Student VOICES: Art & Design Captain – Emily Maren

The uncertainty and challenges that have come with the year 2021, completing my Visual Communication Design folio and holding the fortnightly Art and Design Club has given me a creative outlet unlike any other subject.

As a person who finds artistic activities quite calming, being able to work on my folio throughout this year has afforded me solace and a time to do what I find great joy in.

Running the Art and Design Club gave me an insight into the delights and difficulties of teaching and enabled me to get to know like-minded creative girls from Years 7 to 12. The Club also allowed me to understand the importance of a community project, which involved each of the girls creating and designing their own unique lino cuts and prints of a house.

Being able to form connections with girls in younger Year levels is really important and is one of the elements that creates such a warm and inclusive community at St Catherine’s.

In Art and Design Club I was able to collaborate with many of the teachers in the Art Faculty to innovate distinct creative activities for the Club and initiatives for my captaincy role. I am grateful to have been able to learn from the teachers’ depth of knowledge and gain skills relating to Art, Design and Leadership.

Throughout the course of my Art and Design leadership role I learnt valuable leadership lessons including public speaking in various assemblies to being involved in introducing the initiative ‘Captain’s Choice’. This initiative allowed myself and Holly McGlaughlin to post various artworks that girls from younger years completed. This project will be further developed in 2022 to provide the St Catherine’s community a greater insight into the incredible creative abilities of our students.

Emily Maren, Art & Design Captain, 2021