Our VCE Studio Arts and Visual Communication students had the opportunity to showcase their artwork at the annual VCE Art Exhibition from Friday 11 to Monday 14 October. Year 11 VCE Studio Arts and Visual Communication Student, Millie Fraser-Smith, reflects on her experience of sharing her artwork with the St Catherine’s community through the Exhibition.

The VCE Art Exhibition is held at St Catherine’s towards the end of each year and displays the Years 11 and 12 students’ artwork. It is the students’ work that they created over their year from the Studio Arts and Visual Communication and Media subjects. Each student is given an area where they are able to display their artwork.

As I study both Studio Arts and Visual Communication, I had a lot of artwork being shown at the exhibition. For Studio Art, I had two major artworks: one was a diptych portraiture of my brother with paper collage photos around his head, which aimed to explore the emotions that we express when listening to music. My other artwork was one large rectangular abstracted landscape from my farm with three smaller round canvases using different abstraction techniques. For Visual Communication, I had small projects, including a typography poster, element and principle work making Melbourne postcards, and a larger project where we created a community centre with a client presentation, rendered building, floorplan and interior design.

Mille Fraser-Smith’s Studio Art piece.

For my first Studio artwork, we were able to use any techniques and styles, as it is an unstructured subject. However, Visual Communications had more guidelines that I had to adhere to, therefore, some projects dictated our technique and style which we then had to adapt to our own design. I used mainly photography and collage for my first Studio artwork, and for my second artwork, I used abstraction of landscapes using acrylic paint on a wooden canvas. In Visual Communication, we used Russian Constructivism for our first project which I then also used as inspiration for my second artwork as it is very kinetic and uses the same colour palette. However, with my larger project, we did not have a set style, therefore, I chose a modern simple design.

The Visual Communication students’ community centre art pieces.

I drew inspiration from many artists that I have researched, art galleries and teachers, and the techniques that they have shown us in the earlier years of Art, and even previous Art shows at St Catherine’s. I also drew inspiration from the world around me as the main subject matters were music and my farm, which are two very important things in my life.

Seeing my own artwork on display definitely gave me a sense of achievement and it was very exciting to have the opportunity to put on show what you have done throughout the year. I think that there are quite a few people who do not realise how much work goes into the final product, and it is exciting that other people are able to share in your achievement too. It was great to be surrounded by other creative students who are all experiencing the same pressure of finishing their portfolios, so we all just supported each other by sharing our problems as they arose and gave each other advice to help solve and work through them. It is always helpful to have a ‘fresh pair of eyes’ when you have been working on something for so long to then take a step back and re-evaluate the artwork.

The Visual Communication students’ community centre art pieces.

In the future, I hope to go to university and study Communication Design which will then lead me onto another career path in design. I would love to be working with major companies on promotional work.

As with all aspects of St Catherine’s, it is wonderful to be able to celebrate the students’ achievements and exhibit their work. I highly recommend everyone attend next year’s Art Exhibition, even if you are not into art as it is an amazing event that showcases and celebrates the students’ hard work. An incredible amount of time and effort has gone into creating these pieces throughout the year, and by attending, it not only shows support for the students but it means a great deal to us all.