of the COVID-19 lockdown was spent painstakingly carving out a giant, multi-layered paper sculpture titled Delicate Deadly – her interpretation of a coronavirus.
“The concept behind my artwork is the juxtaposition of this idea between delicate and deadly. I’m fascinated by the idea that this living organism has the power to change everything that we live in, in the world today,” Barton said.
Lake Macquarie Mayor Cr Kay Fraser said the exhibition reflected the depth of creative young talent across the Hunter Region.
“Seeing these works makes you realise not just what is important to young people today, but what their creative potential is,” Cr Fraser said.
“We must support, nurture and celebrate this as they continue through life beyond the HSC.”
Martina Mrongovius, Council’s new Arts Producer for the Lake Arts Precinct, congratulated all of the 2020 HSC students featured in this year’s exhibition, remarking that this year marks the 13th instalment of First Class, and it continues to be one of the most popular exhibitions at MAC.
