Today I took my beautiful Diploma of Visual Arts students to the prestigious Australian Galleries in Derby Street Collingwood. Once there, we were able to get up close with the amazing work on display from three incredibly talented Australian artists. Namely, Mary Tonkin, Nick Dridan and Christine Wrest-Smith.
After a short while, Gallery Coordinator Veronica Mullin was able to provide an excellent introduction into the life of the gallery and indeed a valuable insight behind the works on display. Although there were not as many questions from the students (as in previous years) I could tell that they were all suitably impressed and perhaps left a little gob smacked.
Well despite a few anxious moments before the big day, ILLUSTRE 2023 was officially opened to the public on Thursday the 16th November at 6pm. This year marks the twenty-eighth year of Illustre for the Diploma of Illustration at Melbourne Polytechnic (formerly NMIT). For me this has been my 14th Illustre event and once again – it did not disappoint. Congratulations to all the students who took part in this year’s event. As always, I will let my pictures do the talking. Enjoy.
Wow, what a great opening to our ninth Fact or Fiction portrait exhibition yesterday (17 Aug) in the A-Space Gallery at Preston. It was great to see so many students from across all our study areas (past and present) and so many visitors from outside the college turn up to marvel at the work on display (and enjoy the free pizza that was supplied by our friends at SLAM). Great to see family and friends of the exhibiting students there as well.
Out of 45 entries we received this year, 20 lucky students were selected as finalists and their artwork framed and displayed in the gallery. CLICK HERE to see entries.
I’d like to thank my department (Visual Arts) at Melbourne Polytechnic for once again allowing me to run this competition / exhibition. Thank you to the staff who helped support and promote the event. Thank you to our wonderful industry judges who had a difficult task shortlisting the 20 finalists and selecting the award winners. Thank you to the wonderful Nick Thorley for framing and displaying all the work and for all the other important jobs that he does. Thank you to our incredibly kind sponsors Eckersleys and SLAM and of course, special thanks to all the students who decided to enter this year’s competition.
I’d like to congratulate all our award prize winners: James Lynch, Zohreh Izadikia, Eilish Driver, Soo Chua and Maddie Yates.
Finally, don’t forget to cast your vote for the People’s Choice Award by visiting the Facebook page for SLAM. Do it today if you can.
Here are a few happy snaps that I took yesterday before and during the opening itself. Enjoy.
On Friday the 9th June 2023, I invited a small group of students (past and present) to the studio of my dear friend and fellow artist, Eolo Paul Bottaro in Northcote. Eolo did not disappoint. He spent over an hour discussing his sculptural work and creative process. It was very informative and inspirational. Eolo spent time explaining his work ethic and art practice with regards to his latest commission called Daphne which is Eolo’s personal homage to the Greek nymph and daughter of a river God in Greek mythology.
I am also in-debt to Eolo, for taking the time to share his process with my students. His incredible portfolio of work supports the adage of ‘you reap what you sow.’
On a wet Tuesday morning in Melbourne, on the 16th of May 2023, my lovely illustration and fine art students, joined me in our annual Diploma pilgrimage to Collingwood where we visited the Australia Galleries and the Fox Galleries. At Fox we met their ‘artist in residence’ Nigel Sense (great surname) who went out of his way to talk to us about his life as an artist and of course his artwork.
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After two years in lockdown, the Diploma of Visual Arts end-of-year exhibition returns ‘with a vengeance’ to the A-Space Gallery at Melbourne Polytechnic’s Preston campus. What a night it turned out to be. Simply outstanding. (See video clip below).
The students from both the Illustration stream (ILLUSTRE) and the students from the fine art painting and printmaking streams (EPOCH) joined forces for the first time to set-up a visual extravaganza which was truly a feast for the eyes. On show was artwork a diverse range of creative disciplines such as painting, drawing, etching, lino-cut printing, digital art, illustration and design. And to think, this year the students had less time to produce their exhibition pieces (the exhibition normally takes place in November). Wow – that is astonishing!
On behalf of the Visual Arts department, I’d like to thank all the talented and hardworking students from the Diploma of Visual Arts, especially Amy Wickham and Eilish Driver who went above and beyond the call of duty to make sure that this year’s show was one of the best ever. Special thanks to Nick Thorley for his technical help. The man is a legend. Thank you to Kat, Stephen and Maddie for their kind assistance on the night and to my wonderful colleagues Warren, Neil, Jodi, Kirsten, Sean, Bill, Angela and Helen for all their help and support in Semester 2 and this week.
Thank you to Anastasia Kotsapavlides and John Puli for their kind patronage and to all our wonderful sponsors including: Wacom Australia, Imagescience, Deans Art, Eckersley’s, Firestation Print Studio, Hardie Grant, Books Illustrated, Illustrators Australia, Jacky Winter Group, Regent Gallery, Hawkers Brewery. Thank you also to our professional art and industry representatives, Andrew, Rebecca, Lara, Declan, Louella and Kari, who helped to judge this year’s exhibition.
Special thanks to poster art legend, Ken Taylor for being our special guest speaker (see video of his speech below).
Congratulations to all our award winners:
FOR EPOCH:
Rose Story for Outstanding Painting Student Award, sponsored by Deans Art. Nil Vasen for Outstanding Printmaking Student Award, sponsored by Firestation Print Studio. Julia Mackie for the Painting Achievement Award, sponsored by the Visual Arts Department. Brooke Perkins for the Printmaking Achievement Award, sponsored by the Visual Arts Department. Sue Williams for Best Body of Work, sponsored by Regent Gallery. Ruth Wein for the Creative Practice Development Award, sponsored by John Puli. Nix Berry for the Creative Practice Development Award. sponsored by John Puli. Jocelyn Dexter and Heidi Tyrell for the Adam & Stathi Kotzapavlidis Memorial Award, sponsored by Anastasia Kotzapavlidis. Julia Mackie for the Packing Room Prize, sponsored by the Visual Arts Department.
FOR ILLUSTRE Madelyn Yates for Best Children’s Book Illustration, sponsored by Hardie Grant. Amy Wickham for Best Traditional Media 1, sponsored by Books Illustrated. Madelyn Yates for Best Traditional Media 2, sponsored by Eckersley’s. James Lynch for Best Digital Work 1, sponsored by WACOM Aust. Lucas Vandali for Best Digital Work 2, sponsored by Imagescience. Tong Woon for Cutting Edge Illustration, sponsored by Deans Art. James Lynch for Best Individual Work on Show, sponsored by the Jacky Winter Group. Toon Woon and James Lynch for Best Body of Work on Show, sponsored by Illustrators Australia Eilish Driver for the Special Consideration Award, sponsored by the Visual Arts Department at Melbourne Polytechnic.
On Friday the 15 July, 2022 I took my Cert IV Photography Class to Fitzroy where we had a wonderful day conducting street photography and visiting top-notch galleries such as the Black Cat Gallery and the Brunswick Gallery.
After two long years in lockdown, it was lovely to visit the Australian Galleries and Fox Gallery in Collingwood this week with the equally lovely Diploma of Visual Arts students.
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